Sustainability and legacy

For Santander Convention Bureau, sustainability is a key factor in the organisation and management of events. It is also a priority for us to minimise any negative impact and maximise the positive contribution of the MICE sector to the community.

Every event leaves a footprint on the environment, from resource consumption to waste generation and carbon emissions; but it also leaves positive impacts such as improved deseasonalisation or the economic impact generated in the destination or legacy actions. Therefore, adopting a responsible approach is essential to ensure that impacts are managed efficiently and sustainably from the outset of event planning, seeking to maximise the positive impact, the potential legacy of each event and minimising our negative impact on our natural and social environment.

From Santander Convention Bureau, in line with our mission and the services we provide, we offer collaboration and support to organisers, promoters, specifiers and collaborators to facilitate the integration of sustainability from the early stages of event planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation of results. We provide advice and sustainable solutions in our destination, to reduce negative impact and promote positive impact and legacy actions in our territory.

Our commitment is to accompany the entire MICE tourism value chain in our destination, providing the knowledge and solutions necessary to make each event not only a success, but also an example of responsibility, sustainability and respect for our environment.

¿How do we do this?

Count on our support and consult with us from the early stages of event planning, we can help you integrate sustainability from the initial stages, and throughout the lifecycle of each event:

1. PLANNING

Supporting you from the beginning in the definition of a ‘Sustainability Plan’ for your event, considering from the planning stage, actions for the integration of sustainability and legacy linked to our territory and our society; and, depending on the character that best fits with the event, making sure that these actions are aligned with the strategy of the promoter or client.

Did you know that...

• In your event can you collaborate with suppliers committed to the integration of people with disabilities and/or at risk of social exclusion?
• That you can incorporate into your event activities that actively promote the conservation of our natural environment, and/or environmental awareness and sensitisation?
• Have you considered the special needs of all attendees at your event, we make it easy from the planning stage to improve your event's accessibility and inclusivity.
• The selection of the event venue is key. Consult us to find out about venues that are committed to improving their environmental performance (such as, for example, the Santander Exhibition and Conference Centre, with Q for Quality and S for Sustainability certification from the ICTE); or other venues that are working to reduce their carbon footprint, or that facilitate accessibility to each event.
• We inform you about suppliers with whom you can establish strategic alliances from the planning stage of the event, so that their environmental impact is as low as possible: caterers committed to local and km0 products, transport suppliers that minimise the carbon footprint of the event, accommodation that have sustainability certificates recognised and validated by third parties, or restaurants in our destination with a firm philosophy of integrated management of the circular economy in their activity.
• Your event can have a positive impact on the destination in the short, medium or long term through one-off or transformative actions. We help you identify potential local partners to carry out your action.
• We put special interest in identifying activities linked to our ‘human’ dimension that contribute to sustainability in your event, proposing sustainable mobility options or Team Building activities linked to local tradition.

2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EVENT

We advise you on how to reduce the impact of the event during its celebration with actions such as: reduction or elimination of plastic, digitised information options to reduce paper, selective waste collection to ensure recycling, options for transporting participants with less environmental impact.

3. COMPLETION AND EVALUATION

We help you in the post-event reflection that allows you to continuously improve the sustainable performance of the event. We are particularly interested in collaborating in the collection of data and helping to identify indicators that can facilitate the measurement and monitoring of the impact of the event, both negative, to reduce its mitigation, and positive, to enhance its value. With this action we will contribute together to the continuous improvement of the sustainability of the MICE sector in our destination.

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