EVENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT COPENHAGEN · PDF fileProject Partners This report was produced by...

COP15 UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE CONFERENCECOPENHAGEN

EVENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT

PREPARED BY THE COPENHAGEN SUSTAINABLE MEETINGS COALITION A P R I L 2010

Project Partners

This report was produced by the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Coalition on behalfof the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Authors and Contributors

This report was prepared by Guy Bigwood and Michael Luehrs of MCI SustainabilityServices with the input and contribution of Lene Mortensen, Anders Emborg andKristian Ortving (Bella Center), Heather Palen and Susanne Stormer (Novo Nordisk),Steen Jakobsen and Lise-Lotte Skovdal (Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & VisitorsBureau), Lotte Kjærgaard and Signe Gaarde (City of Copenhagen), Lotte Wagner (MCICopenhagen), Jonathan Cohen and Lars Blicher-Hansen (VisitDenmark), Jan-Christoph Napierski and Svend Olling (Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs),Fernando Castellanos Silveira (UNFCCC), Stine Balslev (Deloitte) and Henrik MichelKjaer (CISCO).

Photo Credits

Photos were provided by Emil Lyders (Das Buro), Guy Bigwood (MCI), Bella CenterA/S, Mark Garten (UN), VisitDenmark and Wonderful Copenhagen Convention &Visitors Bureau.

Graphical Design and Editing

Jean-Philippe Pirard (MCI Brussels) and Stephen Watt.

Contact

In the interest of constant improvement, all ideas and comments about this report arewelcome. Please address comments to [email protected]

Copyright© Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Coalition 2009

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educationalor non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, providedacknowledgement of the source is made (including photos). The CopenhagenSustainable Meetings Coalition would appreciate receiving a copy of any publicationthat uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resaleor for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writingfrom the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Coalition.

Disclaimer

The designations employed, the views expressed and the presentation of the material inthis publication do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of theUnited Nations or the Danish Government.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CO P 1 5 U N I TE D N AT I O N S C LI M ATE CO N FE R E N C E CO P E N H AG E N E V E N T S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SUSTAINABILITY HIGHLIGHTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 REPORT PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

REPORT SCOPE AND BOUNDARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

COP15 IN NUMBERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 COPENHAGEN SUSTAINABLE MEETINGS PROTOCOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

PROJECT ORGANISATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

LEADERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

OPERATIONAL INTEGRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

GOVERNANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

SUSTAINABILITY ACTIONS AND INNOVATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 DESTINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

ACCOMMODATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

TRANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

THE VENUE – BELLA CENTRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

FOOD AND BEVERAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

EXHIBITS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

AUDIOVISUALS AND IT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

CONTENTS


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SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 EVENT CARBON FOOTPRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

MEASURING PARTICIPANT SATISFACTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

LOCAL COMMUNITY FEEDBACK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

BENCHMARKING PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

PERFORMANCE AGAINST OBJECTIVES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

EVENT SYSTEM PERFORMANCE – BS8901 AUDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

CARBON NEUTRALITY AND EMISSIONS OFFSETTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

KEY CHALLENGES AND INSIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 TOP TEN INSIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNFCCC AND FUTURE EVENT HOSTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

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CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Local Transportation: By providing free public transportation and using goodcommunication, 93% of delegates attended the conference using metro, bus andtrain.

• BS8901 Sustainable Event Management Standard: The MFA became the firstUnited Nations (UN) and governmental organiser to seek and achieve third partycertification through the BS8901 standard for sustainable event management.

LessonsIn spite of every effort to ensure the highest standards of compliance with sustainableevent processes, of course some errors and oversights occurred. For instance, we didnot force all suppliers to measure their consumption of energy or their production ofwaste. Thus we had difficulties documenting that the stated goal of 20 per cent recyclingof materials was met, especially concerning waste management at the conference venue.This underscores the need for future COP events to have a proactive focus not only onwaste management but also on waste measurement. Also we were unable to use recycledcontent paper for the 8 million pages of copy paper consumed because of technicalproblems with the paper and photocopiers at the last moment.

CommitmentCOP15 was a singularly inspiring and challenging opportunity not only to showcaseDanish capabilities and hospitality, but for Denmark to bring leadership to the globalstage and climate change negotiations. The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MFA) delivered the COP15 event in a manner which would facilitate a positivepolitical outcome by observing the most environmentally and socially responsible eventorganisation practices possible.

AchievementsWe are proud of the hard work and creative ideas of our team and, indeed, the entireDanish community. From a perspective of sustainable business practices, the Ministryof Foreign Affairs tried to follow the highest standard to date for a large politicalsummit. The highlighted achievements are:• Climate Neutral Conference: Achieved by measuring and offsetting 72,000 tons of

delegate travel and local carbon emissions via a Danish Government CDM Projectin Bangladesh.

• Supplier Eco-Certification: Influenced area hotels to meet environmentalcertification standards such that Copenhagen can now boast more than 53% of allhotels as certified, the highest such percentage of any capital city in the world. Inaddition, the Bella Center became the first Scandinavian conference centre to earnthird party certification through the Green Key certification scheme.

• Value Chain Management: Revolutionised the concept of collaboration byrequiring all COP15 sponsors and suppliers to contractually commit to upholdingthe United Nations Global Compact ten principles concerning human rights, labourrights, the environment and anticorruption. With greater engagement andcommitment to sustainable development principles, the MFA promoted the valueof private-public partnerships and fostered a collaborative mutually beneficialapproach to organising the event.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


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‘COP15 was not the greenest conference ever – it was created to be as sustainable as possible

under the given conditions of a large international political summit.’

Jan Christoph Napierski, Head of Section, COP15, Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

LegacyThe Royal Danish Foreign Ministry team is perhaps most grateful to have had theopportunity to leave a meaningful, positive legacy for the community which made theevent possible. As a result of the COP15 event:• Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol (CSMP): A flexible umbrella

framework was created to help event planners to organise large complex meetings ina sustainable way. The CSMP integrates local and international sustainabilityinitiatives, standards, systems and certifications programs. The CSMP has beencreated to provide the UNFCCC and the international meetings industry withguidance on how to organise future events in a sustainable way.


• Carbon Responsibility Project, Bangladesh: The Brick Kilns offsetting project willestablish 20 new energy-efficient brick production units in and around Dhaka andwill reduce coal usage by almost 50%. Altogether the project will save theatmosphere from 100,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, improving community airquality and creating year-round jobs for an at-risk population.

• Capacity and Knowledge: As a result of COP15 Copenhagen now has what maybe the largest community group of informed and engaged sustainable event plannersand suppliers. Linking local business organisations and sustainable municipalinitiatives MFA created a dialogue which will benefit the community and businessesfor years to come. The destination now has the capacity to organise huge meetingswith an adequate and affordable supply of sustainable food, services and products.Simply put it has become the Capital of Sustainable Meetings.

This report highlights the strategies, efforts and results of a team of professionals whodedicated over two years to making COP15 a pioneering conference in terms of itssustainability approach. We wish to thank our partners and staff for their commitment.

Svend OllingHead of DepartmentRoyal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs


Notes• Financial indicators are estimated values. Final audited values not available at time of printing.• Indirect costs are public figures and not under the responsibility or control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sustainability Highlights

Categories Indicator Value

ECONOMIC

Direct investment in event: Estimated direct logistical cost for Ministry of Foreign Affairs: €58,400,000

Direct income: Sponsorship received as in-kind contributions: €15,300,000

Sustainability commitment: Estimated direct investment in event sustainability: €932,000Percentage of total budget: 2%

Estimated savings achieved through sustainability program: €562,000

Indirect investment/return of event: Estimated indirect income for destination: €220,000,000

Estimated total indirect costs (logistics, infrastructure, services, security from city and government): €200,000,000

SOCIAL

Participation: Number of delegates: 33,536

Event legacy in local economy: Number of technical staff hired directly for event: 8,000

Stakeholder engagement: Suppliers and sponsors signing sustainability clauses in contract: 100%

Number hotel beds with independant sustainability certification: 7,264Percentage of total in greater Copenhagen area: 53%

Health and quality of air: Space designated smoke free in venue m2: 76,673 Percentage of total: 99.87%

Social community investment: Donations to charitable causes: €537,000


Categories Indicator Value

ENVIRONMENTAL

GHG emissions: Total carbon footprint (tons C02e): 72,374

Flight emissions (tons C02e): 66,374

Local emissions (tons C02e): 6,000

Local emission reductions achieved through sustainability initiatives 22%

Emissions per participant (delegates and staff) (tons C02e): 2.16

Emissions offset (tons C02e): 72,374Percentage of total: 100%

Energy: Total energy consumed (kwh): 954,204

Energy produced by onsite wind turbine (kwh) 38168

Energy produced by conversion of food to bio-fuel (kwh) 26726

Transport: Delegates using public transport: 31,188Percentage of total: 93%

Paper usage: Sheets (tons) of FSC certified paper used for printing: 8 million (40,000)Percentage 50% or more from recycled paper 0%

Waste management: Total waste produced (tons): 103,720

Total waste per participant (tons): 3.09

Waste diverted from landfill and incinerated during event: 100%

Amount of materials reused or recycled during event: 0

Amount of materials reused or recycled during set up and breakdown of event: Not measured

Average divertion rate of destination: 56%

Plastic water bottles avoided (saved) by using filtered water stations: 100,000

Food waste (tons): 23

Food waste turned into biofuel: 100%

Water: Total amount of water used at venue (litres): 3,083,000Water usage at venue per person (litres): 92Percentage of cleaning supplies used at venue that are non-polluting: 100%

Food: Number meals served (tons): 192,000 (300)

Percentage food and beverage organic and local (within 100miles): 75% organic40% local

‘We must move the world from anera of talk to an era of change.’

Connie Hedegaard,Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, President of COP15

INTRODUCTION

Report Scope and BoundaryThis report draws sustainability reporting boundaries around those issues and activitieswhere the MFA team had direct decision making authority. Furthermore, it highlightsthe performance areas that could be measured and controlled. In addition, the reportdetails the areas where the ministry has used its influence to further the developmentof Denmark and Copenhagen’s strategic climate goals.

Areas where MFA has direct control and responsibility, and reports on theirsustainability approach and performance:

• Procurement, sponsors and providers.• Direct transportation.• Health and safety of delegates and workforce.• Operations within the Bella Center venue.• Communications and engagement.• Offices.

Areas where MFA has influence and is referenced in this document:• Destination marketing.• Hotel operations.• Regional and city transportation.• Delegate and participant behaviour.

Areas where MFA has no influence and is not discussed in any way in this document:• Accreditation process (UNFCCC Secretariat responsibility).• Content and programming of the sessions (UNFCCC Secretariat responsibility).• Political outcome of the meeting.• Participants outside of the congress centre.

Report PurposeThis report explains the sustainability strategy and management system implementedby the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to engage and collaborate withthe partners, suppliers and sponsors in the logistical organisation of the United NationsClimate Conference (COP15). It details the performance, achievements, best practicesand lessons learned by key stakeholders in their pursuit to organise a more sustainableconference.

COP15 was organised around the three pillars of sustainable development as definedby the BS8901 Sustainability Management System for Events1: Economy, Society andthe Environment. This sustainability report, the first of its kind for a large UNconference, reflects the same triple bottom line approach to reporting the impacts of theclimate conference.

The report has been written to share learning and best practices from the organisationof the event so that other event organisers can learn from the COP15 sustainabilityjourney. It aspires to help stimulate further discussion dedicated to advancing meetingand event organisation toward a more sustainable future.

The content and structure of this document follows the current G3 guidelines providedby the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – the global standard for sustainabilityreporting (www.globalreporting.org). It thereby aspires to follow internationallyrecognised standards for governance, transparency and reporting.

This report has been created and should be read in conjunction with its sister documentthe Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol2.

INTRODUCTION


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Over 46000 Non Governmental Organisations(NGOs) registered their interest to attendthe conference. In the photo some of the

6000+NGO representatives follow one of the government sessions on television.

COP participation is restricted to duly nominated representatives of parties, observerstates, accredited observer organisations and accredited press or media.

Over 46,000 individuals registered their interest to attend the conference. In the photoabove, some of the more than 6,000 NGO representatives in attendance at COP15follow one of the government sessions on television.

Hosting of the ConferenceThe UNFCCC secretariat, headed by Yvo de Boer, supports the climate negotiationsprocess, in addition to having overall responsibility for COP organisation and forfinding and selecting a host for the conference.

Expressions of interest to host a climate change conference come from the governmentof a prospective host country and is decided by COP members. At COP13, Bali, thegovernment of Denmark expressed interest to host COP15. In 2007, followingextensive technical missions and political discussions, the UNFCCC and the DanishGovernment signed a Host Country Agreement. This made the Danish Governmentresponsible for the financial investment and logistical organisation of the conference.The UNFCCC Secretariat was responsible for the content, program and accreditationaspects of the event.

Conference OverviewFor two weeks from the 7-19 December 2009, 33,526 people from NGOs, media,business and government gathered in Copenhagen to discuss climate change. Thishistoric meeting included government participation from 192 countries, including 126heads of state, making it the largest political meeting ever celebrated outside of NewYork and the largest concentration of government leaders at any one time. In addition6,000 media representatives covered the conference in Copenhagen, making it thelargest media event ever held in Denmark.

Large events of this type have both a positive and negative effect on the local communityin terms of the environment, society and the economy. From the start, the Danish hostcountry government made it a priority that this Conference of the Parties3 (COP)should leave a long-term legacy far beyond the event. This report analyizes in detail thethree elements of sustainable development related to the planning of the COP15 event– economy, environment and society.

Background of the COP ProcessThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change4 (UNFCCC) wasopened for signature at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (known by its popular title, the EarthSummit). On 12 June 1992, 154 nations signed the UNFCCC treaty, that uponratification committed signatory governments to a voluntary, non-binding, aim toreduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) with the goal of‘preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth's climate system’.

