For focusing on sustainability not only as a point of discussion but also as a means for concrete action, the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development (RBF) in Singapore was given the top honours at the IMEX-GMIC Green Awards in Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday.
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Global Initiatives and MCI, organisers of the event held in November last year, received the 2014 IMEX-GMIC Green Meeting Award.
This recognition is awarded to events firms or organisers who are environmentally aware, opt for existing opportunities in conducting green functions, and plan “an agenda in which sustainability issues have been taken fully into account”, said the IMEX Group, an international British exhibitions company.
Along with Global Initiatives and MCI, both events management companies with offices in Singapore, the Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development was also co-organised by Singapore-based media firm Eco-Business, with partners such as the National Environment Agency (NEA) of Singapore.
The two-day affair, which took place at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, convened 500 leaders from the government, business, civic society sectors for a series of high-level sessions on the theme “Transformation, Growth, and the Green Economy”. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, also led the official opening.
The organisers also collaborated with South Pole Carbon, a carbon reduction projects developer, that helped offset the carbon emissions generated from the event, including those from travels made by delegates, electricity use, food and water consumption, waste generation and even paper usage. South Pole Carbon matched the total emissions with carbon credits generated from geothermal and hydropower projects in Indonesia.
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Our collaboration with Marina Bay Sands, MCI and our event partners delivered an industry leading approach that has pushed us to further raise the bar higher in delivering truly sustainable events. This IMEX-GMIC award is testament to that
Tony Gourlay, Global Initiatives CEO
IMEX noted all these features and more, and judges called the Forum a “showcase sustainability event”.
Roger Simons, MCI Group’s sustainability manager who received the award, credited the bold innovation and close collaboration of the organisers and participants of RBF. Global Initiatives chief executive officer Tony Gourlay added: “As this project was in Asia, a region with a number of sustainability challenges, it demonstrates how responsible event practices need to and can evolve in rapidly developing economies.”
“Our collaboration with Marina Bay Sands, MCI and our event partners delivered an industry leading approach that has pushed us to further raise the bar higher in delivering truly sustainable events. This IMEX-GMIC award is testament to that,” said Gourlay.
Marina Bay Sands was particularly noted for following the ISO 20121, an international standard that sets the guidelines to achieve sustainability in events, and for being the first to use the new Singapore Sustainability Guidelines for the meetings and events industry.
Kevin Teng, Marina Bay Sands director of sustainability, said: “The meetings industry is an important one in Singapore and we hope that the Responsible Business Forum’s IMEX-GMIC Green Meeting Award will spur even more event organisers to adopt best practices in sustainable events planning.”
