Sustainability Programs
Sustainability at GreenFin 23
It’s our priority to ensure that our event operations reflect the same values we promote at our conferences - from minimizing and diverting our waste to strategically planning our menus to partnering with innovative organizations who share our goals, we put sustainability at the forefront of the conference planning process.
Explore some of our programs and partnerships below to learn more about what exactly we’re doing to live by our values.
Food
GreenBiz Food Policy
We envision meals at GreenBiz events to be plant-rich, inclusive, delicious, abundant and waste-free. We engage the foodservice teams at all venues we collaborate with on creating low-carbon menus that respect diverse dietary preferences and nourish our guests — balancing our sustainability goals with the needs of our community and the venue’s capabilities.
Food Donation with Copia
We're partnering with Copia to redistribute all of our surplus food to nonprofits in the Seattle community. In America today, 40% of the food we produce goes wasted, while 1 in 6 people are food insecure. What this means: hunger in our country is not a scarcity problem, it's a logistics problem. Copia is the first technology-enabled food recovery solution. They've built industry-leading logistics to solve hunger and food waste at scale, and GreenBiz is proud to be part of the solution.
In 2022, Copia enabled us to donate over 2,000 lbs of food to the communities we host our in-person events in. This translated to over 200,000 gallons of water saved and over 9,000 lbs of CO2 emissions avoided.
Menu Planning with Greener by Default
We’ve partnered with Greener by Default, which consults with events and institutions to apply behavioral science to food policy, nudging diners towards sustainable plant-based options while preserving freedom of choice.
Waste
GreenBiz Materials Strategy
We envision GreenBiz events to be sustainable, creative and thoughtful when it comes to our materials and waste strategy. We aim to use as few materials as possible and the materials we do use should be rented (so they can be reused), recyclable with a clear plan for recycling, and created with sustainable, nontoxic materials.
Tackling Hard-to-Recycle Waste with TerraCycle
Our Partnership with TerraCycle makes it possible to divert waste by recycling things that are not accepted by curbside services. Hard-to-recycle trash can be deposited in the Zero Waste Boxes with the corresponding waste stream found throughout the event venue. TerraCycle is an international and award-winning waste management company with a mission to eliminate the idea of waste.
In 2022, our partnership with TerraCycle enabled us to divert over 450 lbs of hard-to-recycle materials from the landfill.
Reducing Printed Materials with our Conference App
In the place of printed programs, the Whova app offers the best option for accessing the program on-site, connecting with fellow attendees and keeping up with all that GreenFin 23 has to offer. Be sure to download the app or access it on your desktop to view the most up-to-date event program. By using the conference app, you are helping to reduce paper use at GreenFin 23.
Sustainable Printing with YBC
We have partnered with YBC Production to prioritize sustainability when it comes to all of our signage. YBC Production is dedicated to extending your brand presence, without extending your carbon footprint. By recycling all eligible consumables, exclusively utilizing eco-friendly inks, and prioritizing the offset of our own carbon footprint, we print with a purpose.
Learn more about YBC's commitment to sustainability here.
Offsets + Carbon Reduction
Plastic Diversion with RePurpose Global
We're partnering with RePurpose Global to collect and remove 100 nature-bound plastic pouches from the environment for every GreenFin 23 attendee. Low-value waste will be collected, upcycled and processed at a rePurpose Imapact project, Sueño Azul in Columbia that empowers waste pickers to tackle plastic waste.
RePurpose Global is the world's leading Plastic Action Platform dedicated to reducing waste, reviving lives, and restoring nature's balance. Today, they are a movement of conscious businesses and consumers taking action on their plastic footprint by empowering innovators on the frontline.
In 2022, RePurpose Global collected over 697,000 plastic bags on behalf of GreenBiz, totaling over 2 million lbs of plastic removed from the environment.
Water Restoration with Bonneville Environmental Foundation
Changing the Course, a program of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) is a first-of-its-kind initiative that brings together the public, corporations, and on-the-ground conversation organizations to raise awareness about freshwater issues, reduce water footprints and directly support water restoration projects. Change the Course is the leading corporate water restoration and engagement campaign. The initiative has received contributions from over 70 corporate sponsors; supported over 265 water projects across 25 U.S. states, Canada, and Mexico; and restored over 36.7 billion gallons of water to date.
At GreenFin, GreenBiz is specifically contributing to the Merced County Seasonal Wetland, providing critical habitat to migrating shorebirds. Through innovative practices such as the flooding, gradual drawdown of seasonal wetlands during spring, and water rights transactions, the project will provide 2,000 acres of crucial habitat for peak shorebird migration.
Carbon Reduction with Watershed
We've partnered with Watershed, the enterprise climate platform, to measure the carbon footprint of our business operations and our large, in-person events. Watershed's mission is to help decarbonize the global economy by giving companies the tools and services they need to take meaningful action on their greenhouse gas emissions. Their platform allows businesses like ours to measure and analyze their complete carbon footprint, take action to reduce and remove those emissions, and report on progress to stakeholders and regulators. Watershed helps companies around the world turn their net zero ambitions into reality, fast.
Carbon Direct
This year GreenBiz is partnering exclusively with Carbon Direct to deliver a portfolio of high-quality carbon removals for emissions associated with attendance at GreenFin’23 and other GreenBiz events. The carbon removals provided by Carbon Direct will cover 50% of event emissions through a curated portfolio of credits independently evaluated against their criteria for high-quality carbon removal. The carbon removal credits provided by Carbon Direct are a diversified portfolio of hybrid and nature-based projects. Every project is vetted for additionally, durability, carbon accounting method, harms and benefits to the local environment and community, environmental justice, leakage and MRV.
