Towards a More Sustainable World Water Week
The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is continuing its efforts to make the World Water Week more sustainable. We are working with Congrex, a Professional Conference Organiser, and the conference venue, Stockholmsmässan, to identify ways of reducing our impacts on the environment.
The goal is to be able to manage our activities in a responsible and sustainable manner and offer participants options for reducing their own environmental impacts.
Initiatives for 2010 include:
- Enjoy Stockholm’s drinking water! Drinking water in Stockholm is of a high and consistent quality and is produced by treating water from the surrounding Lake Mälaren. Drinking water fountains will be located around the venue for participants to refill reusable water bottles that are included in the conference bags free of charge.
- Carbon Offsetting Opportunities. The registration form for the conference includes links to approved and effective carbon offset programmes. Participants are encouraged to offset their business travel by visiting www.climatecare.org or www.my-climate.com. These services allow participants to calculate their carbon emissions and choose options for offsetting.
- Recycling at the Conference Venue. Recycling stations for plastic, paper and other waste products will be conveniently available. An effort is also underway to track the amount of waste generated at the conference so that measurable targets can be set in the future for reducing waste.
- Ecolabeled Hotels. A number of the partner hotels to the conference have achieved certification to Swan Ecolabel and ISO14000. Swan is the official Nordic Ecolabel – its stringent standards ensure that a particular product has minimised its environmental impact. Scandic Hotels and the Rica Talk Hotel are Swan Ecolabeled, indicating that they met strict criteria to:
– Minimise energy consumption
– Prioritise renewable energy sources
– Sort waste
– Use ecolabelled cleaning agents
– Make environmental demands of their suppliers.
- Fair-trade and Organically Produced Food & Drinks. Restaurants within the conference venue offer fair-trade and organically-produced (Krav-labelled) food and drink options for participants. The restaurants have committed to offer less water-intensive products, and reduce packaging and transport for food served at events and meetings during the week.
- Public Transportation within Stockholm. Included within the registration package for participants is a public transportation card for the week. This card allows unlimited use on Stockholm’s bus, train and subway networks, thereby minimising the dependence on cars and taxis during the week.
SIWI is committed to reducing its impact on the environment and will continue to work with partners to develop long-term sustainability initiatives.
