La Cité Nantes Congress Centre’s profound commitment to sustainability is embedded in its very culture. It is the only French convention centre among the 30 AIPC certified centres worldwide, to have been awarded the AIPC Gold Quality Standards Certification (International Associations of Convention Centres), and it’s also certified ISO 20121, a voluntary international standard for sustainable event management.
Over the years, La Cité Nantes has demonstrated a responsive management and increased its efforts to minimize the environmental impact of its operations. Among many other initiatives, let’s mention its efficient fluid management thanks to a centralized technical system, 100% green energy, heating produced by waste incineration, monitoring water consumption, photovoltaic panels, sustainable development provisions in contracts, green purchasing… the list could actually go on and on.
This article was written by Boardroom Chief Editor Remi Deve. The right to use it, in parts or in full, has to be granted by the Publisher.
Above all, La Cité Nantes Congress Centre encourages the organization of green events: the aim is to reduce their carbon footprint with the support of the venue’s customers in the process. To do so, La Cité boasts a solid local food network, helps reduce waste, sorting out uneaten food or donating it to charities, or promotes exhibitors to be responsible by, for instance turning the light on their booth at night or the use of public transport. Together with UNIMEV, the French Meeting Industry Council, it has even developed Cleo, an event performance calculator that provides an estimation of the event’s carbon footprint
Hosted by La Cité Nantes Congress Centre in January, the Biennales Internationales du Spectacle (BIS, the International Live Entertainment Biennale) were very proud to be awarded ISO20121 certification, after an extensive audit process which studied all aspects of management of the event. “We are committed to mastering our social, economic and environmental impact, to seek exemplarity and to guarantee a high level of organizational quality to our participants, exhibitors and partners”, said Nicolas Marc, creator and director of BIS. “Of course, there is always room for improvement, and I personally hope that this certification, which must be revalidated each year, will be long-term.”
It helps, of course, that Nantes, as a human-scale city, is perfectly compact and walkable. La Cité Nantes Congress Centre is located opposite the high-speed train station, the international airport is only 20 minutes away, and most venues and hotels are at a stone’s throw of one another.