Amsterdam RAI has become the first convention centre in Europe to meet the requirements of the Green Globe for two consecutive years and achieved the prestigious Green Globe Silver status. This status underlines Amsterdam RAI’s leading role in the European MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions & exhibitions) market in terms of environmental friendliness.

When the international Green Globe programme awarded the Bronze status to Amsterdam RAI in 2008, the convention and exhibition centre officially became a Green Globe Benchmarked Company. The new Silver status was presented after the Green Globe report noted further improvements in comparison to the initial benchmark. In fact the 2009 report shows that the indicators for water consumption, waste production, choice of paper and organic cleaning products is above the Best Practice level of the benchmarks of other certified exhibition and convention centres. The RAI also achieved positive results in a variety of other fields.

Attaining Silver status confirms to the managers and employees of the RAI that they are on the right track. “Amsterdam RAI aims to become the leader in the European conference and events industry with regard to sustainability and CSR within the next five years,” says Chairman of the Board of Amsterdam RAI, Hans Bakker. “We do this not only out of a conviction that a sustainable world is a better world, but also out of healthy Amsterdam business sense. There is an irreversible trend towards an environmentally friendly approach and we expect this to have a lasting influence upon our industry. This is why we aim to be at least as ‘green’ as our competitors in all areas, and lead the way where possible. The Green Globe offers a well-documented and independent test that demonstrates how the RAI is making an active contribution to finding global solutions to the environmental issue.”