TCEB partners with TGO to prepare the direction on carbon footprint assessment for the exhibition industry, primarily supporting MICE operators to stage events with more consideration towards the environment and embarking on a journey for a low-carbon society
Bangkok: Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) (TCEB) has collaborated with the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a stringent guideline on carbon footprint assessment for the exhibition industry, principally gunning for Thai MICE operators to be part of the effort in reducing global warming and getting them ready to enter the low-carbon society that will help strengthen the competitiveness of Thai exhibition industry as a whole.
It is widely known that “global warming” or “climate change” impacts the life of people around the whole world, stimulating all countries across all continents to pay closer attention to the environment. Industries or large businesses that have used a great volume of energy have been blamed as the perpetuators of greenhouse gas, believed to be the root of global warming. Though communities around the world have realized the meaning of global warming, there is no successful remedy to the problem because all countries are bound to their own individual trades, thus the “low-carbon society”, which was initiated as a way to solve global warming in a sustainable manner. This entails the manufacturing side and the consumers to work together using a marketing system that will lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas.
Carbon footprint, as we know, is the amount of greenhouse gas emission from daily activities from a product’s life cycle, services, activities or business operation. Carbon footprints are considered as a gauge to reduce the impact of global warming and climate change.
For years now, TCEB has established different standards to strengthen the MICE industry. The bureau has helped establish five standards for the MICE industry. The two advanced standards related to this include: the energy management standard ISO 50001, and the sustainable management and administration of event business ISO 20121, both instituted to espouse the vision of caring for the environment.
So that the event operators can have a calculation guideline, the TGO has allocated a budget for the development of specific conditions for the carbon footprint assessment in event services. By starting with the exhibition industry, which is a MICE hallmark, which generates a reasonable amount of global warming compared to other types of industries such as the convention and other general business conferences, TGO aims to create awareness and public relations of agencies working on carbon footprint to the public that encourages more MICE operators to participate in the project.
Procedures for carbon footprint assessment for exhibition industry are as follows:
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Visit www.tgo.or.th to download the application form / specific conditions for products / form for preparation of specific conditions of products / examination of documents and presentation to TGO.
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Hire a consulting firm or assign own consultant within the organization in case the company already has personnel with knowledge to calculate the carbon footprint.
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Review the calculated data by reviewer of the products’ carbon footprint.
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Submit the information to apply for the registration with TGO.
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TGO announces the carbon footprint to the public.
In case that the operators have no experience in carbon footprint assessment and want to find the consulting for the first time, they can look at the roster of consultants at http://thaicarbonlabel.tgo.or.th/. For later calculation, the operators who already have the experience can assess the carbon footprint by themselves.
