Code of Conduct: “Make the fair as sustainable as possible”

IFAT in Munich is the world's largest trade fair for environmental technologies—and, on its own account, has long been committed to sustainability as well. This endeavor is now reinforced by a Code of Conduct and the IFAT Environmental Leadership Award—an award for a sustainable trade fair appearance.

“When IFAT opens its doors to welcome more than 3,300 exhibitors and around 145,000 visitors next May, we want to make the fair as sustainable as possible,” explains Philipp Eisenmann, Exhibition Director IFAT. The event is already benefiting from exhibition grounds that offer many environmentally friendly facets, from geothermal energy and photovoltaics to extensive planting. “We have summarized existing and new measures in a Code of Conduct—and appeal to visitors, exhibitors and partners to behave in the most environmentally friendly way possible.” One of the new offers: a CO2 calculator including the possibility to offset CO2 emissions for traveling to and from IFAT with donations to environmentally friendly projects.

An award for sustainable trade fair concepts

The IFAT Environmental Leadership Award is already well established and, among others, has been awarded to Auma Obama and the Club of Rome. “Now the prize is being given a new direction: we want to create an incentive to exhibitors to participate in the fair in a sustainable manner,” explains Eisenmann. The criteria are: mobility behavior, recyclable stand construction, recyclable materials, catering, waste management, giveaways, production of advertising material and other measures. The submissions will be evaluated by a jury chaired by Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich, Chair Professor at the Environmental and Energy Engineering Department of Clausthal University of Technology and Director of INZIN—Institute for the Future of Industrial Society. Exhibitors can still apply until mid-February. Further information is available at ifat.de/award.

Traveling, eating and constructing stands in an eco-friendly way

All IFAT participants can benefit from the good access to public transport. Those traveling by train can use IFAT’s special Event Ticket for Deutsche Bahn. And for those who cannot do without a car or an airplane, ClimatePartner's CO2 calculator is the solution for compensating CO2 emissions through donations to selected climate and environmental protection projects.

The already proven measures at IFAT include visitor catering based on local supply chains, the general use of recycled paper and the stand model “Wood” from our partner Meplan. Free drinking water dispensers connected to the pipe system are available as well. IFAT also supports the Alliance for Development and Climate, which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing and the German Society for International Cooperation. “The measures show that we have set out to realizing a trade fair that is as environmentally friendly as possible—and we will consistently continue along this path in the coming years,” explains Philipp Eisenmann.

Sustainable infrastructure of Messe München

Messe München, the venue of IFAT, also contributes to a sustainable event. Examples: there are 2,500 trees on the exhibition grounds; the exhibition lake feeds itself from rainwater and groundwater; the halls’ roofs are equipped with one of the largest photovoltaic roof systems in the world; a large part of the heat in the exhibition halls is generated with geothermal energy; and the electricity requirement is covered 100 percent with green electricity. In addition, Messe München is continuously driving forward the process of CO2 compensation and the avoidance of plastic waste.

More information on IFAT is available at ifat.de, and especially on the Code of Conduct at ifat.de/sustainability and the CO2 calculator at ifat-worldwide.com/co2calculator.