Since the UNFCCC was created, the COP5 has been meeting annually to assessprogress in working with climate change. Beginning in the mid-90s, the Kyoto Protocolwas negotiated to establish legally binding obligations for countries to reduce theirGHG emissions.


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COP15 in Numbers

• 33,526 participants.

• 90,000 hotel room nights.

• 76,673m2 of conference space.

• 11,000-15,000 guests processed by 23 scanners daily.

• 2,000 Security officers from local police, United Nationsand country delegation security staff.

• 2,500 official meetings.

• 300 tons of food were consumed, including 107,889meals, 20,057 sandwiches, 14,779 cakes and cookies,and 10,000 organic chickens.

• 350,000 glasses of Danish tap water were consumed,and 250,000 cups of Fairtrade™ coffee.

• 192,000 meals were served (75% organic) by 100 chefsand 450 catering staff.

• 14,935 chairs, 3,727 tables and 111 sofas had to beordered.

• 5,500 computer workstations and internet connectionfor up to 8,000 laptops.

• 7 football pitches of carpet.

SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH


SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH

Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings ProtocolFor this report, the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol (CSMP) is used tostructure and explain the approach taken by the Danish Government in organising theCOP15 conference.

The CSMP is a flexible event management framework that can be used to organiselarge, complex meetings in a sustainable way. The CSMP is not a new standard forsustainable event management. Instead, it provides a framework or roadmap on howto integrate a systematic, strategic approach to sustainable event management usinginternationally recognised standards, certification programmes and best practiceexamples.

It was created by a coalition of seven innovative organisations that have collaborated tocreate a methodology to capture and share their knowledge and experience in preparingCopenhagen for COP15. The project partners are:

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs.• VisitDenmark.• Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & Visitors Bureau.• City of Copenhagen.• MCI Group.• Novo Nordisk A/S.• Bella Center A/S.

For more detailed information please consult the CSMP whitepaper which can befound at www.csmp.dk.

The CSMP identifies five success factors that became the building blocks anddifferentiators of the approach to coordinate a more sustainable conference. These were:

• Visionary leadership.• Strategic planning.• Stakeholder engagement and communication.• Operational integration.• Good governance and assurance.

STRATEGY

GOVERNANCE LEADERSHIP

OPERATIONALINTEGRATION

STAKEHOLDERENGAGEMENT

CSMP FRAMEWORK


Project OrganisationThe Danish Government entrusted the logistical organisation of COP15 to the RoyalDanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Svend Olling was appointed Head ofDepartment COP15 Logistics, and had the task of recruiting and managing a team of21 professionals to whom was delegated the responsibility for the logistical tasks oforganizing the conference. Svend built and developed the team with the followingpoints in mind:

• Hire few but highly effective and experienced individuals.• Trust and empower them to take decisions.• Build a team culture based on individual responsibility.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigned a full-time head of section for logisticsgreening. The selected section head, Jan Christoph Napierski, was fully empowered topursue initiatives to improve the COP15 sustainable event agenda.

LeadershipThe leadership approach to COP15 is summarised in the following diagram with fourkey areas:

Commitment From the beginning, the Danish Government decided that it wanted to organise a moresustainable climate conference. The MFA dedicated financial resources andmanagement support to ensure that the logistics team delivered on this vision.

The Danish Government and Copenhagen City Council committed over €200 millionto prepare the city for COP15. This was used for logistics, citizen engagement, theClimate+ initiative, development of climate change plan, organising the climate summitand security, as well as the purchase of electric vehicles and the retro-fitting of existinginfrastructure to accommodate them. The MFA leveraged this commitment to amplifycommunity engagement. The result of the combined effort was a watershed event forsustainable events in Denmark.

VISIONHave a clear understanding of what success looks like

PURPOSEDefine sustainability

philosophy to guide forthe process

PRINCIPLESAlign with brandvalues and shared principles

COMMITMENTEnsure long term

management support

LEADERSHIP

Head of Logistics – Svend Olling

Administration

Conference Venue Team

Outreach Team

Transportation and Security Team

Legal and Financial Team

Accommoda-tion Team

Sustainability and Catering Team

IT Team

COP15 Logistics Organisation


Vision The MFA was guided by the vision expressed by Svend Olling which justified the focuson creating a sustainable event: ‘It is in the best interest of our organisation and societyas a whole that we move along the path towards a more sustainable future especiallyconcerning the environment and climate in the way we organise COP15. To that end,we are committed to being amongst the leaders in improving the sustainability of largerconferences.’

Purpose The purpose of the COP15 sustainability initiative was ‘to assure that theenvironmentally friendly and climate friendly considerations were integrated into theorganisation of COP15 to the highest degree possible’.

Principles COP15 logistics adopted the sustainability principles outlined in UN GlobalCompact6. Furthermore, it adopted the Danish Government’s plan to foster theCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of private companies document of14 May 2008 and the principles on sustainability outlined in the government CSRprogramme of 20077.

UN Global Compact Principles The UN Global Compact, established in July 2000, seeks to promote responsible corporatecitizenship by providing a framework for businesses to follow in response to the challengesof globalization. It is both a policy platform and a practical framework for organisationsthat are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. Today the GlobalCompact stands as the largest corporate citizenship and sustainability initiative in the world— with over 7700 participants and stakeholders from over 130 countries.

Participating organisations embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence,a set of ten core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environmentand anti-corruption.

Human RightsPrinciple 1: Businesses should support and respect human rights.Principle 2: Businesses are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour RightsPrinciple 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the

effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour.Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labour. Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and

occupation.

EnvironmentPrinciple 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to

environmental challenges.Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental

responsibility.Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally

friendly technologies.

CorruptionPrinciple 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms,

including extortion and bribery.


StrategyFrom the very beginning, sustainable event strategy was a key ingredient in theorganisation of the conference. Sustainability was not a separate initiative, but wasintegrated into the management processes and strategy. To provide structure and rigourto the process the MFA chose to adopt and use the British Standard BS8901:2009Specification for Sustainable Event Management.8

ISSUES SCOPE OBJECTIVES PRIORITIES POLICY

Identify and

analyze key

issues and risks

- Social

- Technology

- Environmental

- Political

Define what

areas are to

be included

in sustainability

initiative

Create clear

measurable

targets and Key

Performance

Indicators.

Use GRI and

APEX for

guidance

Determine

where you

will focus

your energy

and ressources

to get the

best ROI

Integrate vision,

principles and

objectives into

event policy

and plans.

Communicate

Area Issues

Economic • Demonstrate fair and responsible spend of government

money to stakeholders.

• Use COP15 investment wisely for long-term benefit of

destination and businesses.

• Large footprint of meeting and potential reputation

risks.

Environmental • Environmental performance of Bella Center

(for example, energy efficiency, waste management

and certification).

• Supply and cost of providing local, organic food and

beverage.

• Ensuring a high level of sustainability knowledge and

performance of key suppliers (for example, hotels,

venue, Professional Congress Organiser, restaurants)

and sponsors.

• Impact of transporting the thousands of delegates on

the environment and local communities (for example,

congestion, disruption, emissions and pollution).

Social • Health and wellbeing of participants and staff.

• Pleasing and respecting a very multicultural and diverse

group of stakeholders.

• Impact of the conference on the local community.

• Managing authorised and unauthorised protest inside

and outside of the venue.

IssuesDuring the planning of COP15 the following key sustainability issues were identified.Each one was reviewed for its level of risk and as an opportunity to improve participantexperience, environmental and economic impacts.


• Procurement.• Accommodation.• Transport.• Compensation.• Networking.

High-Level Objectives 35 specific objectives were defined in 11 areas. Each had their corresponding keyperformance indicators (please see page 36 for detail). From these four high levelobjectives were identified:

• Improve sustainable event performance through use of the BS8901 SustainabilityMangement Systems and achieve BS8901 certification.

• Engage stakeholders to improve event performance and create a legacy.• Communicate effectively to increase awareness of the event sustainability initiative

and to minimise reputational risk.• Engage the Bella Center to become a reference sustainable venue for COP15 and for

future events.

ScopeThe Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) had control and responsibility forthe logistical organisation of the conference. Hence the sustainability managementsystem, as defined in BS8901, encompassed the following activities:• Logistics department: Administration and leadership.• Supplier management.• Stakeholder engagement.• Transport.• Purchasing and sponsorships.• Accommodation logistics.

The following activities were outside the scope of the sustainability management system:• IT.• COP15 event communication.• Content and proceedings of the conference. (This was the responsibility of the

Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUNFCCC.)

• Accreditation (also the responsibility of the UNFCCC).

PrioritiesAs an outcome of COP15 strategy development workshops, MFA defined the followinghigh-level priorities for the conference:• Security: Safeguard delegates and staff.• Outcome: Decisions for event planning must facilitate positive outcome of delegate

negotiations.• Innovation: Create a technological showcase for Danish clean energy initiatives.• Sustainability: Minimise the environmental impacts of the event.

From the issues analysis, MFA identified seven key logistical issues to be given greaterpriority and attention. These areas were identified to be areas of higher risk and/orpresented opportunities to improve event sustainable performance and improvepotential for leaving positive legacy change in the destination:• Venue.• Communication.


Responsibility for Climate and the World's Finite Natural Resourcesand Environment

• Waste: We seek to limit the consumption of goods. Waste must beidentified, separated and recycled. Hazardous waste is treated in accordancewith safe handling and stringent local laws governing its handling. Anyresidual waste should be diverted to Copenhagen’s waste-to-energy facilityfor the purpose of generating heat and electricity and avoiding utilisinglandfills.

• Energy: We seek to limit consumption of electricity, petrol, diesel andheating. All of the event’s CO2 emissions, including delegate travel, will bemeasured and balanced through a Clean Development Mechanism Project.

• Water: We recognise water as a critical resource and seek to minimise wastewhile promoting quality.

• Suppliers: We will engage vendors and sponsors to ensure that all partiesintend to optimise the fair practices and sustainable content of products andservices purchased in support of the COP15 event.

Communications

• Engagement: We seek to work closely with authorities, companies,associations and interest groups to ensure the good exchange of knowledge,mutual inspiration and cooperation in order to create lasting benefits for theenvironment. We shall actively communicate with the general public and thedelegates to include them in the environmentally sound organisation ofCOP15.

• Innovation: We seek to support new technologies and innovation, whichprotect the environment and climate.

PolicyThe MFA developed a sustainability policy to help communicate the principles andcommitment of the Danish Government in organising a more responsible event. Thispolicy was communicated to suppliers and sponsors.

Accountability: Responsible Management of Financial Resources

• Legacy: We are devolving responsibility respect and responsibility at allorganisational levels to create maximum benefits and optimum return on theinvestment made by the Danish people in the COP15 event.

• Return on Investment: We are working to generate ongoing reward andsustained economic benefits for the economy and population in Denmark.

Social Responsibility: Capitalise People

• Delegates: For all delegates, we will show respect, offer courtesy and shallprovide professional service.

• Capitalise Policy: Our work is organised in an ethical manner and inaccordance with all laws and regulations.

• Suppliers: We will engage all vendors and sponsors to ensure that all partiesdeliver increased performance of social responsibility.

• Responsibility for, and Between, Employees: We show responsibility to andsupport for each other.

‘We have tried to make a new anddifferent conference in Copenhagen. We have no bottled water, only pure,clean drinking water from the tap. Two thirds of all food here at theconference is organic. We have tried ashard as possible to limit the carbonfootprint of the conference.’

COP15 opening address by HE Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark


Stakeholder EngagementThe MFA quickly realised that to create a greener COP15, they would need to engageand gain the support of local government, business and community. The MFAstrategically evaluated its spheres of influence to identify key stakeholders.

The following chart highlights the identified key stakeholder groups, and provides someexamples of key stakeholders.

Accelerating Change Through CollaborationStakeholder sustainability taskforces were created with the intention of elevatingcommunity awareness and improving the chance of achieving sustainability objectivesfor the COP15 event.

These taskforces were:• Green Hosting of COP 15 Task Force : This taskforce was initiated by

VisitDenmark and consisted of representatives from Horesta (the hotel andrestaurant association), VisitDenmark (the national tourism organisation ofDenmark), Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & Visitors Bureau (the City

weak

strong

strong

weak

*The entities listed here are examples.

Value Chain

Upstream

Downstream

Control

SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

Municipality ServicesOther Suppliers

Venue

Event Agency

Event OrganiserEmployees

Client

Sponsors

Participants

Local Government

Key s Examples

Staff: Royal Danish Ministry Foreign Affairs.UNFCCC.

Sponsors: DHL, Cisco, Velux, SAS, Novo Nordisk,Mercedes, Deloitte.

Suppliers: Bella Center, MCI and hotels.

Government and public sector: Royal Danish Ministry of Environment.United Nations agencies.City of Copenhagen.VisitDenmark.Wonderful Copenhagen Convention &Visitors Bureau.Public transportation.

Participants: NGOS.Corporates.INGOS.

Civil society: Local community.Local and international NGOs.Local universities.

‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

We need to go very far, very fast.’African Proverb


MCI Sustainability Services were hired to serve as objective counsel and sounding boardfor the MFA. They trained the team in BS8901, advanced sustainable eventmanagement techniques, and performed an internal audit function to highlightweaknesses and areas of improvement in the management system.

Governance As a rule, Danish society and business places considerable attention to goodorganisational governance. Consensus-based management is standard practice.

For COP15 good projectgovernance was assured by acombination of mana gementcontrols, measurement, repor -ting, external verifica tion andcertification. Transparency andaccountability were two keyvalues, which guided theorganisation of the project.

