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Sustainability in Colognes meeting industry

A green oasis, a transparency platform, a hotel fundraiser for clean drinking-water projects and a caterer who is co-developing a set of sustainability guidelines with his employees – we present four exemplary projects for more sustainability in the Cologne meetings industry. Besides, Dunja Karabaic, founder of ökoRAUSCH, talks to us in an interview about taking little and large steps towards sustainability in everyday life and reveals her favourite green spot in Cologne.

Carbon negative. Planet positive.

Radisson Hotel Group has already since 2019 been implementing an automatic carbon offset for all events at its hotels. As part of its new campaign, the hotel group is now going one step further and doubling this offset for bookings in the first quarter of 2022 with a closed contract by January 31. Further measures on the way to become the leading hotel company in the field of Responsible Business are already being planned.

Events net zero CO².

Koelnmesse demonstrates how the event and meeting industry's carbon footprint can be reduced. By joining the Net Zero CO2 initiative, the company has committed to organising CO²-neutral events by the end of 2050. This is not the company's first foray: Koelnmesse has already made important contributions to sustainability with projects such as eSlot, an emissions-reducing logistics management system, or the certification of the new Confex® congress and event location by the German Sustainable Building Council.

Coming soon! The supergreen® hotel.

Close to restaurants, bars and shopping facilities, the new Ruby Hotel is centrally located between the Gerling-Quartier and the Belgian Quarter neighbourhoods. The hotel is climate-friendly thanks to oases of rooftop and courtyard vegetation. These regulate humidity, bind dust particles and absorb noise. For a building in the middle of Cologne “it’s a first”, says Michael Kunz, CEO of Proximus Real Estate AG. The hotel was designed by the internationally renowned ingenhoven architects who have coined the term supergreen® to describe their far-reaching approach to sustainability. Scheduled to open in 2021.

Fresh water on tap!

Helping protect the environment, water management is already common practice in many hotels. But the 25hours Hotel The Circle in the Gerling-Quartier neighbourhood has gone one step further. Part of the 25hours Hotel Group, the Circle supports “Viva con Agua”, a foundation dedicated to providing clean drinking water around the world. Every time someone books online, the hotel donates 50 cents to WASH – an abbreviation for water, sanitation and hygiene – projects. On the hotel’s website, visitors can see how much money has been raised, find out more about the campaign and make donations. Established in 2006, the foundation is committed to international water projects in partnership with the German charity “Welthungerhilfe”.

Sustainable catering in Cologne!

The caterer lemonpie is living proof that making a company sustainable involves lots of small steps. For instance, by switching to 100% green electricity, focusing on regional products, using energy-efficient delivery vans and reducing paper waste. A “Code of Conduct for Sustainability” co-developed with company’s staff takes into account ecological, economic as well as social considerations. The Cologne-based caterer lemonpie is certified as a GERMAN SUSTAINABLE COMPANY. “As a forward-looking company, we want to set ourselves sustainable goals based on responsibility for the environment.” (lemonpie Eventcatering)

GS1 Germany for more transparency!

Whether it's chocolate bars or exercise books ... is the product that ends up in the shopping basket really sustainable? Thanks to its Knowledge Center, GS1 Germany not only provides venues for events and workshops but also improves communication between manufacturers, retailers and consumers. Since 2019, companies have joined forces under Cologne’s GS1 Germany umbrella and developed a platform to promote dialogue on sustainability: The GS1 Ecotraxx platform bundles data on sustainability centrally and helps companies realise the “added transparency” demanded by politicians and consumers. This represents a pragmatic step on the road to sustainable development!