How to make the greenest choice in every aspect

According to Pepijn Klerkx, director of the medical conference bureau Congress Care, a green conference is a contradiction in terms. However, organising a conference that is as green as possible can be done.

The organisers of the biennial international medical conference, ESPCI (European Symposium on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation), wanted a conference that was as sustainable as possible. From start to finish, Congress Care was involved in making this a reality.

Around 1,500 ENT specialists and surgeons regularly attend this biennial conference on cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a hearing prosthesis that enables hearing-impaired and sometimes even deaf children to hear again.

Last year, the organisation of the conference was in the hands of medical scientists from the Radboud UMC in Nijmegen and the Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam, assisted by IAPCO-certified Professional Congress Organiser Congress Care. The conference took place from May 31 to June 3, 2023, in the De Doelen ICC conference centre in Rotterdam.

Can it be greener?

Founded in 1997, Congress Care specialises in organising international medical-scientific meetings anywhere in the world. Every year, the Den Bosch conference bureau organises 70 to 80 meetings with 100 to 2,000 participants.

“Four years ago, we were invited by convention agency Rotterdam Partners to pitch the scientists of Radboud UMC and Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital,” says Pepijn Klerkx, director of Congress Care. “It was their express wish to realise the greenest possible conference.

I told them that the greenest congress is a virtual one. We can also do this, but that was not their intention in this case. The next best idea was to make the greenest possible choice in every aspect. And that’s what we did. We examined every part of the conference: Is this green? Could it be even greener? The result is a conference where we have kept the footprint as small as possible.”

Legacy

“We notice that it’s becoming increasingly popular for both organisers and destinations of scientific conferences to leave a positive and lasting impression or legacy in the city or region where the conference takes place,” says Klerkx. “And that’s exactly what we have done here. In collaboration with convention agency Rotterdam Partners and other stakeholders, we created a beautiful ‘round’ whole, where all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and where everything was connected.”

Of all parts of a conference, air travel has the greatest negative impact on the environment. That is why this conference actively focused on encouraging train travel. To compensate for air travel, 10 euros from each participant’s registration fee went to a tree project.

“Thanks to the ESPCI conference, Rotterdam could become greener with more than 1,200 trees planted in Rotterdam,” says Klerkx. “The trees were not placed randomly, but put in places that had a link with the conference. For example, two school playgrounds were transformed into ‘blue-green’ play areas with lots of plants and natural play attributes. Research shows that green playgrounds are better for deaf and hearing-impaired children than concrete playgrounds. A green playground not only offers a better experience, but the acoustics are also much better.”

In addition, the initiators wanted to create more awareness of the challenges that deaf people face and, therefore, of the importance of cochlear implants. In this context, a free pop-up exhibition with photos of children with a cochlear implant (CI) was realised during the conference in the centre of Rotterdam under the name SuperHEARoes. The photos were taken by a photographer who is also a CI user.

Vegetarian catering

According to Klerkx, catering can also result in substantial ecological gains. That is why the organisers consciously opted for sustainably and locally produced dishes. Close attention was also paid to food waste; no single-use plastic was used, and participants were given refillable bottles of tap water.

“In many cultures, meat is an important part of the meal,” Klerkx adds. “Yet the ESPCI organisers dared to put together a completely vegetarian menu. They had good reasons to do so, which they had clearly communicated to the participants beforehand. The aim was to impress the participants so much with the quality and variety of the vegetarian dishes that even the most seasoned meat eaters would be inspired to eat vegetarian meals more often.

The culinary bitterballen made from oyster mushrooms grown on coffee grounds was one of the conference’s successes. Of course, such special dishes not only taste good but also help start great conversations.”

Apotheosis

For Congress Care, the ESPCI conference was not the first and certainly not the last green conference. “It has inspired us to always look for green options together with our clients.

Take the trade fairs at our conferences, for example. Nowadays, we ask stand builders to use reusable materials. We also wonder what could be built using the materials that are left behind. How about creating bicycle bags using banners?

This is how we measure every aspect of a conference, from concept development to evaluation, against the green benchmark. That makes our work—working together towards the congress, or the apotheosis—even more satisfying than it already was.”

 

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An inspirational message from the ESPCI organisers to the participants:

“Green is the colour of our conference, mainly because we want this to be the greenest and most sustainable conference on hearing to this day. The ESPCI is the largest conference on cochlear implants for children, which means it has a huge impact on the environment. The large number of international professionals flying to the conference emits an extraordinary amount of CO2 into our atmosphere. As the executive committee of ESPCI 2023, we recognise the burden imposed on our environment and are proud to take the first steps towards a more sustainable conference. Our efforts in short: raise awareness on green and sustainable healthcare throughout the entire conference by emphasising personal efforts; promotion of public transportation; free use of public transportation; CO2 compensation through tree planting; locally sourced catering; two inspiring green key-note speakers; multiple sessions on sustainable and green healthcare.”

Source: www.espci2023.org