The judges considered applicants on a variety of success measures including environmental impact, economic indicators, commitment to change and commitment to community.
Vision Symposium Series EMEA 2014 was a series of two consecutive events for IT professionals held in four different cities – Dubai, Munich, Paris and London. The sustainability initiatives of the conference were led by the corporate events sustainability team and external consultants from MCI Sustainability Services. Symantec’s Events Sustainability program enabled a focus on sustainability requirements including three international core standards ISO 202121, APEX /ASTM and the GRI EOSS.
This achieved a number of successes including an 89% waste diversion rate, 88% reduction in waste, 67% reduction in CO2 emissions and 39% of food was local. By supporting the Children’s Charity Plant for the Planet, Symantec trained 43 children to be Climate Justice Ambassadors. They also funded the planting of 15,000 trees and engaged attendees to pledge to plant 19,228 trees.
Claudia van’ t Hullenaar, Global Events, EMEA, at Symantec, explains:
“Integrating sustainability strategically into business events is an ongoing journey of team collaboration, improvements, ideas and perseverance. This award is a great demonstration of the progress we have made since we embarked on our sustainable events journey. I feel immensely proud about this achievement, as it is a recognition for the teams involved and our work to contribute to a changing world by hosting responsible events.”
The award was presented alongside two other Green Award categories – Commitment to the Community and Green Supplier. International industry experts made up the judging panel including Amanda Gourgue, Chief Meeting Revolutionist at Meeting Revolution as well as Amy Spatrisano, Past Principal at MeetGreen® and Janiece J. Sneegas, Director of General Assembly and Conference Services for the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Jointly run by the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) and IMEX, these awards have been developed to recognise organisations within the meetings and incentive travel industry that are making an effort to minimise their environmental impact and maximise their social contribution.
