8 Sustainable Conference Venues

Fortunately, many conference venues have already made significant strides in adapting to a more sustainable way of operating. Here, we highlight 8 venues that have considered their climate impact in various ways, allowing you to conference with a clearer conscience.

Stockholmsmässan

Stockholmsmässan is the first meeting facility in Stockholm to be certified according to ISO 20121, an international standard for sustainability at events. This certification means that the fair has committed to continuously improving its sustainability efforts. The long-term goal is to become climate positive, and work has begun to reduce their climate impact.

Hotel GSH, Bornholm

On the Danish island of Bornholm, you can hold climate-neutral meetings. This island, with fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, not only offers white sandy beaches, unique natural experiences, and many sunny days but also a unique hotel and conference venue: Hotel GSH – Green Solution House, with space for up to 350 conference guests and 240 lodging guests.

Hotel GSH is a circular conference hotel inaugurated in 2015. The hotel boasts 75 green solutions, producing its own renewable energy from solar and waste. The heat generated is used to warm the building during winter, and the surplus supplies Bornholm’s power grid with renewable energy. They also have a zero waste goal: all waste is sorted and reused. All constructions in the hotel are designed for easy disassembly, and all materials are recyclable when they need to be replaced.

The hotel features unique eco-friendly solutions, such as skylights that generate energy through solar panels while allowing daylight into the lobby, and innovative carpets that clean the air from dust particles.

Sånga Säby

Sånga Säby was early in its environmental work, becoming the first Swan-labeled hotel in the Nordics in 1999. Today, it is Sweden’s most climate-smart meeting facility and the country’s only 100% climate-neutral hotel. Sånga Säby offsets all direct and indirect climate impacts associated with your conference. In addition to carbon offsetting, they have their own water and sewage treatment plants, and all electricity comes from renewable sources.

Waterfront

Waterfront is one of the world’s most energy-efficient buildings. Its glass facades contain 1,040 m² of solar collectors, which collect an average of 1 MW of thermal energy per day, equivalent to 90,000 standard low-energy bulbs. Heating and air conditioning are distributed in a coordinated system—heat is transferred and distributed between different buildings, from surplus to deficit. The building is cooled using water pumped from Lake Mälaren, stored in 250-ton cooling tanks in the basement. When the facility was constructed, a large portion of the material from the previous building on the site was reused. Both the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel and the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre have the Green Key environmental certification.

Långholmen

Långholmen has been engaged in environmental work since 1990, and both the hotel and the restaurant are Swan-labeled. They have been carbon offsetting since 2012 for heating, electricity, business travel, service vehicles, and paper consumption. They collaborate with the food-saving app Karma to reduce food waste and are members of the Sustainable Restaurants network. Regarding social sustainability, Långholmen is a sponsor of the village of Mamelodi in South Africa through SOS Children’s Villages, providing 84 children with a home and education.

Fotografiska

Fotografiska is not only a museum but also offers meeting and event spaces. Their vision is "Inspiring a more conscious world," and in addition to photo exhibitions that engage and highlight important issues, Fotografiska’s restaurant (led by chef and food creator Paul Svensson) pioneers "The New Conscious Kitchen." The restaurant focuses on plant-based ingredients and was named the World’s Best Museum Restaurant in 2017. They are also part of the Food Alliance, a collaboration between Fotografiska, Urban Deli, Farang, K-märkt, and Gastronaut, where some of Stockholm’s most sustainability-focused food actors come together for more sustainable enjoyment, focusing on locally grown produce, conscious animal husbandry, and Zero Waste.

Münchenbryggeriet

Sustainability work permeates the entire operation at Münchenbryggeriet. Their concept #HållbaraMöten (Sustainable Meetings) educates and challenges other industry actors, aiming to become Sweden’s most sustainable conference venue. Some changes they have made include replacing all Ramlösa in cans/bottles with taps for locally produced tap water, thus avoiding glass consumption, transportation, and handling. They place great emphasis on planning their menus to minimize the climate footprint and work to reduce food waste by minimizing the size of plates and serving dishes on their buffets. All products used in daily operations are environmentally certified, and the facility is powered 100% by renewable energy sources such as wind, water, and biofuel. Münchenbryggeriet’s food waste is composted and converted into biogas, which powers their facility.

Äventyrens Ö

When Äventyrens Ö started in 1994, they were almost alone in the meeting industry in having an environmental policy. They have been Swan-labeled since 2009 and are probably one of Sweden’s most environmentally friendly facilities, consuming minimal electricity as most guests sleep in lavvu tents. They are official sponsors of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation’s “Project Sea Eagle,” which helped rebuild the population of the once-endangered sea eagle. A sea eagle has even settled on the island!