 Green, green growth
The global markets are having a rethink. IT manufacturers are vying for the most efficient data centres, automotive groups are overtaking each other on the road to zero-emissions mobility, nine EU states are establishing a gigantic clean-energy project in the North Sea and by 2019, every new building across the EU should be able to generate all the power it requires by itself. So are we all set?
We are all raring to go, at any rate. In future, every industry will have to submit products for energy balance audits – extending throughout their entire lifecycle, rather than just in daily usage. So green or environmental technology (greentech*) is now crucial at all steps, from energy generation and storage through the efficient consumption of (raw) materials and energy in the production of consumer and investment goods to sustainability at a process level in trade and industry, transport, private households and public utilities.
This gives the green light to all innovations that avoid a carbon footprint in the first place, reduce the impact of existing processes or reverse existing damage. Objectives shared by the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP), which aims to strengthen the position of European companies on the global environmental goods market, supplementing the ecological pillar of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs**.
So what does all this mean for the congress industry? Our role is to act as an interface, cultivate connections, provide platforms – and, above all, set a good example. When it opened its doors in 1992, for instance, Messe München also began operating the largest photovoltaic installation in the world at the time and continues to set high standards in energy efficiency today. Offering just the right setting to steer attention towards innovative new congress topics.
*More about greentech:
“GreenTech made in Germany 2.0” is the title of an environmental technology atlas issued by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), with a foreword by Sigmar Gabriel, former Federal Environment Minister
**More about the Lisbon strategy see below link.
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Gerhard Gerritzen, Deputy Managing Director of Messe München GmbH and responsible for ICM since 1 January 2010, explains why service and quality awareness are increasingly decisive competitive factors.
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