InternalManagement Controls As a public entity, the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is required by law tomaintain full transparency and accountability for taxpayer resources. Fiduciary oversightand reporting were assumed by a team of accountants and lawyers assigned to the MFA.Local and international laws were researched and compliance was documented tominimise the liability to the taxpayer.

The MFA dedicated an average of 60-hours monthly to team planning meetings, whichdiscussed conference organisation, sustainability priorities and tactics. These meetingswere attended by responsible parties from the key teams as show in the organisation chart.Discussions were recorded through meeting minutes and actions were tracked andreviewed for level of completion or needed alteration. MFA were afforded the opportunityto review the event management system and effectively communicate needed change.

GOVERNANCE

ExternalVerification

&Certification

ReportingManagementControls

Measurement

Convention Bureau), the City of Copenhagen, Bella Center (venue), Ministry ofForeign Affairs and MCI (Housing Bureau). The team met approximately every sixweeks for the year leading up to COP15 to discuss logistical and sustainability issues.

• Green Event Planners Taskforce: The MFA brought together a team of 12 eventorganisers who were all running their own large events leading up to COP15. Inthis team were event organisers representing the World Business Summit on ClimateChange, the Nordic Climate Solutions, the International Scientific Conference onClimate Change, the Climate Summit for Mayors, the Out Games and the IOCOlympic Games organising committee conference.This group met monthly to share aspirations, goals, challenges and solutions. TheMFA was able to raise awareness and educate members on sustainability practices. Thegroup became advocates of certification and the Green Event Planners Taskforce putparticular peer pressure on the Bella Center and hotels to achieve eco-certification.

Operational IntegrationJan-Christoph Napierski, Head of Section forevent greening, assured integration ofsustainability principles and actions into theday-to-day operations of COP15. Napierskidedicated considerable time to researchingbest practice methods and sustainabilitysystems. He participated in numerousindustry events in order to network withleading experts. BS8901 provided structureand guidance, which was supplemented withother tools and standards such as the APEXGreen Meeting Guidelines9 and the UNGreening Meeting Guide10. These allprovided useful education, checklists andguidance, which Jan-Christoph and the MFAused in their day-to-day interaction with thesuppliers, partners and sponsors.


External Verification and CertificationThe MFA viewed standards and certifications as critical success factors in engagingsuppliers and raising the environmental performance of the event. The MFA focusedon three levels of certification:

• Level 1: External certification of the event management system with BS8901.• Level 2: Certification of key suppliers, for example the venue and hotels.• Level 3: Certification of key supplies, for example paper, coffee, tea and food.

In 2009 the MFA selected BS8901 as the event management system, and MCISustainability Services were hired to provide guidance and training in the standard. Intotal, COP15 conducted four internal audits of the event management system againstBS8901 criteria before receiving external verification. Internal audits were conductedwith the assistance of MCI and Sustainable Event Certification. As part of this process,a training meeting was held in August 2009 with all MFA department heads to learnabout the BS8901 standard. This was followed by the first BS8901 gap analysis sessionwhere each MFA department leader responded to specific questions related to BS8901requirements. At the same time, the MeetGreenSM calculator was used to benchmarkand compare performance of the COP15 event against other events. Please see page 35for more information on the MeetGreen calculator and bechmarked performance.

With this baseline gap analysis and benchmarking in hand, COP15 planners respondedwith the needed adjustments and documentation to improve the accountability andresponsiveness to the event management system. The effective management process ofplan-do-check-act continued through the four internal audits until the event.

In anticipation of the MFA’s need for third party conformity assessment of the eventmanagement system, MCI engaged the Danish Standards and Certification body,Dansk Standard and DS Certificering. DS Certificering invested in translating theBS8901 standard into the Danish language and in training five auditors in the BS8901

sustainability management system for events. Once training was complete, DanskCertification assigned two auditors to conduct a pre-event review of the COP15 eventmanagement system. The MFA then proceeded to make necessary adjustments to themanagement system prior to the certification process, which took place for two daysduring the COP15 event, with a follow up day in January to review performance againstobjectives.

The international consultancy firm, Deloitte, responded to the MFA request forproposal to deliver a comprehensive assessment of event-related carbon emissions. Anintegral component of the sustainable event management process, the carbon footprintassessment was a sustainability goal identified by MFA as part of the BS8901 process.Deloitte also conducted a questionnaire on delegate satisfaction.

Triple Bottom Line Reporting As part of the strategy development, a series of social, economic and environmentalobjectives and targets were defined and tracked throughout the development of theevent. These measures were tracked and reviewed in each of the BS8901 internal auditsand in the external audits.

The development and creation of this report was outsourced to MCI SustainabilityServices, who worked in close connection with the seven members of the CopenhagenSustainable Meetings Coalition Protocol to collect, edit and verify all data, informationand conclusions in this report.

The G3 Global Reporting Initiative guidelines11 were used as a reference in creatingthis document, to provide guidance on reporting approach, structure, materiality andperformance indicators. MCI are involved in the working group of the development ofGRI sector supplement for the event sector12 and included this latest best practicethinking in the reporting approach. It should be noted that in hindsight, reporting ofsocial indicators could and should have been better. Future COP reports would benefitfrom greater reporting on the GRI human rights, labour practices, society and productresponsibility indicators.

‘We live in times of greatconsequence and, therefore, of greatopportunity. With issues of suchmagnitude, it is easy to focus solelyon the challenges; the worst-casescenarios; the what-ifs of failure.But take a moment to considerthe opportunities if we succeed.Imagine a healthier, safer, andmore sustainable, economicallyrobust world.’

HRH the Prince of Wales speaking to World Leaders at COP15

© UN Photo/Mark Garten

SUSTAINABILITY ACTIONS AND INNOVATIONS

DestinationThe sustainability of the event destination makes an important difference in theenvironmental and social performance of the event. By hosting the conference inDenmark and Copenhagen the event had a great opportunity to set above average levelsof sustainability performance for a COP. The following briefly outlines a number ofaspects of the Copenhagen initiative to be an excellent destination for hostingsustainable meetings.

To explain the sustainability action and innovations featured in the organisation ofCOP15 by the host nation, the report references the APEX Green Standards19

categories. APEX is an international standard for the organisation of green meetings.It has been created under the leadership of the Convention Industry Council (CIC)with the assistance of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Green MeetingIndustry Council (GMIC)20 and ASTM International21 (one of the largest voluntarystandards development organisations in the world).

SUSTAINABILITY ACTIONS AND INNOVATIONS


28

OPERATIONAL INTEGRATION

APEXGreen Standards

Transportation

Audio Visual

Accomodation

Communications

Destinations

ExhibitsFood & Beverage

Meeting Venue

On-Site Office

24% of Copenhagen’senergy comes fromrenewable sources.

Copenhagen City Actions Which Improved COP15Sustainable Performance a) Transportation

• Government Policy: City traffic is responsible for 20% of the city’s CO2 annualemissions. The Copenhagen climate plan focuses on developing a transport systemwhich encourages bicycle traffic, expands on the already excellent the Metro andsupports clean energy vehicles

• Bike Capital: With almost 40% of Copenhagen residents commuting safely bybicycle each day, the city has set a goal to increase this to 50%, thereby allowingthem to avoid 80,000 CO2 equivalents.

• Public Transport: The greater Copenhagen region has a highly efficient and costeffective metro, train and bus system. At COP15 93% of the participants used publictransport.

• Clean Energy Vehicles: As of December 2009 Copenhagen city owns 60 cars andtrucks fuelled by either electricity or hydrogen cells. The city has constructed ahydrogen cell fuelling station to support these vehicles. By 2015 there will be 600municipal vehicles (85% of total) running on clean energy and reducing the city’sfuel spend by half of 2009 levels.

Denmark as a Climate LeaderDecades ago, Denmark recognised the need to protect the environment and to promoteand safeguard sustainable development. This means that Denmark now has a lead intackling issues like sustainable energy generation and efficiency, district heating, wastewater treatment and waste water management. Denmark has gone from being 93%dependent on sources of foreign oil to becoming completely energy self-sufficient withmore than 29% of the electricity coming from renewables with 20% of this comingfrom wind energy.

The implementation of environmental policies is being addressed by municipalauthorities throughout Denmark. Environmental policies currently focus on: airpollution, the aquatic environment (nutrient discharges and groundwatercontamination), biodiversity, chemical substances, environmental health and globalissues such as climate change. Measures to address these issues rely on a range of diverse,well established and, in some cases, innovative policy instruments.

Climate Capital CopenhagenIn 2007 Copenhagen charted a transformative vision to become the world’s leadingeco-metropole, with a goal to reduce emissions by 20% by 2015 compared to 2005, anda stretch goal of being completely carbon neutral by 2025.

Based on a four-prong action approach, the city committed to bold and measureablegoals to create a sustainable community. The vision’s four pillars are:

• World’s best city for cycles.• Climate capital.• A green and blue capital city. • A clean and healthy big city.

The Copenhagen Climate plan22 can be found at: www.kk.dk/english


29


b) Energy

• In Copenhagen 96% of residents are connected to district heating. The districtheating system of the greater Copenhagen area utilises waste heat from refuseincineration and from the joint production of electricity and heat. Sulphur dioxideemissions have been reduced to less than a third of previous levels, and Carbondioxide emissions have been halved. The production of one megawatt of heat forBella Center emits about 113kg of CO2, which is two times less CO2 than onemegawatt from oil-fired heating.

• In Copenhagen 24% of energy comes from renewable energy. Current plans aim toincrease the mix of renewable energy and lower emissions by using biomass in powerstations, erecting additional wind turbines, increasing reliance on geothermal powerand renovating the district heating network.

c) Food

• The city’s Climate+ program inspired over 100 local restaurants, including the BellaCenter, to create climate menus during COP15.

• Copenhagen’s Climate+ restaurant program is an example of a city-led active andstructured support for businesses. Managed by the Copenhagen Green BusinessNetwork, a part of the Environment Department in the City of Copenhagen, it isdesigned to help businesses reduce their environmental impact.

• The Climate+ restaurants put a special focus on the connection between food andclimate impact by serving high quality, climate-friendly food. There are six areasidentified that make food more climate-friendly:– Buy your ingredients locally and in season. – Use less meat and especially less beef. Use more fish and poultry. – Use more vegetables and fruit. – Use organically produced food wherever possible. – Use as little processed food as possible (frozen and tinned food). – Minimise the waste of food.

• The Climate+23 program was accelerated for COP15. For more information www.kk.dk/klimaplus.

d) Participant Outreach and Engagement

• Hopenhagen is a PR campaign created by the International Advertising Associationin partnership with the City of Copenhagen. Their mission was: ‘To connect everyperson, every city and every nation to Copenhagen. To give everyone hope, and aplatform from which to act. To create a ‘grassroots’ movement that’s powerful enoughto influence change.’

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phot

o: A

lison

Cla

rke

Copenhagen City hall square turned into the virtual city ‘HopenhagenLive, where a giant globecommunicated the messages from citizens around the world supporting a climate deal’.

• Hopenhagen engaged over six million people in a virtual community to support thesigning of a climate deal. In Copenhagen, the main square was converted into acommunity zone for learning about climate change and campaigning for moregovernment action, attracting over 200000 people throughout the duration ofCOP15.

• The city organised the Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors, a parallelconference to COP15 that brought together 80 mayors from around the world toshow that cities are key actors in providing solutions to the climate challenges.

Leadership from the Tourism AuthoritiesBoth VisitDenmark and Wonderful Copenhagen, the national and regional marketingagencies charged with promoting Denmark and Copenhagen,contributed significantly to the sustainable organisation of COP15.

Both organisations dedicated resources in the two years precedingthe conference to build capacity and awareness around green andsustainable solutions for the personal and business traveller. Nowas a legacy they are working to position Denmark and Copenhagenas a world leader in sustainable events and meetings.

Wonderful Copenhagen24 and VisitDenmark used their webplatforms to educate and raise awareness about solutions availableto delegates for a more sustainable COP15. This included lists ofhotels with eco-certifications, restaurants serving organic fare andgreen transport options. For the meetings market, the partnerscreated sustainability training courses, green meeting guides andconducted familiarisation trips to show planners how to organise amore sustainable meeting in Copenhagen. VisitDenmark and


31

partners also organised energy study tours prior to, during and after COP15 to givedelegates firsthand knowledge of how Denmark is pioneering the development andmainstream use of sustainable technology and solutions.

The web (www.visitcopenhagen.com/green) provided regular news and usefulinformation to delegates and professional meetings organisers on how to organise ameeting more sustainably, combined with a list of suppliers, articles about innovativesuppliers and key initiatives.

One of the many innovative solutions used Google Maps to show web visitors whereto find green restaurants, hotels and shops.

AccommodationIn Copenhagen 85% of hotels are members of a trade organisation known as Horesta25.As a result of stakeholder engagement initiatives from COP15 planners, as well assupportive action from Horesta in promoting eco-certification, the majority ofCopenhagen hotels pursued and achieved criteria to be recognised with third party eco-certification.

In December 2008 12% of Copenhagen hotels were third party certified. In December2009 53% of Copenhagen hotel inventory, approximately 7,200 rooms, had meetcriteria to be awarded one of the following eco-labels: The Green Key, Green Globe, EUFlower or Nordic Swan.

Horesta organised a series of training and networking sessions to raise awareness aboutthe benefits of certification, provided guidance to meet certification, and issuedinformation aimed at increasing the number of hotel rooms under certification criteria(and hopefully speeding up the time this process took).

Horesta representatives have credited the active involvement of the City of Copenhagen,Wonderful Copenhagen and VisitDenmark in increasing participation in the eco-labelling scheme. Numerous hotel operators cite energy savings and increased marketvisibility as a result of earning eco-certification, according to Horesta representatives.

