Leipzig, 25 February 2010. Leipziger Messe is Germany’s first major trade fair company to have committed itself to sustainability as its principle for responsible business management activity. This sustainable approach has now been acknowledged with the Green Globe Certificate which is recognised worldwide for the tourism and event sector. At the same time, Leipziger Messe is launching a sustainability process for the company headlined “Growth in Balance”, setting the pace for the German trade fairs and exhibitions industry. “We are the first major German trade fair company to have successfully undergone the Green Globe sustainability audit. This means that we are transparent and measurable in our sustainability management”, according to the managing director of Leipziger Messe GmbH, Martin Buhl-Wagner.
Strategic competitive advantage
The issue of sustainability is attracting increasing interest in the public perception, as Buhl-Wagner goes on to say. When out shopping, consumers paid more attention to environmental sustainability, but also to fair customer-supplier relationships and the good treatment of employees. The Congress Center Leipzig (CCL) was already encountering the sustainability issue more frequently, with the conference sector increasingly strong on demanding “green meetings”. Sustainability was becoming an important strategic competitive advantage. Leipzig wanted to lead the way for this process in Germany, says the Messe managing director.
Test passed in 125 categories
Worldwide, there was a growing demand for green meetings, incentives, conferences and events (Green MICE), explains Dr. Peter Zimmer, a sustainability expert and accredited Green Globe auditor of many years’ standing. He was pleased that with Leipziger Messe, a first major German trade fair company had taken up this issue and was pressing forward with it. “In around 125 audit categories, Leipziger Messe passed the most sustainable. This made it obvious that it had a great deal to show in terms of ecological, economic and social sustainability”, as sustainability expert Zimmer commended. This ranged from measures such as ice storage to optimise air-conditioning in the exhibition halls and traffic lights regulated to a change frequency in line with trade fair traffic flow, to free use of the MDV (Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund) public transport system for exhibitors and visitors to fairs, and the company’s subsidiary company fairgourmet which had already been delivering w
ith a natural gas-powered vehicle since 2006. The solution chosen for the problem of pigeon droppings on the exhibition halls won particular praise – namely the intervention of “Mother Nature” in the shape of kestrels.
“It has been shown that the Messe also has a great deal to show for itself in social terms, which is playing an increasingly important role today in the sustainability approach”, as the Messe boss adds. This included post-entry career training, regular information and qualification opportunities for employees, sport options and part-time employment models such as flexitime, making it easier to better combine career and family. All this had persuaded the auditors, explains Buhl-Wagner.
Model office for Messe employees
With its big headline “Growth in Balance”, Leipziger Messe was now increasing its efforts aimed at achieving a new equilibrium between economic growth and responsibility for the environment and society. The starting-point had been the opening of the socalled “2-Degree Office” at the end of last year – a model office featuring information on how Messe employees can save resources and energy in their everyday working lives. This year will focus on workshops demonstrating how further sustainability goals can be achieved. There are also plans to draw up a sustainability statute, followed by a sustainability report. “The certification was a status report which also showed us where we still have work to do”, according to Buhl-Wagner.
Growing sustainably – together with partners
“We don’t want to preach sacrifice. Our company wants and ought to go on growing”, says the Messe managing director. But long-term growth was only possible if the interests of the environment, of our fellow men and our partners in the economic cycle are respected and it is made possible for them to grow in cooperation with the Messe. “By acting with a sustainable approach, we are investing in the future foundations of our existence”, says Buhl-Wagner.
