Scandinavian Countries create world’s 1st Sustainable Meetings Region

Convention bureaus, destination marketing organisations, venues and agencies from the five Scandinavian member countries, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) got into an agreement to create the world´s first sustainable meetings region. This agreement was signed at the annual meeting of the ICCA Scandinavian Chapter in Tampere, Finland, and outlines 10 specific actions that all the signatories must commit to bring about sustainable development in the meetings and events industry.

Erika Eischer, Head of Congress Department, Tampere Hall and Chair of the ICCA Scandinavian Chapter, comments, “Our clients are concerned about the ethical, social and environmental performance of their suppliers. We need to make it easier for our clients to organise a sustainable meeting in our destinations. As a first step, convention bureaus, congress centres and other meetings industry professionals from Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have agreed on a common set of indicators that we can all use to benchmark and transparently communicate our performance and progress.”

Over the next six months, the Scandinavian ICCA Chapter will expand the number of signatories to the Accord by reaching out to business leaders across the Scandinavian countries. They will encourage others to join their commitment to measure and improve environmental impacts.