Horesta, working in partnership with Type 1 eco-labels The Nordic Swan and the EUFlower, created a web site called Green Conferences to serve as a resource for event

participants. www.groennekonferencer.dk/Om%20os/English.aspx.

The MFA identified the need for a Professional Congress Organiser (PCO) to supporthotel booking logistic processes. The MFA developed sustainability criteria to informinterested organisations of the expectations for performance. The successful company,NHG, later MCI Copenhagen26, developed a supplier code of conduct to gaugecommitment to, and engagement with, hotel-based energy efficiency, recycling, waterefficiency systems and water quality, and non-toxic chemicals. Their plan to integratean innovative weighting system gave preference to eco-certified hotels.

In total MCI managed over 90,000 room nights for COP15. Within the Bella Centre,an onsite accommodation office provided an on demand hotel service, with ready adviceon how to best use the public transport system to quickly and easily reach the hotels.


32

Amount of environmentalcertified hotel rooms Jun 08 to Dec 09

Rooms in DK (1)

Certified room

% Certifiedroom

2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009

Copenhagen County 13761 13764 1687 7264 12% 53%

The Venue – Bella CenterUNFCCC and the Danish Government selected the Bella Center27 as the venue for theClimate Conference. In support of COP15 objectives and sustainable business practicesthe Bella Center has, since 2007, committed to an investment of €2.5 million toincrease environmental sustainability. This commitment and focus has resulted in afundamental shift in how the Bella Center is run and managed.

Bella Center’s environmental activities were coordinated by anenvironmental steering group – The Green Committee – who set theoverall objectives and specific initiatives and created an action plan.The Green Committee focused on assessing and improving thesustainability of four key areas:

• Behaviour.• Infrastructure.• Production.• Food and refreshments.

This environmental steeringgroup was administered by asecretariat and headed by arepresentative from Bella Center’sexecutive board. This secretariatwas comprised of:

• Technical director (chairman).• Congress and events director.• F&B manager.• Chief architect.• General manager Bella Hotel. • PR manager.• Sustainability project manager

(fulltime).

TransportationThe MFA identified COP15 as an opportunity for Denmark to be a showcase forenergy technologies. The technology initiative was extended to delegate transportation.Recognising that some government officials required higher levels of security than couldbe provided on public transportation, the MFA sourced over 200 hydrogen fuel cell andbiodiesel vehicles. This provided high profile visibility of these technologies as well asshowcasing a solution which would deliver fewer event related carbon emissions.

To improve delegatemobility throughout the city,and to discourage additionalfossil fuelled transportationdemand, MFA collaboratedwith local transportationentities to provide trans -portation passes with eachaccreditation package. Onceaccredited, delegates showedidentification at the trans -portation desk and weregiven the pass which was valid for the duration of the COP15 event. One outcome ofthis initiative was an estimated (93%) of accredited delegates used public transportation(source Deloitte).

This high participation rate was influenced by the fact that the main venue, the BellaCenter, incorporates a Metro line stop.

To further augment mobility, MFA asked a team of university students to coordinatea fleet of 200 bicycles to be provided for free usage by accredited delegates. Studentscontacted retail shops and manufacturers to build the inventory and created a systemto make them available to delegates.


33

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isa

Ris

ager

Sustainability ShiftThe Bella Center team set a goal to reduce total emissions by 20% by the COP15 eventstart date, with a further reduction of 5% by 2015 as compared to 2007 values (total25%). The investment was mainly focused on new lighting, heating, insulation andcooling systems (energy efficiency). By the December 2009 target date, theseinvestments actually resulted in a 19.3% emissions reduction (1,636 tonnes of CO2).

Over 1,175 hours of staff training was carried out with workshops from internal greenchampions and external experts within the meeting industry. MCI sustainability servicesconducted a creative and strategy workshop for the sales and marketing team.

The greening initiative brought some unintended, but positive,outcomes from the creative process of preparing the Bella Center forCOP15. For example, Bella Center operations teams sourced andcreated sustainable decorations to highlight the Bella Centerinteriors. Up-cycled old car tires were converted to attractiveplanters for indigenous fir trees which were placed throughout thehalls.

Part of a larger effort to reduce energy and CO2 emissions includedan unique collaboration with renewable energy giant Vestas, aDanish-based wind energy corporation who placed a wind turbineon Bella Center property in the lead up to the COP15 event. Thewind turbine was part of the technology showcase promoted byCOP15 planners and provided an equivalent of 4% of the totalenergy consumed by Bella Center during COP15. The turbinegenerated and delivered energy directly to the main electricity gridfrom where Bella Center received its energy.

With these investments, staff training and the change of operatingprocedures the Bella Center efforts was able to apply and thenachieve external third party Green Key certification in November2009. More details of the Bella Centers approach and tactics arefound in the proceeding sections and also on the Bella Centergreening website www.bellaCentre.dk/English/BC+Greening.

Temporary StructuresDue to additional space requirements, Bella Center teams constructed over 10,000m2of ephemeral building space. Whilst there was an attempt to build energy efficiencyinto the additional space, the extra space was not as efficient as the main facility. Alsothe diesel generators did not use bio-fuels.


34

In response to MFA request, the Bella Center switched to more responsible purchasingmethods for beverage products. All coffee served at the Bella Center is now Fairtrade™certified.

MFA and Bella Center collaborated to feature Climate Kitchen food outlets wheredelegates had option of vegetarian or traditional fare for affordable prices. A full, hotmeal was priced at 29DKK, the equivalent of €3 or 4USD.

MFA also collaborated with the Bella Center to promote clean local drinking water aspart of an effort to reduce cost for delegates and to reduce waste from plastic beveragebottles. The Bella Center placed 55 drinking water dispensers at each food outlet andprovided compostable corn resin cups for delegate use. The initiative is estimated tohave avoided the use and waste of100,000 plastic bottles, and madeconsiderable cost and CO2 emissionssavings.

Food and Beverage

During the two-week conference delegates consumed 10,000 organic chickens,50 tons of potatoes, two tons of couscous and five ton of fish, prepared by 100chefs and by 450 food service staff.

Through a competitive bidding process, which brought interest from Denmark’slargest catering providers, the Bella Center was selected for its ability to deliver ahigh volume of food in an environmentally responsible way. The Bella Centerreached out to their suppliers and revaluated operating procedures so that theycould offer organic, regionally produced food products and climate-smart menupackages for COP15. Of all food and beverage served at the conference 75% wascertified organic with 40% of all products sourced locally. Local food is definedas any food product grown and processed within 160km of Copenhagen. Thisincludes Sweden and Denmark.


35

‘On of the key insights learnt by thecatering team was that it is possibleto compensate for the higher cost of organic food by simply changingthe mix of meat, starch andvegetables within the meal menu.In this way the cost of the mealcan be the same as non-organicand can be sold at comparableprices.’

Jan Christoph NapierskiRoyal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the event, all delegates at Bella Center were encouraged to make use of thewaste management systems on site. Paper, plastic, metal, wood and glass were targetedwaste streams and were scheduled to be collected by Reno Flex, an EMAS-certifiedlocal waste management company. All collected organic waste, including bioplast cups,was scheduled to be transformed into biogas. Hazardous waste was treated by a localISO14001 certified company.

Unfortunately, due to poor planning andcommunication, the event recycled waste streamsbecame too contaminated for recycling, and all wasteproduced during the event (89,000kg) wastransported and burned at Amagerforbrændingen,the local waste incineration plant.

Amagerforbrændingen receives waste from half amillion citizens, including most of the hotels inCopenhagen. All waste, which is not recycled ordirected to biogas, is incinerated. The heat generatedthrough this process is transformed into energy,supplying 140,000 Copenhagen households andbusinesses, including the Bella Center, withelectricity and district heating every year. Thisrepresents 5% of the total energy source mix.

In addition to the study of waste streams, BellaCenter architects designed and produced more than 200 triple recycling stations fromrecyclable, reusable materials for ‘Plastic’, ‘Paper’ and ‘Other’, plus 100 stations for‘Organic’ waste to facilitate event delegate participation in waste separation. Thecontainers were constructed of renewable materials in the form of large cardboard tubeswith fitted lids, each of which had colour-coded signage.

Bella Center participates in a city initiative to convert food waste to biofuel. Eleventons of all organic waste, 12% of total event waste, was captured and converted to bio-energy through this process. Cities who landfill organic waste create emissions frommethane, a GHG 25 times more damaging to climate stabilisation than CO2.

Agents for ChangeMuch of the success of the responsible and sustainable food and beverage actions canbe attributed to the informed leadership of the MFA. The Ministry´s COP15 eventplanners were supported in their effort by a positive response from the Bella CenterFood and Beverage team led by Anders Emborg and for sustainability, Marianne Nissen.As a senior level food and beverage operations manager, Anders was not, it should benoted, initially impressed by the MFA request for sustainable practices. Overcoming aninitial resistance based on the perception that costs would be prohibitive and logisticsdifficult, Anders evolved to become a spearhead for the Bella Center effort to sourcesustainable products and to improve operational efficiencies.

Marianne Nissen, special project lead for sustainability at the Bella Center, served acritical role in the formation of the Bella Center approach to greening. Mariannepursued and helped secure third party certification for the Bella Center through theGreen Key environmental performance scheme, and organised the Bella Center’soutreach and stakeholder engagement effort with the COP15 taskforce. Although manyplanner requests were initially met with Bella Center leadership resistance, Marianne’sefforts to work within both the Bella Center operations team and the COP15 plannertaskforce eventually played a key role to make much of the positive end result possible.

Both Anders and Marianne were founding leaders of the Bella Center Green Team,Anders and Marianne helped coordinate team trainings and participated in thesustainability workshop led by MCI Sustainability Services. In this way, they wereinstrumental in creating a foundation on which a culture of sustainable practices couldbe built at the Bella Center.

Waste Management at Bella CenterWorking with the City of Copenhagen, the Bella Center conducted an analysis of wastestreams and system processes. A report was completed and helped inform thepreparation for COP15 and other climate events held at the Bella Center leading upto the conference.

Waste generated in the setup and deconstruction of COP15 was recycled butmeasurement plans did not include and collect this data.


37

Anders Emborg, F&B Manager at Bella Center.


38

ExhibitsSustainable centrepieces and furniture was designed and created by Bella Centerarchitects to provide aesthetic accent in bistro and Climate Kitchen areas. Comprisedof glass vases, compost and pine seedlings, the centrepieces were an example of arestorative decoration in that they represent no waste beyond that of the constructionof the vase, which is reusable. Plant pots were made out of used car tyres and thecatering staff T-shirts were made form recycled plastic bottles.

Working in collaboration with Bella Center and participating exhibitors, MFA observedactions to better integrate responsible practices to the large exhibition. Exhibitors wereadvised of the greening initiative and were asked to support the United Nations GlobalCompact Principles28 as part of registering for the event. In addition, exhibitors wereadvised of the waste management policy and were provided with information abouthow to reduce waste during the conference. Exhibitors, like event sponsors, wererequired to meet compliance with COP15 sustainability principles outlined in theUnited Nations Global Compact. Booth size was limited as was the amount of electricalpower each booth was authorised to consume. In this way, MFA effectively reducedthe total energy consumption for the event.

TelePresence and Video ConferencingIn partnership with Cisco Systems, MFA and UNFCCC created a network of cutting-edge, virtual conferencing locations around the world that were accessible through fourCisco TelePresence29 rooms at the Bella Center. This services was made available andused free of charge by presidents, prime ministers, environment and climate ministers,UN officials, NGO officials and media Groups.

The COP15 Cisco TelePresence rooms were connected to the Global Climate ChangeMeeting Platform Exchange and were interfaced with Cisco TelePresence suites aroundthe world. These suites were located at UNFCCC in Bonn, UNEP in Nairobi, theUN’s Palais Des Nations and UNICC in Geneva, the UN Headquarters in New York,and the Danish Government’s Ministry of Climate and Energy, as well as more than 75Cisco TelePresence rooms and 20 select Danish embassies.

From these locations, 149 sessions and more than 250 hours of TelePresence meetingswere activated in support of the delegate climate negotiations. All reports stated that thesessions worked seamlessly, provided real-time, vivid presence and contributed significantlyto the objective of broadening the dialogue to key stakeholders not in Copenhagen.

Audiovisuals and IT

Virtual ParticipationWWW.COP15.DK was the Danish Government's host country website for the UNClimate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-19December 2009.

COP15.dk had four million visitors from February to December 2009, of which1,650,000 visited the website during the conference. On the busiest day, approximately200,000 users visited COP15.dk. Thousands of visitors also viewed the hundreds ofwebcast beamed live from COP15 on www.webcast.cop15.dk.

The website featured news coverage, blogs, background material and more, and allowedvisitors to send climate greetings to COP15, which were shown on large screens at theconference and at various outdoor venues in Denmark. More than 15,000 climategreetings were received from around the world.

In addition to COP15.dk, theRoyal Ministry of Foreign Affairsof Denmark (MFA) maintained asignificant presence on Facebook,Twitter and YouTube for COP15.On Facebook, COP15 had morethan 42,000 fans, on Twitter,COP15 had more than 13,000followers and on YouTube, MFAhad more than 5.2 million channelviews between 22 September and20 December 2009.


39

Cisco also supported the MFA andUNFCCC with more traditionalnetworking solutions (LAN and Wi-Fi)as well as the crucial task of maintainingdata security operation 24-hours-a-dayduring the event.

LED SpotlightsA review of the cost and energyconsumption of tradition spotlights ledto the use of LED spotlights. Theseunits use 30% of the energy oftraditional halogen spotlights andemitted (20%) of the heat of regularspotlights.

