U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Conferences and Events team announced certification under BS 8901:2007, the new British standard for planning and managing sustainable events. USGBC is the first organization in North America to receive certification for its Conferences and Events Team under BS 8901:2007, the world’s first certifiable sustainability management system standard for the events industry.
Each year, the USGBC Conferences & Events Team is responsible for over 100 events including the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, the world's largest conference and expo dedicated to green building, as well as the USGBC Federal Summit, various roundtables and Member Circle events. The third-party verification that is part of the certification process was done by Sustainable Event Certification and included on-site auditing at the Greenbuild 2008 in Boston, Mass. This year’s show will take place November 11-13, 2009 in Phoenix, Ariz.
“At each Greenbuild, our Conferences and Events team works closely with our vendors, host communities, exhibitors and attendees to cut down on natural resource use and reduce carbon emissions, while gaining feedback about ways to continuously improve the show,” said Kimberly Lewis, Vice President of Conferences and Events, USGBC. “Certification under the British standard validates our processing, execution and post-event monitoring and incentivizes us to continue to transform the global meetings industry.”
BS 8901 provides a robust framework through which event organizers, suppliers to the events industry and events themselves can demonstrate their commitment to a more sustainable future and requires organizations to aspire to continually improve their sustainability performance in relation to the management of events. BS 8901 shares common management system principles and processes with the ISO 9001 standard on Quality Management and the ISO 14001 standard on Environmental Management.
About USGBC
The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization with a vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since USGBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 18,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building certification systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 78 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.
About Greenbuild
The U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo convenes the industry’s largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. Three days of extensive educational programming, workshops, a vast exhibition floor and ample networking events provide unrivaled opportunities to learn about the latest technological innovations, explore new products, and exchange ideas with other professionals. Greenbuild 2009 will be held on Nov. 11-13, 2009, in Phoenix, Ariz. This past year’s conference in Boston, Mass. drew over 28,000 attendees and featured more than 800 exhibit booths. Visit www.greenbuildexpo.org for more information. To view last year’s Greenbuild show, go to www.greenbuild365.org.
