2Sustain

Meetings, conferences, seminars… I’m sure your calendar is full of them. But, this year, do you find yourself looking at that schedule with a more critical eye?  Maybe you’re trying to cut costs in the company’s travel budget, or perhaps your goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of a conference you’re hosting –either way, one thing is certain: these days, we’re all approaching business meetings differently than ever before.

If you’re curious about trends regarding corporate travel, take a look at the 2009 Sustainable Meeting Industry Report, recently released by Meeting Strategies Worldwide. The report compiles research from numerous sources and concludes that the demand for a green approach to corporate meetings is trending upward “with no signs of stopping.” For some firms, that means replacing business travel with teleconferencing. Others are opting to book meetings with hotels and conference centers that adopt sustainable practices.

In fact, a recent survey of corporate travel managers conducted by the National Business Travel Association found that:

• nearly 30% incorporate green issues into their travel policies

• 30% say they will use hotels that feature eco-friendly amenities and practices

• nearly 25% prefer green meeting suppliers.

While I was reading the report, I ran across mention of an innovative website that offers some perspective on the environmental impact of a corporate meeting or conference. Give it a try here.

Turns out that the website belongs to Scandic Hotels, the leading hotel chain in the Nordic region. Scandic operates 149 hotels in ten countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland), and paging through their website, it’s clear that the company has made sustainability a top priority.

Here are a few sentences that describe Scandic’s vision (from the company website):

“We want to be more than just a hotel. We want to be a place where people can come together, meet others and be inspired, whether they are visiting Scandic on business or for pleasure. We want to be a source of inspiration for conscious people and we want to help make a better world. We believe that people are going to become increasingly conscious of the choices they make – and we want those conscious people to opt for Scandic because we are a good choice in every way – economically, socially and environmentally.”

Based on the data from the 2009 Sustainable Meeting Industry Report, it looks like this vision has Scandic well-positioned for the year ahead.