COP15 achieves BS8901 certification

Although it could not be considered the most successful meeting of global leaders, the recently held United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP15) in Copenhagen did successfully become certified as compliant with BS8901, the internationally recognised British Standard for sustainable event management.

Putting its green credentials where its mouth was, the event was guided through the certification process by MCI Sustainability Services, which worked alongside the COP15 planning teams to train and then facilitate the implementation and documentation of the necessary processes.  The third-party external verification and audit was conducted by DS Certificering A/S, the Danish national certification authority.

“We worked hard to be architects of an effective, flexible sustainability management system, which engaged stakeholders throughout the community,” said Jan-Christoph Napierski, head of sustainability for COP15.

“The result is not only the hard won certification of our event management system, but a more sustainable Copenhagen, a city which can now claim 53% of all hotel rooms as third-party eco-certified, a state-of-the-art public transportation system and affordable access to organic and sustainable foods.”

In an ongoing effort to transform the global meetings industry, MCI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wonderful Copenhagen, the City of Copenhagen, Visit Denmark and Novo Nordisk are collaborating to produce the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol. This is an umbrella framework that captures key learning and experience from COP15 in order for others to organise large, complex meetings in a sustainable way. It integrates local and international sustainability initiatives, standards, systems and certification programmes. The Protocol is due to be released in March 2010. www.visitdenmark.com/csmp

“As sustainable guides, we’re proud to have been a part of this historic event,” said Guy Bigwood, MCI Group sustainability director and lead consultant on the project. “The progress made in organising COP15 sustainably is significant, ambitious and industry-transforming.

“This event has become a benchmark for the meetings industry and shows how events can and should be run following sustainability principles that save money, increase performance and increase client satisfaction.”

For more details on sustainability achievements of COP15, visit www.sustainability.cop15.dk