When the MFA compared the cost oftraditional lighting, including the manyretrofits to accommodate the largenumber of oversized cables, with lowheat LED spotlights that could beplugged into a standard wall outlet, theydiscovered that the integrated cost forLEDs was more affordable. When MFAdiscussed the opportunity ofshowcasing their energy-smart lightingproducts with the vendor, they agreedto feature the cutting-edge technologyas part of a sponsorship package whichresulted in a savings of €25,000.

ComputersCOP events worldwide agreed to furnish computer workstations for delegates andjournalists. The ministry selected new model laptops, each of which consumed 25% lessenergy than regular personal computers.

With 5,500 new computer workstations and up to 8,000 laptops, the internetconnection was expanded to 6 gigabit of bandwidth.


40

No Gift PolicyHistorically, Conference of the Partiesevents, like many United Nations events,have included observations of protocolwhich include the purchase of gifts andcongress bags for participating countrydelegations. The process of selecting gifts istime consuming, their acquisition isexpensive and often, the gifts are simplythrown away. In an unusual move, the MFAcommitted to break the tradition ofproviding gifts to delegates thereby savingapproximately €537,000. MFA had theoption to integrate this savings into theevent budget but instead underscored theircommitment to sustainable practices byinvesting these funds in scholarships for 11 students from 20 developing nations toattend classes at Danish universities. Meet the students athttp://studyindenmark.dk/climate/meet-the-cop15-students.

‘Looking in your conference kit, you were perhapsdisappointed – or perhaps relieved – not to find afigurine of the little mermaid or other conferencesouvenirs. We have chosen to cut back on gifts andinstead invest in 11 scholarships for students fromaround the world who are attending a fully-financed, two-year MA programme in Denmark.’

Marketing and Communication

Paper and printingUsing the COP15 website and the ‘behind the scenes’ blog, the MFA stronglyencouraged all delegates to reduce use of paper, folders and brochures. Still, an estimatedeight million pages of paper was needed for necessary documents in print. The paperused during COP15 was eco-certified with the European Flower. Furthermore, theselected paper stock was certified by the FSC as PCF. The paper was produced at a millcertified with ISO14001 and the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme(EMAS).

All attempts were made to use recycled paper in the scores of photocopiers loaned tothe MFA for the COP15 event. However, after weeks of testing, the recycled contentpaper continually caused paper jam problems and virgin FSC certified paper had to bepurchased in place of the recycled content paper lest it compromise the effectiveness ofthe meeting (see priorities in management approach section).

SponsorshipCOP15 was an event owned by the UNFCCC. As astrictly controlled organisation the UNFCCC does nothave a history of collaboration with businesses interestedin offering goods, services or financial support in exchangefor sponsorship visibility or organisational endorsement.The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided acompelling business case to the UNFCCC for offering limited sponsorshipopportunities. This innovative approach resulted allowed the ministry to tender andthen procure €15, three million of in-kind services and products.

To add integrity to the sponsor selection process all sponsorship contracts featuredsustainability clauses and language which reinforced the MFA expectations forresponsible business. The United Nations Global Compact principles were used as abasis for developing the contractual language and sustainability commitment.


41

Opening Address by HE Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark


Communication with ParticipantsThe COP15 website and behind the scenes blog provided information which facilitateddelegate participation in sustainable initiatives.MFA worked to make sustainable choices easierand more affordable than non-sustainable choices.For example, fresh, clean drinking water was readilyavailable to delegates for free, which discouragedthe purchase of wasteful plastic bottles. Other tipsincluded guidance for using local transportation,purchasing environmentally responsible souvenirsand for selecting vegetarian dishes over meat-baseddishes, all of which bring a higher carbon footprint.

Social media, including an event blog, Twitter andFacebook sites were actively used to engage andlisten to event participants.

MotivatingParticipantsEvent Based Green Team

Throughout the course of COP15, 25volunteer sustainability experts fromThe Danish Ministry of theEnvironment and the Ministry ofClimate and Energy served asinformation resource on matterspertaining to event sustainabilitypractices. These sustainable attachéswere highly visible with bright greenpolo shirts and were assignedschedules to ensure a minimumpresence of 15 people between peakhours of the conference.

The attachés provided help andinformation on the sustainabilityprogram, travel advice and thedestination. In addition, Deloitteprovided a carbon footprintinformation area, where delegatescould enquire about the events andtheir own footprint.

The Official COP15 Culturel Events Calendar was producedby Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & Visitors Bureau

and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The calendar presented more than 90 international

climate-related events taking place during COP15. From exhibitions to lectures, from concerts to workshops,and from fashion shows to car races. The events calendar

was also available online at www.cop15culture.com


Press ManagementCOP15, created the biggest press event ever held in Denmark. Over 4,000representatives from the press and media participated in the climate conference. Asexpected the sustainability and the footprint of the event was of high attention to themedia.

Prior to the event, MFA dedicated time to develop a press management strategy. Keystaff received training which together helped to control key message delivery. Theseactions helped the Danish Government manage the risks and attract mainstream mediaattention.

At least 50 interviews were requested and conducted with high profile TV, Radio andNews agencies from around the world specifically on the issue of greening COP15.New sustainability standards set for this type of political conference was one of themost cited aspects of COP15 and often mentioned in articles focusing on the substanceof the conference.

‘The world's governments alone cannot make progress, the kind ofprogress that is needed on globalclimate change. They need everyonecoming together, everyone workingtogether. They need the cities, they need the states, they need the provinces and the regions. They need the corporations, the activists, the scientists and the universities. They need theindividuals whose vision anddetermination create movements.They need everybody out there.’

US Governor Schwarzenegger

SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE


Event Carbon FootprintA carbon footprint is a measure of the impact of human activities on the environment in termsof the amount of GHG produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide-equivalents (CO2e).

International Travel EmissionsTravel emissions were calculated by the UNFCCC Secretariat using data from theUNFCCC registration database.

The emission factors for air travel was based on WRI GHG Protocol13 calculation tools andDEFRA datasets. For train and car, the emissions factors were provided by GTZ (DeutscheGesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit – the German Development Agency).

The following distances were used for classifying the travel method:

To account for the non-CO2 effect of aviation on the atmosphere, for long haul flightsa Radiative Forcing Index (RFI) of 2.7 was used for long haul flights, which are assumedto have a cruise altitude above 9000m. A figure of 1 was used for short and mediumhaul flights. The IPCC14 in their Fourth Assessment report recommend a range of 1.9to 4.7. The difference in RFI figures was chosen in order to take a conservative approachfor offsetting purposes.

To simplify the argument, a good solution for reporting is that carbon emissions shouldbe reported without RFI or other multipliers. However, carbon emissions to be offsetshould be calculated using a multiplier. The Stockolm Environment Institute15

recommends a minimum multiplier of 2. In COP15, an RFI of 2.7 was used as partof their conservative approach to sustainability.

Local GHG EmissionsLocal emissions were measured and calculated by Deloitte. The following summarisestheir approach, scope and measurement methodology, which is explained in detail inthe COP15 Carbon Footprint report.

Scope of Measurement

Deloitte’s carbon footprint calculation for COP15 uses a control based approach. Thismeans that the scope primarily includes activities whose GHG emissions can, to acertain degree, be controlled by either the MFA or the participants of COP15. Thescope of the measurement includes only emissions from activities in, or near, thelocation of the conference (local emissions), while emissions from participants’ travelto and from Copenhagen was calculated separately by the UNFCCC Secretariat.

This approach has been reviewed and improved in consultation with an internationalpanel of practitioners in Deloitte and with Professor Henrik Wenzel at the Universityof Southern Denmark, who have extensive experience in the application of GHGaccounting and reporting methodologies.

Total Km Emission RFI EmissionsFactor Tons C02e

Car 1,728.603 0.165 1.0 285

Train 1,097.242 0.048 1.0 53

Short haul 479.213 0.180 1.0 86

Medium haul 22,249.763 0.126 1.0 2,803

Long haul 212,613.142 0.110 2.7 63,146

Total 66,374

Train Participants traveling between 100 and 250 km, andall participants from Denmark and Norway, and somefrom northern parts of Germany

Short-haul flight Flights between 250 and 450 km

Medium-haul flight Flights between 450 and 1600 km

Long-haul flight Flights above 1600 km

SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE

The following is a summary of key local impacts in tons of C02e:

Total EmissionsCombining the two reports, total emissions of COP15 was estimated at 72,374 tonsC02e (92% of which were due to international transport impacts). Local emissionswere 6,000 tons C02e and 8% of total. Sustainability initiatives documented in thisreport are estimated to have reduced local carbon emissions by 22% with a mediumlevel of confidence. (assumes 50% of delegates normally use public transport).


The measurement includes the main areas and sub-phases as detailed in the table.

Source tons C02e Local Transport 270 Accommodation 2,300 Conference Centre 3,430 International Transport 66,374 Total 72,374

Area Sub-phase GHG sources Data sources

Accommodation • Hotel• Outsourcing of

laundry• Outsourcing of

catering• Outsourcing of IT

servers• Private

accommodation

• Energy consumptionfor operations (fuel,electricity andheating)

• Hotels• Participant

information• Hotel service

providers• Normative databases

Transport • Private cars• Taxi• Bus• Train• Metro• Police vehicles• Transport of goods

• Energy consumptionfor operations (fueland electricity)

• Service providers(train, metro, taxis)

• Participantinformation

• Data fromsatisfaction survey(participantbehaviour)

• Normative databases• Police• Emergency

Conferencecentre

• Operation ofconference centre

• Food• Paper

• Energy consumptionfor operations (fuel,electricity andheating)

• Energy consumptionfor production of foodand paper

• Bella Center• Bella Center service

providers • Normative databases

Accommodation 2,300

Sub phases:

Private accommodation 700 Hotels 1,600

Local transport 270

Sub phases:

Limoservice 10 Train and metro 70 Taxi 110 Bus 50 Police 25 Transport of goods and services 5

Conference centre 3,430

Sub phases:

Conference centre– perm. build. 2,200 Conference centre– temp. build. 1,130 Conference centre– Forum 5 Paper consumption 15 Food consumption 80

Carbon Emissions Breakdown

Local transport 0.4%

Conference centre4.7%

International transport91.7%

Accommodation 3.2%


Social, Environmental and Economic PerformanceSuppliers and, importantly, sponsors for COP15 were required by contract to expresstheir commitment to the United Nations Global Compact ten principles in the areasof human rights, labour rights, environmental stewardship and business governance.100% of COP15 event partners committed to the ten principles as expressed in a signedstatement.

The following are selected key highlights of the triple bottom line approach tosustainable event management as implemented and influenced by COP15 plannersand their sustainability approach.

Economic • Direct investment from the Royal Danish Ministry Foreign Affairs (€58,400,000

for logistics and organisation of the conference at the Bella Center).• Total estimated government and city investment of €200 million for the organisation

of the event, preparation of the city and security services (not controlled by theMFA).

• Estimated indirect income for Copenhagen €220 million.• Sustainability commitment of €932,000 or 2% of budget.• Savings from sustainability €562,000.

Please note all figures are estimated and awaiting confirmation from the governmentauditors.

Environment Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation

• Influenced Bella Center to invest €2.5 million in technology that reduced energyconsumption by 19.3%.

• The Bella Center achieved eco-certification through Green Key in November 2009.• Vestas, the Danish wind energy company, in partnership with the Bella Center

installed a wind turbine providing an equivalent of 4% of energy.• Renting of LED spotlights which use 30% of the energy of traditional halogen

spotlights and emitted (20%) of the heat of regular spotlights.• MCI Copenhagen developed a system to gauge hotel commitment to good

environmental stewardship by assessing energy efficiency, recycling rates, waterefficiency systems, water quality and non-toxic chemicals.

• Conducted trainings and attended stakeholder engagement sessions with Copenhagen’shotel industry organisation Horesta. In December 2008 12% of Copenhagen hotelswere third party certified. In December 2009 53% of Copenhagen hotel inventory,approximately 7,200 rooms, had met criteria to be awarded one of the following eco-labels: Green Key, Green Globe, EU Flower or Nordic Swan.

Promoting Health: Air and Water Quality

• Hired Danish military teams to coordinate city-wide transportation strategy in orderto increase traffic flow and reduce congestion and pollution.

• Energy technology showcase profiled 200 hydrogen fuel cell and bio fuel limousinesand vans for event VIPs.

• 200 bicycles made available to delegates (for free).• 200,000 meals with 75% organically grown products (equivalent to 300 tonnes food

consumed).• 23 tons of food waste was diverted from landfill and converted into 5,750m3 of

Biogas. An equivalent of 26,726kW electricity, saving 5,750kg CO2.• 350,000 glasses of Danish tap water were consumed from 55 customised cold water

dispensers. It is estimated that this initiative avoided the disposal of 100,000 plasticwater/beverage bottles.

• 250,000 cups of Fairtrade™ coffee served.• Climate Kitchen concept with regional organic menu initiative which reduced

emissions from 6kg CO2 to 3kg/person.• 40% product sourced from region closer than 160km.


Promoting Public Transport

• 100% of accredited delegates were given complimentary passes to use Copenhagen'spublic transportation system (tranis, busses and Metro).

• 93% of 33,000 event participants used public transport.• 100% of event CO2 emissions, including 100% of delegate transport emissions,

were offset with funds going to a dedicated CDM Project in Bangladesh.

Waste Minimisation

• In preparation for COP15, Bella Center developed a waste management system withsorting of waste into four streams.

• Bella Center designers made use of ‘up-cycled’ rubber tires to create plant pots.• All delegates were encouraged to reduce use of copier paper, folders and brochures.

All paper used was European Flower and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifiedpaper and Process Chlorine Free (PCF). The paper was produced at a mill certifiedwith ISO14001 and the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).After extensive test the hundreds of photocopiers on site did not work properly with100% recycled content paper.

• Organisers optimised use of social media and virtual communication to shareinformation about the meeting. The website www.sustainability.cop15.dk hadextensive information about greening strategy and actions including ways thatparticipants could reduce their environmental footprint.

