Green Meetings in Copenhagen

November 2009
 

The ultimate ‘green meeting' is a reality in Copenhagen, thanks to its eco-labelled hotels, organic foods, recycled furniture and environmentally friendly transport options. No wonder Copenhagen is known as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.

As you come in to land at Copenhagen Airport - perhaps with Scandinavian Airlines, which offers a carbon offset program for congresses & events as part of the SAS Official Airline product - you will catch sight of a row of wind turbines stationed at the mouth of Copenhagen harbour. The Danish wind turbine industry boasts a 40% share of the global market, making it the world leader in wind power. Around 20% of Denmark's domestic electricity production is generated by wind.

If you arrive during summer you will also see people swimming in the sea, canals and harbour around Copenhagen. How many cities in the world can boast of harbours with water clean enough to swim in?

When it comes to hotels, close to 50% of the rooms in Copenhagen have received some form of environmental certification, such as the EU Flower, the Nordic Swan Label, ISO 14001, or the Green Key.

And, when it comes to meetings, many of the city's venues also boast some of these certifications - for instance, the largest convention centre in the Nordic countries, Bella Center, has recently invested €1.7m in energy-saving measures, including installing LED lights; insulation; and more efficient heating systems, which have led to a 20% decrease in CO2 emissions on 2007 levels. Meanwhile, the Center no longer offers bottled water, preferring filtered tap water instead, thus avoiding the waste incurred in using 100,000 plastic bottles per year. It also serves only organic Freetrade coffee, and meals prepared with organic products on demand.

Meanwhile, next year, a brand new convention centre, the Tivoli Congress Center, seating up to 4,000, will welcome guests to its environmentally friendly surroundings. The centre will have Green Key certification and is located only few minutes by foot from the City Hall Square.

A brighter shade of green
The Nordic hotel chain, Scandic, which has nine hotels in the Copenhagen area, has taken social responsibility a step further. Since 1996 the chain has worked with a strict environmental program and all its Copenhagen hotels are certified with the Swan Label. Scandic doesn't just boast effective energy usage and serve organic foods, when its furniture, bedding etc are replaced they are donated to shelters for the homeless. Scandic has recently been awarded the IMEX Green Meetings Award for its sustainable meetings products.

The Arp-Hansen Hotel Group's environmental efforts have resulted in all ten of their hotels qualifying for the Green Key in recognition of their effectiveness at reducing energy and water consumption; minimising waste; introducing organic produce; and creating a healthy environment in which to work and stay. Next year, the Arp-Hansen Hotel Group will open the Tivoli Hotel**** and the Tivoli Congress Centre, both of which will be certified with the Green Key.

Scandinavia's largest hotel chain, Choice Hotels, offering ten hotels in the Copenhagen area, is also aiming to be a leader in environmental awareness. All of its hotels are powered by 100% hydroelectric energy, so, the chain avoids CO2 emissions from electricity, water and heating. And, by the end of 2009, all its hotels will be certified in accordance to the international environmental standard, ISO 14001. Meanwhile, the chain donates an amount for every guest during 2009 towards saving 100 square metres of rain-forest per guest: a total area of 700 square kilometres.

The family-owned hotel chain, Brøchner Hotels, with four hotels in Copenhagen, is now a recognised 'Klima+ frontløber' ('Climate+ front-runner'). Klima+ is a climate initiative taken by the Copenhagen municipality for companies who wish to reduce their impact on the climate. The 'front-runners' are those who are judged to be making an extraordinary effort. Joining the Klima+ program was a natural step for Brøchner Hotels after the chain became carbon neutral in 2008. All hotels are certified by the Green Key and offer electric cars for rent to their guest.

The Danish hotel chain Guldsmeden, with three hotels in Copenhagen, is another good choice for the environmentally conscious consumer. In addition to providing an organic breakfast and dinner, the hotel produces its own organic personal care products and only purchases CO2-free energy from natural sources. In addition, the Axel Hotel Guldsmeden is the only hotel in Scandinavia to feature on the Green Globe list which sets the highest standards for approval of sustainable tourism.

