There are many examples of sustainable practice in Bremen. The city’s numerous hybrid buses play just as important a role as the new hydroelectric power plant or Bremen’s reputation as the capital of fair trade. The federal state of Bremen, and in particular Bremerhaven, is a hub for climate research and for onshore and offshore wind energy. By 2020 Bremen aims to be an established centre of excellence for climate protection, efficient power generation and renewable energies as a means to achieving economic growth on an innovative and sustainable basis.

Bremen is also putting the focus on ‘green meetings’. The city offers a range of facilities for eco-friendly events, and its excellent transport connections make it the ideal venue for a sustainable GTM Germany Travel Mart™ in 2014. The city centre is easy to get around, the train station is conveniently located and the airport is just a short tram ride away.

• Delegates are encouraged to travel to and from the event by train, thereby drastically reducing the amount of individual journeys made
• All Deutsche Bahn rail trips with the Umwelt Plus event ticket are carbon neutral
• Most GTM hotels are conveniently situated with good public transport connections
• Volunteers from the local area will be waiting at key locations (hotels, train station, airport, etc.) to provide visitors with public transport information and directions
• Coordinated transfers (intelligent logistics)

• The invitation process is completely electronic
• All information and services related to the GTM Germany Travel Mart™ can be accessed online and are now only provided electronically
• Use of paper is discouraged as far as possible
• Delegates are made more aware of sustainable behaviour (e.g. GreenTeam survey of service providers)

• The paper used for name badges is sourced from FSC-certified forests
• All printed materials (brochures, pocket guides, etc.) are printed double-sided on FSC-certified paper and they are produced print compensated
• GTM delegates are given a conference bag made from renewable resources

• Contractors are selected based on a list of criteria for sustainable exhibition-stand construction
• Materials and components are re-used multiple times
• Eco-friendly building materials are used wherever possible
• Preference is given to water-based colours and paints
• Considerable resources are conserved by hiring exhibition furniture
• Packaging and freight are minimised (intelligent logistics)

Bremen Exhibition Centre, the venue for this year’s GTM workshop, puts great emphasis on sustainability and has reduced its primary energy use by around 15 per cent over the past few years

• 600 kWp photovoltaic system on the roofs of halls 4 to 6 (22,000m²), reducing carbon emissions by around 370 tonnes annually*
• A block-type thermal power station and an additional condensing boiler offer an efficient, centralised means of generating heat and hot water
• Lights are controlled centrally by a building management system, there are motion detectors in many operational rooms and in the multi-storey car park, and all lights have been replaced by LEDs
• Bremen Exhibition Centre is participating in a project aimed at making north-west Germany more energy efficient through 30 pilot networks*
• A modern centralised cooling and refrigeration system has been installed to replace the older, decentralised machines. This is also used to cool the data centre.
• Rain water from hall 1 and around one third of the Bürgerweide grounds (total of approx. 30,000m²) is being channelled directly into the peat canal as part of the environmental restoration of the Findorff peat docks
• Economy flushes and aerators, etc. are helping to reduce water consumption*
• All back office departments will be switching to recycled paper as soon as possible and will be reducing the use of paper and ink by changing the default settings of their printers
• During events, only recycled paper is used in the sanitary facilities wherever possible*
• A review is being carried out to determine how many print products can be switched to recycled materials and digital media

*Source: Bremen Exhibition Centre

• The product range includes foods that are certified organic and fair trade (organic bakeries and organic vegetable stand)
• Preference is given to regional and seasonal products
• Exotic products from overseas are actively avoided
• Food is served with re-usable rather than disposable tableware in order to avoid waste
• Seafood products carry the Marine Stewardship Council label
• The coffee is obtained from sustainable sources and the soft drinks are from the local area

• All facilities have disabled access – delegates are asked when registering if they have any special requirements that need to be accommodated
• There is a series of seminars for buyers on the subject of sustainability and Green Germany
• All sustainability measures are clearly communicated (through press releases, the website, etc.)