Jelena MilovicCongress & Exhibition Manager

Sustainable Meetings – EstorilSept. 2011

Agenda

- Where do we start?

- IAS CSR Strategy

- AIDS 2010 case study

Where do we start?

� Convincing leadership – Why?

�Opportunity to rethink processes

�Opportunity to raise questioning

�Becomes important to all stakeholders

�Need to be responsible for our actions

�Do not necessarily need a budget for it – could save costs

�Motivation tool for staff

�Easy to implement

Where do we start?

�Getting started – How?

�Staring point: list what we do already (internal audit)� Check what can be easily improved� Gather new ideas, think of the implementation� Involve the whole staff – e.g.: creation of a working group

(representing all departments)� Structure the information in an Action Plan� Follow up !

IAS CSR strategy

�Background information�AIDS Conferences – approx. 20’000 delegates

�IAS Conferences – approx. 7’000 delegates

�AIDS 2006 – Toronto

� IAS 2007 – Sydney

�AIDS 2008 – Mexico : First time with a “real” CSR plan!

� IAS 2009 – Cape Town : Focus on Social Aspects

�AIDS 2010 – Vienna: IMEX Green meetings Gold Award winner!

IAS CSR strategy

�To best balance the environmental, social and economic impact of our conference

�Going beyond “Greening” only�The “4 R’s” – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle & Raise

Awareness

AIDS 2010 4R’s

REDUCE the environmental impact of the conference while supporting the local economy by:• Using local suppliers who have good social responsibility policies, whenever possible• Offsetting carbon emissions and giving conference attendees the opportunity to do so• Reducing the number of publications printed, and printing on FSC paper.

REUSE conference surplus by:• Implementing a donation programme• Collecting surplus food and redistributing it to homeless people in Vienna.

RECYCLE conference waste by:• Giving attendees the opportunity to recycle their waste through sorting bins.

RAISE AWARENESS on:a) Our greening efforts by:• Communicating these efforts to our staff, suppliers, delegates and exhibitors.b) HIV and AIDS issues for non-delegates by:• Expanding our online coverage of conference issues• Extending outreach by holding conference hubs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia for those who are unable to attend the conference • Giving our volunteers access to the sessions and content of the conference.

Carbon Offset programme:�All Organizers, Speakers, Scholarships’ flights were carbon offset

�All delegates could choose the option to offset their flight on the registration page

�30’000 USD collected and redistributed to sustainable development projects:

�CONTINUOUS SUPPORT: Township Patterns sewing cooperatives (Cape Town, South Africa)

�GLOBAL: Eco stoves and Biogas digesters in China

�LOCAL: Austria Runde Sache – Viennese youth ecological organization

Environmental impact - highlights

Water� No individual plastic

water bottles – stickers in restrooms

Donation programme:�Donation boxes placed throughout the venue

�Items collected: furniture, banners, stationary, bags, publications

�Food donation programme�Leftover food donated to a local NGO – enough food to feed 160

people daily during the conference

�Leftover bags (800) donated to the “Rom” community in Vienna

Volunteer programme – 770 volunteers able to access conference sessions when not on duty

Accessibility�Dedicated info desk, sign language interpretation, “Braille”

programmes, wheelchairs available, accompanying person free entrance

Social impact – highlights

A more sustainable conference management saved:

� USD 15’000 by not printing invitation programmes

� USD 18’000 by not printing general information booklets

� USD 20’000 by printing abstract books only upon order (instead of printing stock)

� USD 500’000 by not providing shuttle busses (based on AIDS 2008 transportation budget)

� USD 50,000 by not having to buy water for delegates (based on AIDS 2008 water budget)

TOTAL SAVED compared to previous congresses: US$ 603,000

Economic impact

Jelena MilovicCongress & Exhibition ManagerInternational AIDS SocietyJelena.milovic@iasociety.org

THANK YOU !

More information on our CSR initiative here:http://www.iasociety.org