Social: Commitment to CommunityStaff Wellbeing

• The MFA received training from expert psychologists in how to identify and managestress resulting from the high workload and pressure of COP15. Post Event StressDisorder (PESD) is common among event professionals and the training helpedplanners manage this situation post event.

Delegate Wellbeing

• The COP15 website and culture brochure provided information that facilitateddelegate participation in social, cultural, religious and environmental initiatives.

• €300,000 food subsidy from the Danish Government made sustainable choiceseasier and more affordable than non-sustainable choices. This subsidy enabledreduced food prices, free drinking water and free chocolate.

• 25 volunteer sustainability experts from the Danish Ministry of the Environmentand the Ministry of Climate and Energy served as an information resource onmatters pertaining to event sustainability practices.

• 75% of food and beverages served were organic.

Education Legacy

• €537,000 was saved by implementing a non-gift policy. The Danish Governmentinvested this saving in scholarships for 11 students from developing countries toattend a masters business postgraduate education at Danish universities.


Satisfaction with public transport

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1% 1%1%

4%

20%

73%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 5

Choice of transportation

6%

1%

19%

42%

17%

9%

2%0% 0%

3%

WalkBicycle Bus

Metro Train

COP15 Shuttle Taxi

Limousine CarOther

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

TransportTransportation was highlighted as one of the key logistical strengths of COP15 withparticipants giving a satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5. Over 93% of attendees usedpublic transport to get to the Bella Center, with the Metro being the most popularform of transport. For those that did not use public transport, time and inconveniencewere provided as main reasons.

Choice of accommodation

Hotel

Private housing through

"New life Copenhagen"

Private housing through

COP15.housing.dk

Others

Do not know

47%40%

5%7%

1%

Accomodation Weightedissue average Price 3.3 Quality 3.8 Location 3.9 Information service 3.8

Measuring Participant SatisfactionOn behalf of the MFA, the internationalconsultancy Deloitte conducted a survey ofparticipant satisfaction at the Bella Center.Interviews were conducted over four days,at different locations within the BellaCenter, targeting different nationalities andparticipant categories (parties, delegates,press and NGOs). In total 411 surveys werecompleted representing 5% of the totalparticipants and over 98 countries.

In the majority of questions, a satisfaction scale 1-5 (where 1 is very dissatisfied and 5is very satisfied) was been used.

AccommodationOf the participants interviewed, over 47% stayed in hotels. A staggering 40% stayedin private housing through the innovative New Life program (see accommodationsection for more information).

Respondent category

Party

NGO

Press

Other

29%

48%

15%

8%


Satisfaction with meeting rooms

0%4%

17%

41%

22%

16%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 5

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

VenueIn general the participants were very satisfied with the Bella Center. A satisfactionranking of 4.0 for meeting rooms and 4.2 for the information services were achieved.One area that rated below average (2.9) was the satisfaction of the food served at BellaCenter. This could perhaps be explained by considering that attendees were in the samevenue for two weeks.

Reasons for not using public transport

Time

Inconvenience

Personal safety

Not allowed

Insufficient knowledge

Do not trust public transportation

Other reasons

29%

26%

29%

12%2%

2%

Satisfaction with food

11%

8%

21%

29%

11%

21%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 5

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%


Overall SatisfactionThe results show that, overall, the participants thought that the MFA did an aboveaverage job at organizing the conference with an overall satisfaction rating of 3.7 andmore than 67% satisfied or very satisfied with the organization.

Local Community FeedbackDuring and immediately after COP15, Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & VisitorsBureau together with research company Capacent conducted a survey to determine thelocal Copenhagen community’s position and knowledge of COP15. The survey wasconducted as an online survey and a total of 1,358 Danes participated. The projectdelivered the following conclusions:

• 100% of the Danes participating in the survey were aware that Denmark hosted COP15.

• 59% were positive about Denmark hosting the event, 11% were negative, while 30% were neutral or couldn't decide.

• 58% thought that hosting COP15 was a good investment for Denmark.• 51% were proud of Denmark for hosting COP15.• 70% thought that large events benefited Denmarks international reputation.

GreeningAmong the key conclusions from the survey was the delegate response to ‘Importanceof greening the event’ with 4.7 out of 5 achieved, with an overall satisfaction rating forsustainability performance at 3.9 out of 5. In total more than 62% of the audience wassatisfied or very satisfied with the greening of the event.

Participants highlighted the availability of climate friendly transport, free tap water andno gifts bags as examples of the green initiatives.

Importance of COP15 greening

2% 2%1% 5%

13%

78%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Successfulness of DK in COP15 greening

1%

5%

18%

39%

23%

14%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 5

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Overall satisfaction with logistical conditions

9%7%

17%

41%

26%

1%

Do not know

1 2 3 4 5

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Benchmarking Performance MeetGreenSM was used as a tool to provide guidance, benchmarking and evaluation ofthe sustainability performance of the conference. The MeetGreenSM event evaluationsystem provides users a transparent framework to assist organisations holding conferencesand events to understand and improve their sustainability performance. The systememploys the philosophy of continuous improvement that challenges organisations towork to maintain and improve their environmental and social performance.

MeetGreen16 analyses and measures over 100 facets of event policy, practices andoutcomes which are divided into eight categories:

• Destination selection.• Accommodations selection.• Event venue selection. • Transportation selection.• Food and beverage.• Exhibition production.• Communications and marketing.• Onsite office procedures.

Practices measured by MeetGreenSM encourage green meeting practices outlined by theConvention Industry Council green guidelines and US Environmental ProtectionAgency procurement policy. The MeetGreenSM evaluation tool serves to help usersbenchmark and advocate sustainable event practices.

The MeetGreenSM tool shows users their event sustainability performance against eightkey areas, and then benchmarks it against other events in the system.

COP15 achieved a score of 67, which positions it in the top third of all events in theMeetGreenSM database.

Performance Against Objectives

The following two charts highlight the MFA event management system performanceagainst the sustainability objectives, which were documented during the event strategyphase. It is important to note that the Danish Certification auditors who assessed theMFA event management system performance to BS8901 criteria, paid extensiveattention in asking the ministry to provide material evidence to prove this performance.

Performance exceeded objectives Performance satisfied objectives Performance did not match expectations and objectives

Area Objective Project Performance Indicator Result

Reduce waste: Bella Centre

No gifts and conference bags at COP15 in BellaCentre (BC).

100% of delegates not givenconference bags or official presentsfrom the host country.

Zero-gift bag policy implemented. Eleven studentstaking a fully financed masters degree from Danishuniversities.

Save energy and waste from water bottles byusing tap water systems instead of bottledmineral water.

Number of tap water stations. 55 tap water stations installed at BC. Catering servedtap water in restaurants, which saved 100,000 bottles.

Waste management system for kitchen and BCgeneral waste.

Number of organic waste stations:kitchen (min 3), delegates' cateringareas (min 1 per food station).

Five organic waste stations in main kitchen, 1 organicwaste station per outlet.

As much chinaware for catering as possible. Chinaware used at full service dining inBC.

Caterer used reusable chinaware/glass in full serviceoutlets, consistent with contract.

Avoid unnecessary printing and copying at BC. At least 10% less consumption of paperper delegate than estimated (currently:666 pages; target: 600 pages)

Paper consumed per delegate: 320 pages per delegate.Program and negotiation text printing needs to beevaluated as huge potential for improvement.

Avoid unnecessary use of new wood for paper byusing paper which is 100% recycled. All paperfulfilling requirements from either Nordic Swanor European Flower, as well as minimum PCF.

At least 90% of all consumed paper atCOP15 should be 100% recycled paper.

Used 100% FSC certified paper (Processed Chlorine-Free[PCF] bleached). Production certified (ISO14001). Afterextensive testing sponsored photocopiers could not userecycled paper without paper jams.

All disposable cutlery, glasses and dishes shouldbe biodegradable.

100% of all disposable cutlery, glassesand dishes are biodegradable.

100% biodegradable disposable glasses, plates andcutlery used when disposables could not be avoided.

As much paper, plastic and glass waste aspossible should be recycled.

Same percentage of diverted waste asfor other large events at BC.

No recycling of non-organic waste during event achieveddue to contamination. Incinerated 89,000kg of waste as waste-to-energy. Waste generated duringset up and breakdown recycled but not measured.

As much organic waste as possible should betransformed into biogas.

100% of all collected organic waste willbe transformed into biogas.

23 tons of biodegradable waste was transformed tobiogas at local biogas plant.

All hazardous and dangerous waste should betreated in a responsible way.

100% of all collected hazardous wastetreated appropriately.

Hazardous waste incinerated according to local legalpractice. Batteries were sent for processing forcomponent reuse.

Ven

ue





Reduce Energy Use: Bella Centre

Reduce energy consumption by forcing BC toimplement energy saving measures.

Reduction of 20% CO2-emissions atCOP15 as compared to December2007.

19.3% reduction achieved from 2007 energy use andCO2 emissions. Although 0.7% below target deemedacceptable.

Danish energy purchased (25% from renewablesource).

Minimum 25% of electric energy comesfrom renewable resources.

32% of total electricity was from renewable sources.

Replace conventional spotlights with new LEDtechnology spots.

Savings of at least 200,000DKK due toinstall costs

Savings over traditional spotlights, less expenses forelectricity and rental, exceeded 200,000DKK due toreduced expense for cabling.

Reduce water use: Bella Centre

Reduce water consumption at toilets, sinks,kitchen (dishwashers, sprayers, etc) as well asoutside BC.

Amount of water consumed perdelegate 10% less than at anotherlarge conference at BC in 2009.

No reduction in water use. No changes to infrastructureprior to COP15.

Assure that waste water is treated in the bestway.

100% of all waste water is sent toappropriate public waste watertreatment.

100% of wastewater from BC sent to waste watertreatment plant Lynetten about 5 km away.

Select eco-certified suppliers

BC should achieve criteria for third party eco-certification.

Achievement of a Green Key beforeCOP15.

BC achieved third party eco-certification through GreenKey in Novermber 2009.

Increased usage of eco-labelled cleaningmaterials.

80% of all cleaning materials at BC areeco-labelled with either the NordicSwan or European Flower.

90% of all cleaning materials certified through NordicSwan. Contract with BC outlined this expectation.

Motivate as many hotels as possible to achievean eco-certification.

Number of eco-certified rooms inCopenhagen to exceed 7,000 rooms or40% increase.

The number of certified hotel rooms increased from1,700 rooms (12%) to more than 7,200 (53%). Thecertifications include the Green Key, the Nordic Swan,ISO and the European Flower.

Inform as many hotels as possible aboutenvironmentally friendly initiatives.

Inform 50 hotels form Copenhagen More than 70 hotels were provided training andcustomised information through a series of engagementsessions.

Procurement and sponsorship policy

Develop a procurement and sponsorship policybased on common principles and values.

90% of all contracts apply to theprocurement and sponsorship policy.

100% of supplier contracts.

Certified pens made from recycled material.Reduced consumption of resources.

Reduced consumption of resources. 100% of writing instruments were composed of 89%post-consumer recycled materials as certified via‘ECOMARK recyclable’.

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Reduce fossil fuel use

Public transportation free for accrediteddelegates, greater Copenhagen area andsouthern Sweden.

Minimum of 75% delegates withoutspecial security needs choose publictransportation.

93% of delegates used public transport to attend event.

Increase bicycle usage. Bikes used at least 4,000 times duringCOP15 (200 bikes, 11 days, about 2rentals per day).

200 bikes provided for free. Anecdotal evidence showsthat over 70% of the bikes were used at any given time.

Save energy through video-conferences. Minimum of 200 users throughout theconference.

149 sessions representing over 250 hours of use duringCOP15.

Use of energy saving cars and alternative fuels. Average CO2 emission below EU stan -dard for new standard limousines andcars bought in 2008 (160g CO2 per km).

Avgerage CO2 emissions for VVIPs was 160g CO2 perkm. A hydrogen gas station was built and will continueto serve CPH.

Carbon responsibility

Calculation of travel emissions to and fromCopenhagen for all delegates, including RFIfactor.

100% of travel emissions calculatedaccording to UNFCCC-standard andevaluated.

100% of delegate travel measured and offset. RFI 2.7 for long-haul flights. Calculation methodologyneeds improving.

Calculation of local emissions (mainlyconference site and local transportation ofdelegates in COP15 area).

100% of local emissions calculatedaccording to GHG-protocol standardand evaluated.

270 tons of CO2 emissions were attributed to localemissions.

Compensation for emissions. 100% of all emissions from travel toand from CPH, as well as localemissions offset in accordance withinternational standards.

100% of conference related emissions, includingdelegate travel, was measured and a correspondingcarbon offset was purchased for the entire value. A Gold Standard, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)project located in Bangladesh was selected. The investment will reduce global CO2 emissions by100,000 t CO2e per year.

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement: ministries, academia,scientists, municipality, NGOs, media, etc (seestakeholder list).

At least 20 key stakeholders identifiedand engaged.

Stakeholder engagement tracking document reflectsover 30 stakeholders identified along with dates andnature of contact.

Communicate sustainable choices duringconference: public transportation, wastereduction, sustainable products for purchase,etc.

At least 2,000 visits to homepage untilend COP15 (2007)

Page created on COP15 website. Information andupdates expanded on each of the key focus areas andprovided guidance for delegates.

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OnsiteTwenty sustainable attaches every day apartfrom Sunday (Green Team).

At least eight green attaches presenton site every day between 0800-2000.

25 volunteers from the Danish Ministry of Environment.15 people on site at BC between 0800-2000 ever day ofthe conference, apart from Sunday.

Virtual

Collaborate with Copenhagen public transport toestablish a special COP15-site includinginformation about CO2-emission for each choiceof transportation.


