We have previously blogged about our green event organisation practices*, now let's see how it works in action for a multi-day international event.
*: https://onepointfivelifestyles.eu/walking-the-talk
In May, we hosted the EU 1.5°Lifestyles project consortium in Budapest, with nearly 30 people from all over Europe for a 3-day meeting. Of course, as with all our events, we first reduced the carbon footprint of this event as much as possible and then calculated it (read more here).
In our experience, the largest part of the footprint is the travel of participants to an event where participants come from several countries and partly by air. This is why we felt it was important to choose the lowest possible carbon footprint options when organising the venue, meals and local activities, while at the same time striving to provide ideal working conditions and showcasing the characteristics of Budapest and Hungarian gastronomy.
We chose the CEU Nádor Street building as the venue, which was a good choice not only because the location fits the concept of our project and the sustainability officer of the institution helped us calculate our energy consumption, but also because as a downtown location, most of the participants could reach it on foot from the hotel. Furthermore, the building has been rated 'very good' in the BREEAM (the world's leading sustainable building rating system) standard. In addition, its beautiful, panoramic, green roof terrace proved to be a great location not only for lunch and coffee breaks, but also for after-work activities.
We used the services of two caterers, Közös (means Common) and Four Bites. Közös is exclusively vegan and uses mostly local and organic ingredients, while Four Bites is a Felelős Gasztrohős (Heroes of Sustainable Dining) certified sustainable caterer - we ordered mainly meat-free dishes from them. The evening dinners were held at KIOSK, another Felelős Gasztrohős member, and at our old favourite, Kőleves Restaurant, where we also chose a menu/short menu with meat-free dishes as the main focus.
As a complementary programme, one afternoon we took part in a guided city walk organised by Hosszúlépés. Járunk?, where not only the capital's historical past was presented, but also its past and present sustainability efforts and sustainable places. The next day, we attended a wine tasting on the aforementioned roof terrace with winemaker Atilla Kaszap and wine expert Dóra Schmaus.
At our events, it is usual for the participants to take home the leftovers of the catered meals at the end of the day - here there was no possibility and no need for this on the first two days, as the team was staying in a hotel, but on the last day, many people welcomed a “travel pack”, as most of them arrived by (overnight) train and went home that way, too. The leftover food from the first two days was given to a family who had fled the war in Ukraine.
The total carbon footprint of the meeting - including travel, food, organisation and direct energy use - was 8.33 t CO2 for the 30 participants (278 kgCO2/capita). Important note: the carbon footprint related to accommodation and food consumption outside the meeting (e.g. breakfasts and dinners) are not included in this calculation.
As we had partners coming from all over the EU and some from the very 'other end' of the continent (e.g., Spain, Sweden or Latvia), or hard to reach by public transport places, we expected that the largest part of the meeting footprint would be linked to travel:
Looking at the travel data in its own (8.13 tCO2), we can see that flying is responsible for the largest part of the travel related footprint – despite the fact that 8 people flew, and 15 travelled by train or bus even from far-away places like Finland, Sweden or the Netherlands:
Even though only 8 people travelled by plane, flying was responsible for 87.3% of the total travel footprint, and 85% of the total footprint of the meeting.
Finally, as we have stated above, strong emphasis was put on serving food that is 1.5° Lifestyles compatible, hence the tiny amount of meat. Below we can see the data for the food/catering part of the carbon footprint in detail:
Edina Mihály, GreenDependent Institute
Source of pictures and charts: GreenDependent Institute©