The Congress Park Hanau (CPH) is not only located in the countryside next to the castle gardens, but is also green in terms of meetings. This was officially certified during a “Green Globe Audit” in September. The auditors confirmed to the team of the CPH that sustainability is understood as part of the house’s strategic management.
For two years already, an environmentally oriented group at the CPH has been developing a series of measures that are to be implemented. Some of these measures are relatively simple changes, such as that, in future, only recycled paper may be used for printing, or that only fair trade coffee from sustainable forests will be bought. Further ideas in the concept include recording the CO2 emissions from business travel and personally checking whether all unused machines and unnecessary lights are switched off at night. The Green Globe auditors Alexandra Frenz and Marc Bonny also valued the promotional activities for the local art scene with the series “Art in the CPH” and the special exhibitions “Hessiale 2009” and “Menschen – Bilder – Emotionen” by Kai Pfaffenbach in August and September 2010.
Furthermore, the audit explicitly acknowledged that the CPH’s sale of Hanau souvenirs, the use of green electricity from provider “Hanau Naturale, pointing out regional activities in the program for Congress participants and the range of local services offered in conference packages led to a strengthening of local businesses.
Set goals surpassed
With 83 percent in the first audit the CPH already surpassed its set target of 51 percent and made a visible mark compared to the general average. “Of course we are very proud that our activities had such a significant impact on the result”, said Sven Arends, head of events and facility management of the CPH and the driving force for sustainability. Nevertheless, there are still other sustainability objectives which will be addressed in the coming months. There are plans to gradually include all suppliers of the house in the process by introducing sustainable procurement guidelines. In addition, the conversion of the lighting systems will be addressed.
www.cph-hanau.de
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