Hyatt Key West Resort and Spa recently began using all-green chemicals to clean its 118 luxury guest rooms. The hotel also plans to participate in the Global Soap Project, a donation program for recovering discarded toiletries, early next year. The property has maintained its green reputation after receiving the One Palm Award from the Florida Green Lodging Program in 2008, making the resort the first green certified resort on the island. Environmentally conscious planners can utilize the three meeting rooms at the hotel, including the 448-sq.-ft. Harbor Boardroom, which opens onto a gulfside balcony.

“This is a major accomplishment for the collective conventions, meetings, events and exhibitions industry,” stated Karen Kotowski, CAE, CMP, Convention Industry Council CEO. “Sustainability is a strategic concern for planners, suppliers and the organizations they represent. These standards are much anticipated so this is a great moment for the volunteers who put such effort to this project.”

The standards were conceptualized and initiated by the Green Meetings Industry Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and developed through a partnership with American Society for Testing and Materials International and CIC’s Accepted Practices Exchange, an initiative that focuses on industry best practices.

The completed standards will be published this month as both electronic and paper documents. A ninth standard on accommodations is undergoing final balloting through ASTM. Check the CIC website for updates.

Jeff Benavides, LEED AP O+M, senior project manager for EcoPreserve, will define and explain to meeting planners ways to reduce the carbon footprint of future meetings, including renewable energy credits, carbon offsets and engaging attendees around sustainable initiatives. EcoPreserve is a sustainability consulting firm dedicated to assisting businesses and organizations in becoming more sustainable through benchmarking, analyses, upgrades, education, engagement and certification.

“At this point, the meeting and events industry has largely seen an interest and movement with regard to green meetings,” Benavides says. “It’s safe to say that the stratification, classification, and differentiation of green meetings cross a wide spectrum in best practices in planning, coordinating and executing. The lack of a universally accepted process has left room for ‘green washing,’ especially when it comes to measuring environmental impact with hard data and public statements of successes.”

A 9:00 a.m. “Around Orlando” networking breakfast kicks off the program, which runs from 9:30–10:45 a.m.

The Amex Meetings Expert service is for events held by corporations without a strategic meetings management program. Separate from the existing Amex Maxvantage SMM partnership in North America with Maritz Travel, the new, broader service provides any professional responsible for planning a meeting with planning, sourcing, negotiating and on-site support.

Amex is also sponsoring the submission of 100 properties to The Carbon Accounting Co. Green Hotels Global lodging industry environmental assessment and reporting effort. The collaboration is an effort to initiate the process of a green program for these properties, which were identified as the top 50 properties for two Amex clients and one preferred supplier, as well as an additional 50 properties for case studies.

Other developments include: Amex’s FX International Payments currency exchange service, which enables meeting planners at pharmaceutical clients to manage and track payments to health care providers; and partnerships with Le Public Système and WRG Communications that add communications and event production in France and the United Kingdom, respectively.

1. bluegreenmeetings.com: The site, run by Oceans Blue Foundation, has many resources for planners, including a green quiz, tips for selecting venues and case studies on successful green meetings.
2. conventionindustry.org: The Convention Industry Council website has a sustainable meetings section that includes a working document of environmental standards for meetings.
3. greenhotels.com: Operated by the Green Hotels Association, this site has a questionnaire planners can use when researching hotel venues. Questions include “Will you provide cloth rather than disposable table drapes for display tables?” and “Who pays for bottle deposits—the client or the property?”
4. sustainabletravelinternational.org: Planners can use the website’s carbon calculator to find out how much each attendee generates in carbon and the associated offset cost for each person. The cost could be incorporated into registration fees to create a carbon neutral event. For a five-day North American event with 5,000 participants, the carbon offset cost for each person is $68.13.

Deals: Change of Ownership

ASAE, the association leadership society, has purchased Convene Green Alliance, an organization of association professionals committed to planning and teaching about greener meetings. The alliance has resources on its website about eco-friendly practices and hosts regular events for meeting planners. ASAE bought the alliance from IMN Solutions, a meetings management company, in November and plans to re-evaluate its procedures and programs before unveiling new goals.

Sustainability School

Green Globe University offers new training programs for travel industry professionals. Green Globe Certification is the worldwide sustainability system for operation and management of businesses involving travel and tourism. It is based on internationally accepted criteria and is represented in more than 83 countries. The new training programs offer a free introductory module that teaches sustainability concepts and training for hotel managers based on Green Globe certification standards. Volume discounts are available to businesses training more than 10 students.

