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With 105 world leaders coming in for the UN Climate Change Summit, which runs from today to Dec. 17 in Denmark, it’d be easy for the conference to have a hefty carbon footprint. It seems those running the COP15 conference are keen to avoid the irony of a global conference, which is aiming to save the earth from catastrophic effects of climate change, producing undue carbon in the process.

Perhaps there’s something to learn from their strategies for running your own green meeting, trade or consumer show or a conference.

- Conference delegates will get a free public transportation pass to use throughout the summit. Apparently the Copenhagen metro system was recently voted the best in the world, making it the most efficient way to travel in terms of both time and carbon. Armoured cars will still be used for world leaders, of course.
- Rather than giving gift bags at the summit, Denmark is using the money they would have spent (approx. $700,000) on a climate scholarship for 10-12 students around the world to complete a 2-year Masters program at a Danish university.
- Tap water will be distributed at the conference; plastic bottles won’t be provided. Sounds like BYORWB (bring your own reuseable water bottle) is the order of the day!
- Over 3,500 hotel rooms reserved for conference visitors have a certificate in sustainable hotel management.
- There is a 55-metre windmill right next to the conference centre for the ultimate in local renewable energy. For the rest of us, perhaps we could purchase power for our events from a renewable energy supplier.
- To top it off, COP15 will offset their C02 emissions from delegate visits, local transportation, the conference centre itself by creating 20 new brickworks facilities in Dhaka, Bangladesh. According to this site, the new technology used will “reduce coal consumption during brick production by 50 percent… and emit an annual 100,000 tonnes less CO2 into the atmosphere than the old kilns.”

To listen to Jan-Christoph Napierski, Head of Sustainability at the conference, describe the challenges in reducing the impact of the event, click here.

Have you taken steps to reduce waste in your meetings and events?

My friend Julia let me know about a “flash mob” she’s organizing this coming Monday as part of a “Global Wake-Up Call” designed to urge politicians to act on climate change. This Monday, September 21, at 12:18 p.m., in locations all around the world, groups of people will converge to show that people want action on climate change, and that we want our politicians to come up with a solid plan during the UN Climate Change Conference on from December 7 to 18.

The idea is we’ll all set our cell phone alarms to 12:18 p.m., so the entire group’s alarms will go off at once. Everyone is encouraged to place calls to our MPs and others who we think could influence action in Copenhagen. The event will last just a few minutes, so it’s not a big time commitment, it’s just a chance to converge with a bunch of people and send a message.

Julia’s event is at the Toronto Sculpture Garden, 115 King St. E. (just east of Church St.). To join her at noon on Monday, click here. She’s even encouraging people to wear suits and carry briefcases to show that “climate change is everybody’s business.” I’m going to take part in the flash mob near the Homemakers offices in North York.

To find an event near you, click here.

Participants are encouraged to take photos and video during the event and send them to others, post them to blogs and otherwise get the message out about the critical nature of the Copenhagen talks. For one take on why the talks are so critical, listen to the “Oceans of Trouble” podcast from CBC’s Quirks and Quarks.