Site was developed and visits to website vastlyexceeded 3,000. Exact page data not available. Totalvisits to www.cop15.dk was 4million.

Provide delegate guidance for sustainablechoices during conference, especially regardingpublic transportation, minimising waste,shopping, eating healthily and drinking water.


Page created on COP15 website. Information andupdates expanded on each of the key focus areas andprovided guidance for delegates. Exact page data notavailable. Total web visits 4million.

Development of a holistic communicationstrategy on sustainability issues.

Develop tracking system for mediacontacts, web content, visits towebsite, and press releasesdistributed.

Communications strategy developed and documented.Forty interviews focused on sustainability issues weregiven to international media.

Document

Create whitepaper and project to share learningand knowledge.

Documentation finished and passed onto at least 30 major stakeholders.

Created Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol tocapture, share and improve on their learnings andexperiences in preparing Copenhagen for COP15. Overten presentations and ten press interviews alreadygiven.

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Table shows performanceagainst objectives. It does not

show absolute performance.


Event System Performance –BS8901 AuditDS Certificering A/S17, a national certification body, conducted the external BS8901audit of the management system. They concluded that:

• The management system conforms to BS8901:2009.• The system documentation is implemented to a satisfactory extent and that the

requirements of BS8901:2009 have been met.• The system, on the whole, was suitable and efficient compared to the company’s

conditions and processes.

Jan Christoph Napierski,responsible for COP15

Sustainability, receiving thecertification from the chairman of

the board of directors for DSCertificering A/S

In general, the following strengths were revealed during the audit:

• Good examination compared to the principles for sustainable development (UNGlobal Compact).

• Good evaluation compared to economical, environmental and social responsibility.

Based on the overall results of the audit, the auditors recommended the managementto focus on the following topics and their progressive improvements in the organisation:

• More focus on the systematic requirements in BS8901:2009.• More focus and better documentation of internal audits and management reviews.


Carbon Neutrality and Emissions OffsettingTo balance the COP15 event-related climate impacts, the Danish Government invested€700,000 in a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)18 clean energy project to replaceoutdated brick kilns in Dhaka. The project is carried out in close cooperation with theIndustrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IIDFC) inBangladesh and the World Bank’s Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF)who have jointly developed the project.

The goal of the Bangladesh project is to prove that working to prevent climate changecan benefit all developing countries – both the more wealthy and the poor, and thatreducing carbon emissions and transferring technology go hand-in-hand withsustainable development and improving the quality of life.

More than 6,000 traditional brickworks in Bangladesh are heavily polluting, and theyare a major reason why Dhaka is recognized as one of the world’s most polluted cities.Therefore, there is an acute need for more environmental-friendly brick production. TheBrick Kilns project will establish 20 new energy-efficient brick units in Dhaka andsurrounding areas. The new Hybrid Hoffman Kiln technology from China will reducecoal usage by almost 50%. In total, the project will save the atmosphere from 100,000tonnes of CO2 annually and, just as important, the emission of other air pollutantsincluding particulate matter will be significantly reduced.

It is particularly important to note that, with these new kilns, the brick makingproduction in Bangladesh is transferred from a seasonal activity to an all year roundactivity. Hence, the employees are shifted into a permanent workforce with higherpermanent salaries and better conditions. Furthermore, the project involves acommunity benefits plan which will ensure improvement of social conditions for theemployees in the new brickworks. The plan includes access to first aid with regularvisits by a medical practitioner, sanitary facilities and access to safety equipment. TheBrick Kilns project is an excellent example of how CDM can contribute to socialresponsibility and sustainable development, as well as paving the way for a significantlyimproved local air quality in one of the world’s most polluted metropolitan cities.

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‘Bangladesh is one of the countrieshardest hit by climate change andthere’s a great need to assist thecountry with technology andcapital contributions. The projectwill result in significantenvironmental improvements for the local community, whereparticle pollution from theexisting old brickworks isclearly visible.’

Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard

KEY CHALLENGES AND INSIGHTS


KEY CHALLENGES AND INSIGHTS

The Power of Collaboration to Positively InfluenceSustainable Outcomes

Dr Karl Henrik Robert, MD, founder of sustainable development think tank TheNatural Step, has explained his view that ‘sustainability will not come from the rightor the left, or the top or the bottom, but from pockets of enlightenment across a broadcross section of organisations and individuals. Sustainability, will require collaborationand action from everybody.’

The MFA realised more powerful results through a process of inclusion which servedto optimise the potential for sustainability results beyond the capacity of their 25 personteam. The Copenhagen sustainable event planner taskforce, which included plannersfrom the private sector, the non-profit sector and the government sector shared bestpractices and created a critical mass of demand for sustainable supplier action. Thisbroad based appeal created greater visibility and industry sector involvement andcommitment and will position Copenhagen as a sustainable event destination farbeyond COP15.

Integrate Sustainability into the Event ContractingProcess and Actively Manage the Value ChainThe size of COP15 represented buying power which gave it a great deal of influence toencourage positive change within the value chain. The catering contract, for example,was large enough that it went out to bid to the larger supplier community, rather thanbeing automatically mandated as a Bella Center contract. This allowed a higher degreeof competition which, in turn, gave MFA leverage to integrate sustainabilityexpectations into the language of the contract. The Bella Center responded with themost compelling offer which included a guarantee to provide a minimum of 65%organic, sustainable products for COP15 meals.

Top Ten Insights 1 The power of collaboration to positively

influence sustainable outcomes.

2 Integrate sustainability into the eventcontracting process and actively managethe value chain.

3 Set targets, share them and review oftenas a team.

4 External certification increases sustainableevent performance and increasescredibility.

5 Anticipate media attention with largeevents and manage it proactively to reducerisks.

6 Share ‘sticky’ stories.

7 Develop a carbon measurement andoffsetting strategy.

8 Develop Waste Management Strategies:Contract, Practice, and Perfect Them

9 Dematerialise the paper chain.

10 It is easier than you imagine.

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In an unusual initiative, MFA required that both event suppliers and sponsors showcommitment to the United Nations Global Compact principles for sustainabledevelopment as part of the contracted agreement. These actions had far reaching resultsand catalysed change within event supplier and sponsor organisations.

Sustainability became a key element for potential sponsors when they were bidding forthe opportunity to partner with COP15. The sustainability plans and commitmentwere a key element for them to differentiate their proposal and brand.

Through accurate and diligent management and education of the value chain, theministry’s planners advanced the cause of sustainable practices in the community andincreased the chances of delivering performance against objectives.

Set Targets, Share Them and Review Often as a TeamAny business initiative will meet success sooner if goals are clearly defined and activelymeasured. Event organisation is no different. Still, many event organisers eliminate thisimportant process within the event planning action cycle. Effective, sustainable eventmanagement requires that planners consider specific desired outcomes and methods

for tracking and measuring success against those objectives. Effective processes todocument and track goal setting and measurement processes will help inform futureevent organisation efforts.

For events that have a goal of certification through BS8901 or similar standard, it isstrongly recommended that the process to document compliance with certificationstandards happens early in the planning cycle. The sooner a planner has sustainabilitygoals for the event, the sooner they can formulate a communication strategy to elevatecommunity awareness of those goals.

Third Party Certification Schemes ImproveSustainable Event Performance and IncreaseCredibilitySustainable event outcomes for the COP15 event were significantly supported by theparticipation of area hotels and the Bella Center event venue in eco-certificationschemes for business. These programs require sustainable business tactics which reducethe negative impacts on the environment by making clear the expectations fordocumented policies, non-toxic chemicals, resource use reduction targets andcommunity reward initiatives. With 53% of all three-, four- and five-star hotels inCopenhagen meeting criteria for qualified third party certification, the COP15 event,and any large event held in Copenhagen in the future will consume less energy andless water, and will recycle a higher percentage of waste.

For planners, the BS8901 management standard for sustainable events can offer neededguidance for a process-oriented approach to goal setting, policy development andstakeholder engagement. When combined with other powerful, existing standards,namely the APEX green meetings standard and the GRI, planners of large, complexevents can improve the sustainable performance of their event and have better contentwith which to inform stakeholders.

Product certification programs make it simple and easy for buyers to purchaseeverything from paper and pens to cleaning materials.

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Develop a carbon measurement and offsettingstrategyMeasurement of carbon emissions is a developing science. With lessons learned fromthe carbon footprint measurement of COP15, Deloitte identified ten steps to successfulcarbon footprint measurements:

• Establish an effective governance structure.• Adopt a step model to identify significant and uncertain factors.• Engage with organisers and suppliers on interchange and collection of data.• Use acknowledged standards and units of measurement.• Keep track of documentation. • Make control calculations by alternative methods.• Get third party opinion.• Compare and benchmark to similar events.• Estimate the level of confidence.• Utilise results for communication and awareness raising.

Deloitte successfully demonstrated the benefit of measuring emissions pre-, during andpost-event. This process reduced error and increased reliability of data.

Measurement of international travel emissions was calculated by the UNFCCC. Havingtwo organisations calculating emissions introduced inconsistencies by not have a singleapproach and scope for carbon measurement.

Anticipate Media Attention with Large Events andManage it Proactively to Reduce RisksWith sustainability at the top of the political agenda, large events – especially aboutclimate change – will naturally attract a lot of media attention about the environmentalimpact of the event. At COP15, it was important that the team was trained in pressmanagement. This education provided the sustainability manager with sufficient toolsto deal with the type of questions expected, as well as innovative and interesting

approaches from journalists.

One of the fundamental elements forpress management is to have a ‘goodstory’ that can be communicated. IfCOP15 had not proactively committedto sustainability, then the governmentwould have faced severe criticism fromthe media, participants and civil society.

Share ‘Sticky’ StoriesSustainable event planners earn stakeholder engagement more readily through effectivecommunication of visible issues within the sustainability initiative. This is often mosteffective when a small number of simple-to-explain, interesting stories can becommunicated as part of the event brand. Called sticky stories for their qualities ofbeing easily grasped and repeated, they help build awareness of the ways the event ispursuing and achieving its sustainable aims. Examples of COP15 sticky stories were:

• Fairtrade™ coffee.• LED spotlights.• Climate scholarships.• CO2e offsetting initiative.• Water stations.• Bella Center wind turbine.• 65% organic catering.


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Conference center

Transport

Accomodation

Total GHG emissions, tons CO2e

Pre-COP15 Post-COP15

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superior to landfill, recycling is better in terms of sustainability within the boundariesof the Denmark environment. Waste generated from the construction anddeconstruction of the conference was recycled but was not measured.

As part of the COP15 contracting phase, the ministry should have included datameasurement as part of the contractual sustainability clauses with the Bella Center.Venues must be advised early on of the specific information needed and timescales forproviding measurement data for the event and its setup and deconstruction. Therequirements for this information need to be clearly communicated and included in thecontract. Gaining commitment from suppliers when they are most interested inwinning the business is an effective way to ensure that sustainable event reports can becompleted in a timely manner at the event conclusion.

While the number of recycling receptacles was adequate at COP15 and while thecontainers themselves were in highly visible locations, the lid design and unclear signageresulted in total contamination and co-mingling of the COP15 waste streams. Signagefor recycling stations should feature clear pictograms. Colour coding must be clearlyexplained on posters above the waste stations. Importantly, the lid design for each wastestream must show clear differentiation to help inform users in an intuitive way (smallcircle for plastic, elongated rectangle for paper, triangle for organic waste, for example).The green ‘Thank you’ illustration shows the type of communication that COP15planners and the Bella Center should have installed.

Especially for large, international events, it is advised that each waste station be mannedby a volunteer member in a distinctive uniform (a green shirt, for example) who canprovide guidance to users and monitor against potential waste contamination. Bestpractices from other large events show that by placing volunteers near waste stations andby equipping them with tongs to remove inappropriate materials from recycling andorganic waste streams, can improve the diversion rate by more than 30%. WhileCOP15 had a large, volunteer green team, they were not deployed to provide oversightto the waste stations. Additionally it is advisable to put green team members backstageto ensure correct separation back of house.

Certified offset or compensation projects that follow internationally recognisedprotocols reduce risk to event planners (CDM, Gold standard). A CDM project inBangladesh was selected for the offset of emissions of COP15.

When measuring aviation emissions, great care has to be given on how carbon emissionequivalents are calculated. Carbon emissions of aviation is most commonly accountedfor in emissions calculators through a Radiative Forcing Index (RFI) or a multiplier. Theseterms refer to a factor which is multiplied by the calculated CO2 emissions in order toaccount for all global warming effects. This science is extremely complicated and is underconstant development and debate30. To simplify the argument, a good solution forreporting is that carbon emissions should be reported without RFI or other multipliers.However carbon emissions to be offset should be calculated using a multiplier. TheStockolm Environment Institute31 recommends a minimum multiplier of 2. In COP15,an RFI of 2.7 was used as part of their conservative approach to sustainability.

Develop Waste Management Strategies: Contract, Practice and Perfect Them Waste management for large events,especially those with internationalparticipation, must take an aggressiveand strategic approach to make wasteseparation easy, accessible andcontractually compulsory to suppliers.These strategies need to be clearlycommunicated, practiced andconsistently improved until they areefficient.

The COP15 waste managementinitiative is the key area that did notperform to expectations. A measured89,000kg of waste was transported toAmagerforbrændingen, the localgarbage incineration plant located 6kmfrom Bella Center. While incineration is


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Dematerialise the paper chainUN session communication used large amounts of paper. Over eightmillion pages of FSC certified paper stock was consumed during the 11days the conference was in session. This equates to over 40 tons of paper.

The whole process of communicating sessions would benefit from a review.Two large program documents are provided to participants each day. Thesame is true of the Climate Treaty Negotiation text. Greater and improveduse of new collaborative technology such as PDA synchronisation, SPOT-Me devices and social networking could not only improve theenvironmental impacts but significantly increase business results andefficiency.

