Two years ago the marketing organisation for the German convention and meetings industry already started making its annual convention sustainable.

Further initiatives confirm the GCB's good reputation as a "green" organisation.

The "Green Meetings" area is an important pillar of the website. There the GCB offers comprehensive advice on planning
green events. Apart from the CO2 Calculator, you will find a "Mobility" section with information on travelling to and from your meeting location and transport facilities there, "Best Practices" with examples of outstanding green initiatives of GCB
members, and a "Standards" section explaining the most common environmental protection certificates. In addition, the "Guidelines" section offers advice on how to "green" your event.

Reducing emissions with the GCB's CO2 Calculator

The GCB launched together with CO2OL, the solutions provider for climate-friendly meetings and events, an online CO2 Calculator this September. Meeting and event planners can use it to identify the climate impacts and carbon footprint of their event and receive detailed advice on how to reduce the greenhouse gas.

Unavoidable remaining emissions can be offset by certified climate protection projects in order to make your event "climate-neutral". The project meets with great interest: In the first four weeks the GCB already posted more than 500 visits.

GCB and members support "Green Meetings" work group

The GCB also makes an active contribution to the "Green Meetings" work group of the meetings and conventions industry and supports its 2010 Green Meetings Conference. This project aims to develop detailed and feasible recommendations that help improve the ecological framework conditions for event venues and destinations.

In this way the partners in the work group want to demonstrably diminish the environmental impacts caused by the event industry. The partners of the project under the auspices of the WorldCCBonn are the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC), the GCB, and the Centre for Environment Communication of the German Environment Foundation (DBU).

Internal GCB events go green and IMEX sustainable

In the field of environment-friendly event planning the GCB sets a good example: At internal events such as its annual general assembly, it takes care that delegates travel on the Deutsche Bahn Event Ticket and by public transport, where possible, instead of using individual taxi transfer shuttle services.

For catering the GCB team prefers solutions that do without superfluous packaging and favours regionally produced foodstuffs. Online registration and doing without printed documents saves paper and benefits the environment. And in its choice of give-aways the marketing organisation also focuses on ecological aspects of production and transport.

Moreover, as the strategic partner the GCB has supported "IMEX - incorporating Meetings made in Germany - the worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events" for several years in its efforts for sustainability. Since its launch seven years ago IMEX has shown its green commitment: For example, every year the fair presents a large number of coveted green awards to international MICE suppliers (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) and event planners. Backed by its close partnership with the GCB, IMEX has further green initiatives that make "green meetings" a topic of major importance in the global MICE industry.

The GCB German Convention Bureau e.V.  markets Germany as a destination for conventions, meetings, events and incentives both on a national and international level, and is the place to contact for anybody planning an event in Germany.

Its 257 members include leading hotels, convention centres and destinations, car hire firms, event agencies and service providers of the German meetings and conventions industry. Maritim Hotels, Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH and darmstadtium science and convention centre are Preferred Partners of the GCB. As Strategic Partners, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) support the work of the GCB.