January 12, 2007—Meeting Strategies Worldwide has launched the MeetGreen Calculator, a gauge for environmentally friendly meetings.
The Web-based calculator is available to anyone who wants to measure the environmental impact of meetings and conferences.
To assess an event’s environmental impact, the MeetGreen Calculator compares practices of a specific event against the greenest alternative practices. Results provide a benchmark for future events and a comparison with other green events.
For example, environmental practices include use of locally produced food, selecting meeting sites where attendees can walk or use mass transit and diverting a significant portion of garbage by recycling and reuse.
The calculator is part of a suite of products and services that includes tools to use throughout the planning process to lessen detrimental environmental effects and a program to certify that an event is following the best green practices. Together they are called MeetGreen and constitute the first move towards an industry standard for environmentally friendly meetings, according to the company.
Groups such as Sierra Club, US Green Building Council, Globe Foundation of Canada and Business for Social Responsibility have hired MSWW for the approach now quantified with MeetGreen.
Meeting Strategies Worldwide for more than a decade has taken an uncommon approach in event planning and consulting to achieve outstanding results for its clients and the environment. The company made a name for itself as North America’s pioneer in green meetings by looking for every opportunity to eliminate waste from its clients’ events-a practice that also means gains for the environment.