Meanwhile, both Hilton Copenhagen Airport hotel and the city's three Radisson Blu hotels have recently received the Swan Label.

The recently opened Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is located in a new, CO2 neutral building which is cooled and heated by Denmark's first ground water-based cooling and heating system, and a facade covered with high-tech solar panels which makes the hotel - also Green Key certified - one of the world's most climate friendly hotels.

What does it mean to be green?
When it comes to selecting green services and products, meeting planners often ask: How do I know it is really green? In Copenhagen visitors and meeting planners can find guidance in three categories of eco-labelling: the Swan Label, the EU Flower and the Ø-symbol. The Ø-symbol is the Danish mark for organic products. It indicates that a product has been inspected by the Danish authorities and has lived up to strict regulations. The Swan Label symbol is the Nordic Council of Ministers' eco-mark, used throughout the Nordic countries, while the EU Flower is the EU's official eco-label used throughout its member states. When a consumer buys a product that is either Swan- or Flower labelled, they can be sure that the product is manufactured with the least possible impact on the environment, and that it does not contain toxic ingredients.

Organic Copenhagen
Few other metropolitan cities in the world can match Copenhagen's consumption of organic foods. Today, the private sector's purchase of organic products in Copenhagen amounts to 23 percent, while 51 percent of all food consumed in the city's public institutions is organic - which is a world record. To ensure Copenhagen's continued development of its consumption of organic produce, the environmental strategy "Environment Metropolis - Our Vision 2015" has set targets for up to 90 percent by 2015 in all of the city's institutions.

Copenhageners' organic consciousness is also making its mark beyond the political world. A new league of restaurants, cafes and delis are sprouting up outside of the usual eco-community centres and vegetarian restaurants, lead by a common sense desire for clean, local, sustainable produce.

The environmentally friendly metropolis
Currently, 36% of all Copenhageners choose to cycle to their place of work or education. Together they cover more than 1.1 million kms by bike each day. In many cases, though, they don't even need a bicycle to get around. Today 60% of all Copenhageners live within 15 minutes' walk of a park, a beach or a swimming pool. Copenhagen is one of the most "walkable" cities in the world. Its compact city centre means walking between meeting venues, hotels, sights, restaurants and shopping areas takes a matter of minutes.

Cyclists contribute much less CO2 than motorised forms of traffic and by making the city a safer and more comfortable place to bike Copenhagen aims to increase the percentage of cyclists to 50% by 2015. This will reduce CO2 emissions by a further 80,000 tons per year.

Visitors to the Danish capital can, of course, travel by bike too, but the city also offers a highly advanced and developed public transport infrastructure. The recent Metro - whose first line opened in 2002 - has just been extended to the airport and now connects eastern Copenhagen to the airport in less than 15 minutes. For years an efficient airport train has made it possible to reach the main train station in only 13 min.

Copenhagen got its first environmentally-friendly bus route in 2009. The electrically-powered CityCirkel buses run every seven minutes in a ring around some of Copenhagen's best sights, shopping districts, restaurants and hotels. The buses run all day on electricity from batteries which are recharged overnight.

When using shuttles for transportation you can also go green, for instance the Danish coach company Viking Bus offers some of the most environmentally friendly buses in Europe.

So, Copenhagen has taken great steps to reduce CO2 emissions. As have its citizens: each one of them has reduced his or her contribution to global warming from 7 tons to 4.9 tons compared to 1990 figures. This corresponds to a combined CO2 reduction of 25% over the last 15 years. Despite its rapid economic growth in recent years, Copenhagen has also managed to keep water and energy consumption constant over time. We have one of the world's best recycling systems with 90% of all construction waste being recycled and 75 % of all household garbage being used for heating.