by jbs041409f3 — April 20, 2009—The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Conferences and Events team recently announced certification under BS 8901:2007, the new British standard for planning and managing sustainable events. USGBC is the first organization in North America to receive certification under BS 8901:2007, reportedly the world’s first certifiable sustainability management system standard for the events industry.
Each year, the USGBC Conferences & Events Team is responsible for over 100 events, including the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, considered the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building, as well as the USGBC Federal Summit, various roundtables, and Member Circle events. The third-party verification that is part of the certification process was done by Sustainable Event Certification and included on-site auditing at the Greenbuild 2008 in Boston, MA. This year’s show will take place November 11-13, 2009 in Phoenix, AZ.
BS 8901 provides a robust framework through which event organizers, suppliers to the events industry, and events themselves can demonstrate their commitment to a more sustainable future. It requires organizations to aspire to continually improve their sustainability performance in relation to the management of events. BS 8901 shares common management system principles and processes with the ISO 9001 standard on Quality Management and the ISO 14001 standard on Environmental Management.
