University of Alberta
IN-5: Green Event Certification

The Green Spaces certification program helps event planners adopt sustainable practices and earn recognition for their efforts. Any event or conference at the University of Alberta can seek Green Spaces certification. Organizers commit to completing actions over the course of event and attendees are encouraged to take personal actions that will help reduce the overall impact of the event. Actions include anything from collecting organic waste at lunch, providing tap water to speakers, or choosing a venue close to public transit. Event planners can easily peruse the full list of actions, effectively encouraging them to take on a wider range of actions. The event planning team receives an official certificate made from re-purposed materials that recognizes their bronze, silver or gold rated performance. Organizers are also encouraged to borrow a banner to publicize their efforts to event participants. Below please find a selection of specific actions we have included in the checklist per the components listed. Sustainable transportation options, teleconferencing options, and/or carbon offsets -Encourage attendees to use sustainable transportation to get to the event, such as cycling, walking, public transit, car-pooling or ride-sharing - Encourage attendees to take a shuttle or bus to and from the airport Sustainable catering (e.g. sourcing local and third party certified food and beverages, providing vegetarian/vegan options, using reusable/compostable materials) - Provide recycled content or reusable napkins - Provide organic, seasonal and/or locally-grown food options - Ensure inclusive food options are offered, such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or dairy-free options - Serve meat dishes with a lower carbon footprint, such as fish or poultry - Serve fair trade certified coffee, tea, sugar and/or chocolate - Provide condiments in bulk, including sugar, milk and cream - Make a plan for how to use or where to donate any uneaten or uncooked food - Carefully plan the food service to fit our needs and reduce portion sizes to prevent food waste - Compost unused foods Paper consumption (e.g. minimization and recycled/FSC certified content) - Provide reusable or compostable plates, cups and utensils - Use an electronic registration process - Distribute documents electronically - Print name tags on recycled paper - Reuse plastic name tag-holders - Use erasable boards, blackboards or slides instead of paper flip charts most of the time - Use recycled content paper for flip charts Energy efficiency (e.g. equipment and lighting) - Turn off lights and equipment while not in use - Ensure any additional lights being set up have LED lightbulbs - Purchase carbon offsets from a reputable source to offset the travel of out-of-town guests and speakers Waste minimization and diversion - Ensure bins are present for collecting paper, plastic, beverage containers and other recyclables. Bins must be highly visible and labelled with appropriate signage - Ensure organics bins are present, highly visible and labelled with appropriate signage - Ensure assistants are on-hand to guide proper disposal of organics and recyclables during peak times - Provide reminders to participants to use recycling stations in event and meeting areas Communications and/or signage about the sustainable practices - Ensure exhibitors, conference staff, organizers and volunteers are aware of the sustainability features of the event and actively participate and promote them - Only provide giveaway items and door prizes that model Green Purchasing principles. They should be durable, able to be reused and/or be a prompt for sustainable behaviour - Incorporate written or oral acknowledgement of the Traditional Territory on which the event is taking place - Create promotional signs out of materials which can be repurposed or reused at other meetings / events (e.g. avoid dates on banners so they can be reused in future years)