Ironically, the NGO community accounted for a huge amount of the paperprinted and disposed of at the Bella Center. In the future great attentionmust be placed on engaging with NGOs and creating contractualconditions to reduce and limit the amount of paper used and disposed ofin the venue. In some trade fairs, exhibitors are now charged for their wasteremoval. Perhaps a version of this could have been considered. It’s Easier than you

ImagineEngaging the value chain to create an eventwith leadership sustainability performancewas much easier than organisers everimagined. Climate change, social action,health and responsible business are allemotional issues which most stakeholderswant to address and be seen as addressing.

The vast majority of actions in this report were well received by an engaged andcommitted team of corporations, NGOs, governments and civil societies. Normallymissing is leadership, which the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the othermembers of the CSMP Coalition provided.


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Key Recommendations for UNFCCC and Future Event HostsSustainability Commitment, Goals and ReportingEach future COP planning process should integrate a strategic goal setting process, toinclude the formation of clear and measurable sustainability targets. Processes shouldinclude tracking and follow up to ensure that actions are initiated in service to the goals.

Mandate Climate Responsibility in Host CountryAgreementAdvocate that future COP host nations integrate BS8901 sustainability managementsystem for events (or ISO2012132) and the concepts of the Copenhagen SustainableMeetings Protocol in the design and management of future COP events. TheCopenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol represents an investment on behalf of apublic/private initiative with the intention of providing the UNFCCC a blueprint,which could benefit future COP events and the communities in which they are held.Additionally organisers should consider external certification of the event andmanagement system by an accredited and experienced auditor that would assurecredibility and increase performance.

Event LogisticsIntegrate sustainable event management practices during the planning phase of theevent. Communicate sustainable business practice expectations to potential suppliersduring the Request for Proposal (RFP) phase. Give added consideration to thosesuppliers who have invested to meet third party eco-certification.

Mandate the elimination of delegate gifts from host country. Offer the recommendationthat monies be invested in education or charitable contribution instead.

Provide all accredited delegates public transportation passes to reduce event relatedcarbon dioxide emissions and to reduce traffic congestion near the venue. Provide clearguidance for use of public transportation.

Business Partnerships and SponsorshipsCOP15 gained the equivalent of over €1,300,000 in value by creating a model forsponsorships from businesses who wished to be profiled at the event. Individual serviceneeds were identified prior to the COP, and sponsor agreements were tailored to meetthose specific needs. In this way, event owners can increase sustainability withoutmassive direct investment.

By drawing clear parameters and by integrating well-designed business ethics andgovernance standards, such a model need not burden organisers or excessivelycommercialise political events. Partnerships will allow organisers to defray costs andallocate resources to socially responsible initiatives such as the creation of universityscholarships or reading programs for local schools.

Review participant numbers and optimise meetingdesign92% of the events carbon emissions came from international delegate travel to theconference. Important environmental impacts per participant were 2 tons of CO2equivalents, 3 tons of waste and 92 litres of water. For future events, organisers shouldconsider how to optimize the number of participant in order to increase the effectivenessof the event, the return on objectives and decrease environmental impacts.

© U

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‘Every downturn is followed by an upturn. If you make the rightinvestments now, you will belaying the foundations to tacklecritical long-term issues. You will be in the forefront of a new green economy. I encourage you to help create a future based on a low-carboneconomy – green jobs,renewable energy and energy efficiency.’

Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General

© UN Photo/Mark Garten

CONCLUSION


As cities across the globe consider actions to improve economies and create healthyenvironments for healthier people they will explore many solutions. Few such solutionswill be more powerful than that of attracting large, sustainable events. Sustainable eventscan serve as catalyst for positive change for host communities as they represent amultiplier for activating businesses and communities for mutual benefits.

With structured approaches and practical frameworks, community stakeholders canmore easily integrate sustainable event management methods, which will deliver resultsthat benefit local businesses and residents. Sustainable events, representing rich rewards,can motivate suppliers to embrace sustainable practices and to begin reducing theirenvironmental impacts while expanding their contribution to society.

The organisation of COP15 was an inspiring example of how large events can facilitatesustainable destination transformation. Through active, positive stakeholderengagement initiatives and ongoing improvement of the event management system,the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs charted a course for success that can now serveas model for cities and event owners around the world.

The UN Climate Conference (COP15) provides a bold example for sustainable events.It has left a meaningful legacy both in Denmark and around the world. The COP15event management system took a strategic approach to sustainability that wasunderscored by the use of the BS8901 sustainability management system for eventsand by reporting triple bottom line results using the GRI guidelines.

The key sustainability strategies, lessons and insights gained from organising COP15have been developed into a management framework and whitepaper called theCopenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol33. An electronic copy of the whitepapercan be found at www.csmp.dk.

CONCLUSION

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This index will help if you are looking for specific information. It explains how this document fulfils the commitment to best practice reporting in line with the GRI

INDEX

STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART I: Profile Disclosures

Profile Disclosure Description Page(s) Reporting Status

1. STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS

1.1 Statement from the most senior decision-maker of the organisation. 7

1.2 Description of key impacts, risks and opportunities. 8, 9, 20

2. ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE

2.1 - 2.10 Description of organisation. 17

3. REPORT PARAMETERS

3.1 - 3.11 Scope of report, boundaries and contacts details. 12

3.9 - 3.12 Data measurement techniques and the basis of calculations. 46 - 50

3.13 Policy and current practice with regard to seeking external assurance for the report. 18 - 41, 46 - 59

4. GOVERNANCE, COMMITMENTS, AND ENGAGEMENT

4.1 - 4.7 Governance structures of the organisation, committees. 17 - 24

4.14 - 4.17 Stakeholder groups, engagement approach, issues. 23 - 24

STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART III: Performance Indicators

Performance Indicator Description Page(s) Reporting Status

ECONOMIC

EC1 Direct economic value generated and distributed, including: revenues; operating costs; employee compensation; donations and other community investments; retained earnings, and payments to capital providers and governments. 48 - 53

EC2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities for the organisation's activities due to climate change. -

EC3 Coverage of the organisation's defined benefit plan obligations. -

EC4 Significant financial assistance received from government. 18 - 41

Not Applicable Not Reported Partially Reported Fully Reported



EC6 Policy, practices and proportion of spending on locally-based suppliers at significant locations of operation. -

EC7 Procedures for local hiring and proportion of senior management hired from the local community at significant locations of operation. -

EC8 Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services provided primarily for public benefit through commercial, in-kind, or probono engagement. 28 - 48

EC9 Understanding and describing significant indirect economic impacts, including the extent of impacts. 28 - 48

ENVIRONMENTAL

EN1 Materials used by weight or volume. 14, 30 - 57

EN2 Percentage of materials used that are recycled input materials. 14, 30 - 58

EN3 Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. 46 - 47

EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary source. 46 - 47

EN5 Energy saved due to conservation and efficiency improvements. 30 - 34

EN6 Initiatives to provide energy-efficient or renewable energy based products and services, and reductions in energy requirements as a result of these initiatives. 27 - 34

EN7 Initiatives to reduce indirect energy consumption and reductions achieved. 30 - 34

EN8 Total water withdrawal by source. 48, 54 - 57

EN11 Location and size of land owned, leased, managed or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas. -

EN12 Description of significant impact of activities, products and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas. -

EN16 Total direct and indirect GHG emissions by weight. 46 - 47

EN17 Other relevant indirect GHG emissions by weight. 46 - 47

EN18 Initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and reductions achieved. 46 - 47

EN19 Emissions of ozone-depleting substances by weight. -

EN20 NOx, SOx, and other significant air emissions by type and weight. -

EN21 Total water discharge by quality and destination. -

EN22 Total weight of waste by type and disposal method. 37

EN23 Total number and volume of significant spills. -

EN26 Initiatives to mitigate environmental impacts of products and services, and extent of impact mitigation. 28 - 58

EN27 Percentage of products sold and their packaging materials that are reclaimed by category. 50

EN28 Monetary value of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for non-compliance -with environmental laws and regulations.

EN30 Total environmental protection expenditures and investments by type. 48



SOCIAL: LABOR PRACTICES AND DECENT WORK

LA1 Total workforce by employment type, employment contract and region. 48 - 49

LA2 Total number and rate of employee turnover by age group, gender and region. -

LA4 Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. -

LA5 Minimum notice period(s) regarding significant operational changes, including whether it is specified in collective agreements. -

LA7 Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days and absenteeism, and number of work-related fatalities by region. -

LA8 Education, training, counseling, prevention and risk-control programs in place to assist workforce members, their families or community members regarding serious diseases. -

LA10 Average hours of training per year per employee by employee category. 23 - 35

LA13 Composition of governance bodies and breakdown of employees per category according to gender, age group, minority group membership and other indicators of diversity. -

LA14 Ratio of basic salary of men to women by employee category. -

SOCIAL: HUMAN RIGHTS

HR1 Percentage and total number of significant investment agreements that include human rights clauses or that have undergone human rights screening. 48 - 59

HR2 Percentage of significant suppliers and contractors that have undergone screening on human rights and actions taken. -

HR4 Total number of incidents of discrimination and actions taken. -

HR5 Operations identified in which the right to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at significant risk, and actions taken to support these rights. -

HR6 Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of child labour, and measures taken to contribute to the elimination of child labour. -

HR7 Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labour, and measures to contribute to the elimination of forced or compulsory labour. -

SOCIAL: SOCIETY

SO1 Nature, scope and effectiveness of any programs and practices that assess and manage the impacts of operations on communities, including entering, operating and exiting. 48 - 59

SO2 Percentage and total number of business units analysed for risks related to corruption. -

SO3 Percentage of employees trained in organisation's anti-corruption policies and procedures. -

SO4 Actions taken in response to incidents of corruption. -

Not Applicable Not Reported Partially Reported Fully Reported



SO5 Public policy positions and participation in public policy development and lobbying. -

SO8 Monetary value of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for non-compliance with laws and regulations. -

SOCIAL: PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY

PR1 Lifecycle stages in which health and safety impacts of products and services are assessed for improvement, and percentage of significant products and services categories subject to such procedures. -

PR3 Type of product and service information required by procedures, and percentage of significant products and services subject to such information requirements. -

PR5 Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of surveys measuring customer satisfaction. 50 - 52

PR6 Programs for adherence to laws, standards and voluntary codes related to marketing communications, including advertising, promotion and sponsorship. 41 - 43

PR9 Monetary value of significant fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the provision and use of products and services. -

REFERENCES1 BS8901: http://www.bsigroup.co.uk/en/Assessment-and-Certification-services/Management-

systems/Standards-and-Schemes/BS-8901/2 Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol: www.visitdenmark.com/csmp 3 Danish Government COP15 information: www.denmark.dk/en/menu/Climate-Energy/COP15-

Copenhagen-2009/cop15.htm 4 UNFCCC: www.unfccc.int 5 UNFCCC COP fact sheet: www.unfccc.int/press/fact_sheets/items/4980.php 6 UN Global Compact: www.unglobalcompact.org/AbouttheGC/TheTENPrinciples/index.html

UN Global Compact: www.unglobalcompact.org/AbouttheGC/TheTENPrinciples/index.html 7 Danish Government CSR Program Danish Government CSR Program

www.stm.dk/publikationer/Regeringsgrundlag2007/index.htm8 BS8901: http://www.bsigroup.co.uk/en/Assessment-and-Certification-services/Management-

systems/Standards-and-Schemes/BS-8901/ 9 APEX Green Meetings Standards: http://www.conventionindustry.org/apex/inprogress.htm10 UN Green Meeting Guide: http://www.iclei-europe.org/index.php?id=greening 11 GRI G3 Reporting Guidelines: www.globalreporting.org/ReportingFramework/G3Guidelines/ 12 GRI event sector supplement:

www.globalreporting.org/ReportingFramework/SectorSupplements/Events/ 13 WRI GHG Protocol: www.ghgprotocol.org/ 14 International Panel on Climate Change: www.ipcc.ch 15 Stockholm Environment Institute: http://www.co2offsetresearch.org/aviation/index.html

16 MeetGreen Calculator: www.mci-group.meetgreen.com or www.meetgreen.com 17 Dansk Certificering: www.dscert.dk 18 Clean Devemopment Mechanism: cdm.unfccc.int/about/index.html 19 APEX Green Meetings Standards: http://www.conventionindustry.org/apex/inprogress.htm20 Green Meeting Industry Council: www.greenmeetings.info 21 ASTM International: http://www.astm.org/http://www.astm.org 22 Copenhagen Climate Action Plan www.kk.dk/english23 Climate + Green business Program www.kk.dk/klimaplus 24 Wonderful Copenhagen Convention & Visitors Bureau and Conventions Bureau Green

information: http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/green 25 Horesta Danish hotel and restaurants association: www.horesta.dk 26 MCI, COP15 - Professional Congress Organiser: www.mci-group.com 27 Bella Center Greening Profile: Bella Center Greening Profile:

www.bellaCentre.dk/English/BC+Greening 28 UN Global Compact: www.unglobalcompact.org 29 Cisco Telepresence:

www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns669/networking_solutions_solution_segment_home.html 30 Stockholm Environment Institute: http://www.co2offsetresearch.org/aviation/MetricsIntro.html 31 Stockholm Environment Institute: http://www.co2offsetresearch.org/aviation/index.html 32 ISO20121 Standard for Event sustainability: www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1281 33 Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol: www.visitdenmark.com/csmp

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This document was produced by the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Coalition, written and designed by MCI. This document and further information can be found at www.csmp.dk

EVENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT COPENHAGEN · PDF fileProject Partners This report was produced by...

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Transcript of EVENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT COPENHAGEN · PDF fileProject Partners This report was produced by...