PORTLAND, ORE.—GMIC (Green Meeting Industry Council), the nonprofit professional meetings association dedicated to promoting sustainable meetings, has reached an agreement with iCompli, a division of BPA Worldwide, a global third-party assurance provider, to develop a certification program for the event industry’s sustainability standards. The standards, known as the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards, were released last year to address environmental and social sustainability in the meeting and event industry.
“Certification drives adoption of industry standards,” says Tamara Kennedy, executive director of the GMIC, whose members led the development of the APEX/ASTM Standards. “We saw a real need in the industry for a certification program that industry participants could achieve and be recognized for their sustainability performance. We wanted an audit partner who not only knew our industry, but was willing to work with us to develop an affordable yet rigorous process. iCompli met those requirements.”
“We are delighted to be working with GMIC to develop a certification program for the ASTM Standards,” Glenn Hansen, president and CEO of BPA Worldwide, the parent organization of iCompli, added. “Sustainability is a critical issue in the events industry. Adoption of the ASTM Standards—and certification by an independent third party—will advance environmental and social sustainability and raise the level of performance of everyone in the industry.”
Registry of Certified Organizations to be Developed
Under terms of the agreement, GMIC and iCompli will work together to promote adoption and certification of the ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Standards. GMIC will develop a registry of certified organizations and establish a practitioner group of industry experts to clarify certification issues and propose improvements to the standards. For its part, iCompli will develop certification protocols for each of the standards and all necessary forms and documents to support the certification process.
The ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meetings Standards are a series of nine formal, voluntary standards developed by the meetings, conventions, exhibitions and events industry to provide event planners and suppliers with specifications for producing events in a more sustainable manner. The standards specify specific performance criteria for staff management, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement, and community partners. The standards were created in partnership with ASTM International, an ANSI-accredited standards development organization.
iCompli recently completed the first certifications under the ASTM Standards for the Colorado Convention Center, VISIT DENVER (the metro Denver convention and visitors bureau), and Image Audiovisuals.
