MCI Sustainability Services guided the BS8901 certification process, working alongside the COP15 planning teams to train and then facilitate the implementation and documentation of the necessary processes required for BS8901 certification. The third party external verification and audit was conducted by DS Certificering A/S, the Danish national certification authority. Jan-Christoph Napierski, Head of Sustainability for COP15, reports “We worked hard to be architects of an effective, flexible sustainability management system which engaged stakeholders throughout the community. The result is not only the hard won certification of our event management system, but a more sustainable Copenhagen, a city which can now claim 53% of all hotel rooms as third party ecocertified, a state of the art public transportation system and affordable access to organic and sustainable foods”.

In an ongoing effort to transform the global meetings industry, MCI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wonderful Copenhagen, the City of Copenhagen, Visit Denmark and Novo Nordisk are collaborating together to produce the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol. This is an umbrella framework that captures key learning and experience from COP15 in order for others to organize large, complex meetings in a sustainable way. It integrates local and international sustainability initiatives, standards, systems and certification programmes. The Protocol is due to be released in March 2010.

“As sustainable guides and as the PCO, we’re proud to have been a part of this historic event. The progress made in organizing COP15 sustainably is significant, ambitious and industry-transforming. This event has become a benchmark for the meetings industry and shows how events can and should be run following sustainability principles that save money, increase performance and increase client satisfaction,” advises Guy Bigwood, MCI Group Sustainability Director and lead consultant on the project.

For more detail on sustainability achievements of COP15 – www.sustainability.cop15.dk

Received live input from COP15 on the MCI sustainability blog: lessconversationmoreaction.com

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About MCI

Established in 1987, MCI is a globally integrated association, communication and event management company with 37 offices in 20 countries, employing more than 800 professionals worldwide. For more information, please visit the website: www.mci-group.com.

MCI is the selected Professional Congress Organizer and sustainability consultant for some of the worlds leading events concerning sustainable development, including: TheWorld Business Summit on Climate Change, the International Climate Change Conference, the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, the European Wind Energy Conference and COP15.