Eco Apathy?

Are Americans behaving greener than they were a decade ago? A recent Gallup poll might surprise you. Despite the shift toward greener thinking especially in large industries such as meetings and events, Americans aren’t making dramatically different choices than they were in 2000. When asked who had recycled aluminum, glass, newspapers or other items in the past year, 90 percent of respondents said yes, the same number as 10 years ago. The good news: Nine out of 10 respondents are recycling.

Looking Ahead

During President Obama’s State of the Union address, he talked about the nation’s need to win the future. The Better Buildings Initiative, which gives private businesses incentives to upgrade buildings to be more green, is a plan that has the president’s support and gets high praise from the U.S. Green Building Council. “It is major steps like these that are necessary to address the challenges facing our environment,” said USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi. Retrofitting and updating the nation’s 5 million commercial buildings and 120 million homes also has the potential to create a number of jobs.

David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
About: The LEED Gold certified facility, the largest in the world, implemented a program called g1, or Green First, that represents the center’s commitment to green practices.
Facts: Seventy-five percent of the building is naturally lit, and the primary hallways and pre-function space, totaling 236,000 square feet, are 100 percent naturally lit by skylights and glass walls.
Features: On-site water reclamation plant; “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” food program; rooftop garden for vegetables and herbs; pre-set thermostats and light sensors.

Oregon Convention Center
Where: Portland, Oregon
About: The LEED Silver rated convention center earned recertification from the United States Green Building Council in 2008, the first in the nation to do so.
Facts: On average, the center recycles 50 percent of the waste that would’ve ended up in landfills. It also encourages employees to use mass transit when commuting, as part of citywide program that provides riders with reduced transit fares.
Features: Extensive recycling program; rainwater collection; wind power for 40 percent of electricity use; energy-efficient lighting; low-flow toilets; email contracts.

Vancouver Convention Centre
Where: Vancouver, British Columbia
About: The facility, which hosts more than 350 events a year, recently won the 2010 Environmental Leadership Award from PCMA for its commitment to sustainable efforts.
Facts: Nearly half of the waste generated at the facility is recycled, and the west building received LEED Platinum certification, the first convention center in the world to earn the highest LEED rating.
Features: Six-acre landscaped roof that acts as an insulator; facility-wide recycling program; seawater heating and cooling system; “scratch” kitchen that uses local, seasonal ingredients; fish habitat built into the facility’s foundation.

Virginia Beach Convention Center
Where: Virginia Beach, Virginia
About: The sleek glass center achieved LEED Gold certification for existing buildings last year and is part of the Virginia Green statewide sustainability program for businesses.
Facts: During move-in and move-out, the convention center brings down the lights in the exhibit halls 50 percent, and all lighting in the center operates on motion sensors.
Features: Single-stream recycling; disposable and biodegradable food containers; recycled paper products; green cleaning products; thermal-rated windows and insulation.

Click here for a guide to what LEED means and what kinds of certifications are available.

The USGBC has developed nine different categories of LEED certification, and most meeting sites fall under the New Construction and Major Renovations rating or the Existing Buildings rating, which measures sustainable practices in operations and maintenance. LEED certification is awarded on a 100-point scale, with points divided into specific categories. New construction, for instance, can earn up to 26 points in the sustainable sites category and 35 points in the energy and atmosphere category. One reason why LEED has emerged as the preferred rating system is that it offers a framework for developing green buildings that is fairly easy to follow. Developers can’t just pick and choose the categories in which they’d like to earn points because each has specific prerequisites. For example, new building developers must demonstrate they have taken action to prevent construction pollution to attain LEED certification.

The higher the points, the higher the grade. A Platinum rating indicates a score of 80 points or higher, Gold is 60 to 79 points and Silver is 50 to 59 points. There is also a Certified category for buildings that have attained 40 to 49 points. Check the fine print when choosing a site: Many buildings simply say they’re certified for the sake of brevity. If a building achieves anything less than a perfect score, ask what features it has. If your biggest concern is attendee comfort inside the building, you’ll want more points in the indoor environmental quality category, which includes temperature, lighting and indoor air quality. If you’re more concerned about energy use, inquire about that.

Obtaining LEED takes time, and many buildings open with certification pending. Buildings can also be developed with LEED standards in mind but don’t complete the certification process. Although the cost of certification is minimal compared to the cost of construction, both the expense and extensive documentation required means some owners deem it unnecessary. A building might meet your green goals without official certification.