Europe

Stockholm’s Sustainability Cred

April 4, 2023

Sustainable Meet Stockholm seeks to raise the city’s profile as a sustainable, green destinations for meetings and events by inviting hotels, key meeting and event venues and attractions to share eco-ideas, projects and expertise.

Sustainable Meet Stockholm, a private collaborative marketing project launched in February 2020 by Visit Stockholm and the local hospitality industry, is calling on local hotels, meeting and event venues and attractions to work with the city to raise the Swedish city’s profile as a premier destination for eco-minded meeting and event organizers.

In the initiative’s first phase, the emphasis was on showcasing partner products, building a digital platform and offering sustainable training. In addition to working with key international tour operators and agents to establish new channels and sales, partners can use the project’s platform to facilitate training and education regarding sustainable responsibilities. The platform will also serve as a source of market knowledge and generating know-how and to share creative ideas that will make it possible to come up with more targeted as well as new products.

Sustainable Meet Stockholm emphasizes that a meeting’s eco-friendliness doesn’t stop at the ballroom doors. Even accounting for accommodations and transport — two areas often criticized for their outsized carbon footprints — Sustainable Meet Stockholm says on its website that “Actual sustainability can only result from a much more holistic approach where every aspect of environmental, economic and social impact is part of the equation. That’s why factors such as freedom from corruption, equality and labor legislation are equally important to consider when choosing your meeting destination.”

Stockholm, which in 1972 hosted the first UN Conference on the Human Environment, has long been beating the sustainability drum. Thirteen years ago, the city was the first in Europe to earn the European Green Capital Award for its environmental credentials, according to Sustainable Meet Stockholm. And in 2024, the city and Royal Djurgården — one of the greenest islands in the city and the recipient of the Green Destination Platinum Award for its sustainability work — will host the Global Sustainable Tourism Council World Congress on sustainable tourism.

Many of the conference venues in Stockholm already have been accredited by third-parties for the sustainability practices. One is the Stockholm International Fair, Scandinavia’s largest venue for trade fairs, conferences and events. The venue holds an ISO 20121 certificate for sustainable events and is also the first venue in the Nordic region to join the Net Zero Carbon Events-initiative. Münchenbryggeriet, which offers venues in a historical building with a view over the city center, is certified by the Nordic Swan Ecolabel in the conference and restaurant category. A for-star Courtyard by Marriott in the city also is Green Key-certified.

And the city itself is compact and surrounded by water, making it a prime spot for eco-friendly tours and activities. One to consider is a sailing teambuilding event on a 50-foot sailing yacht. In addition to Eco sightseeing and private tours, Stockholm Adventures offers year-round guided tours, as well as biking, walking, kayaking and ice-skating excursions.

With air travel being an increasingly criticized carbon pollution generator for meetings and events, Stockholm also is easily accessible by train. All the trains SJ, a Swedish railway company, offers in Sweden carry the Good Environmental Choice (Bra Miljöval) label, and offer high-speed trains to/from Oslo and Copenhagen, and night trains to/from Berlin and Hamburg.