Nature, Events and Community - Koelnmesse summarises its sustainability activities in these three central fields of action and aims to map them holistically from now on. All measures and ideas are aimed at being a marketplace that enables trade fair operations to maximise resource conservation. "This is challenging. However, we are tackling this situation with vigour and have the clear goal of being climate-neutral by 2035," says Gerald Böse, CEO. "To achieve this, we need to reduce CO2 emissions, save resources and switch to renewable energies," says Böse, citing important levers. Koelnmesse uses the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), on which Koelnmesse's future sustainability strategy is also based, as a framework for these and numerous other activities.
Sustainability is a topic that has accompanied Koelnmesse since the start of its modernisation and construction projects in 2015. Numerous projects, including the dynamic logistics management system eSlot, the world's largest trade fair traffic guidance system to reduce traffic jams and vehicle emissions and the complete switch to green electricity, are already helping to make trade fairs and visits more sustainable. As part of the sustainability strategy planned for this year, Koelnmesse is now facing up to its responsibility even more strongly than before - not only for economic, but also for social and ecological issues. In order to raise awareness of sustainability among customers, service-providing companies, shareholders and employees alike, Koelnmesse is now bundling its individual measures under the newly developed "Tradefairer" label. The increasing strategic importance of the topic is also reflected in the expansion of the Corporate Development division to focus on sustainability and the creation of new personnel capacities.
"It has always been Koelnmesse's goal to support industry and business as well as the entire Cologne region with key challenges. This means that we first of all consistently look at the potential for greater sustainability in our own activities and continue to build on the very pleasing progress we have already made," says Exhibition Centre Director Böse. Effective waste and recyclables management, potential savings in energy and material consumption and sustainable energy procurement are considered to be the biggest challenges in the coming years.
"The individual key topics are currently being defined in cross-divisional working groups and upcoming milestones are being set," says Prof. Dr Christian Glasmacher, Member of the Management Board, Head of Corporate Development & Sustainability. To this end, Koelnmesse is involving all stakeholders relevant to the sustainable organisation of events. "Successful and credible sustainability work requires a change in thinking and implementation in all areas of Koelnmesse and in our entire environment," explains Glasmacher. This is why Koelnmesse conducted an extensive stakeholder survey at the beginning of the strategy process. Over 3,000 responses are a clear expression of the high relevance of the topics and that the step towards a dialogue with customers, service providers and the workforce was the right one.
"As a trade fair organiser, we are determined to be a pioneer and role model for other companies and industries," Glasmacher continued. To this end, Koelnmesse will also actively support guest organisers in integrating the topic of sustainability at trade fairs and provide offers and advice for sustainable participation at its own events. This includes, for example, sustainable procurement and supply chain management as well as sustainable stand construction and catering. To this end, Koelnmesse already offers sustainable system stands that produce no waste thanks to long-term reuse and can be set up quickly with just a few clicks. The declared goal is to offer the entire portfolio for system stand construction and stand partition walls completely CO2-neutral by 2030.
"The field of new, sustainable technologies is developing dynamically and we are constantly looking at which innovations we can utilise for our extensive Cologne site," adds Gerald Böse. "It is clear that we will invest extensively to make one of the largest exhibition centres in the world one of the most sustainable."
Koelnmesse is involved in initiatives, projects and networks to jointly promote the sustainable development of the event industry and will further intensify these co-operations in the future. As a member of the joint project Net Zero Carbon Events, Koelnmesse is part of a global initiative with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions in the event sector to net zero. To this end, it will identify and implement suitable measures at its events worldwide.
Koelnmesse is already aligning its actions with the United Nations' SDGs, i.e. categories that companies worldwide can (and must) use as a guide: In addition to climate protection activities and the sustainable development of business, industry and infrastructure, measures relating to health and well-being, high-quality education and equal opportunities are among the goals that Koelnmesse fully supports. For example, Koelnmesse will increase the number of apprenticeships and training days by 15 per cent by 2025 and implements both environmental and social criteria in its cooperation with its suppliers. This has applied to all new contracts since 2023 and to all service contracts until 2028.
"The totality of our measures and plans shows that Koelnmesse has set out on the path to comprehensive sustainability. We are pursuing this path on our own initiative and strategically - but we have certainly not yet reached our goal," summarises Koelnmesse CEO Gerald Böse. "The next important steps are the finalisation and adoption of our sustainability strategy. In this process, our working groups will set ambitious milestones and thus drive the strategy forward in concrete terms."