The WIN Charta as a new Seal of Quality

The Stuttgart Convention Bureau backs sustainability

This spring the Stuttgart-Marketing GmbH had already signed the WIN Charta for sustainable management, thus also committing its department of the Stuttgart Convention Bureau (SCB) to economic, ecological and social responsibility. The Stuttgart Marketing Gmbh is also taking part in the Baden-Württemberg Sustainability Days from 17th to 20th September 2021, whose main emphasis is on climate and health.

Over 240 institutions in Baden-Württemberg are participating in the state's sustainability strategy, including the Messe Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre, Stuttgart Airport, the Filderhalle Leinfelden-Echterdingen and the Congress Center Böblingen Sindelfingen. "We were already focusing on sustainability long before the signing of the WIN Charta," says Karina Grützner, head of the SCB. "Since 2012 the SCB has geared its own efforts to sustainability and integrated its partners' activities into its destination marketing."

Every action counts. Sustainability is a key issue in Baden-Württemberg. Year for year the Sustainability Days have proved: Nowhere else have there been so many sustainable activities within the framework of the European Sustainability Week as here. This year the Sustainability Days from 17th to 20th September are focusing on the themes of climate and health. The Stuttgart-Marketing GmbH is playing its part by placing collecting boxes for mobile phones in the "i-Punkt" tourist information centres, enabling valuable resources to be recycled.

It goes without saying that the recently revised Meeting Guide  – the biggest location data bank for the Stuttgart Region – also contains a large number of sustainably-run event venues. The "Green Policy" option in the search box makes it possible to access detailed information on the sustainability management systems of congress venues, conference hotels and event locations.

"Based on voluntary commitment, our own initiative and external communication, the Stuttgart Convention Bureau will also comply with the twelve guiding principles of the WIN Charta. These tie in with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations," confirms Karina Grützner:

1. Human and labour rights
2. Well-being of employees
3. Consideration of the interests of all stakeholder groups
4. Increasing resource efficiency
5. Efficient use of renewable energy sources
6. Sustainable and transparent concepts for product responsibility
7. Ensuring long-term business success and safeguarding jobs in the region
8. Sustainable innovation
9. Financial decisions in the interest of sustainability
10. Prevention, exposure and sanctioning of corruption
11. Generating added value for the region
12. Incentives to rethink with a view to increasing entrepreneurial sustainability

As a management system, the WIN Charta has the added advantage of fulfilling all the reporting requirements of the CSR directive "EU directive 2014/95/EU for corporate sustainability management".

As far back as 2012 the SCB committed itself to "Fairpflichtet", the sustainability codex of the German event sector. The Convention Bureau provides free advice not only for Stuttgart, but also for the entire region with its many sustainably-run and certified businesses.

Its services include procuring German Rail Event Tickets for climate-neutral travel to and from events, room reservations and the booking of hotel contingents, as well as contacting suitable partners and service providers for sustainable congresses, meetings, seminars or trade fairs. Free ÖPNV tickets for the local transport network, when hotel reservations are made through us, are particularly popular," says the head of the SCB.

In addition to ecological and economical aspects, the social angle of sustainability is gaining in importance. The SCB therefore puts event planners in touch with the projects of three partner institutions for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

• On three floors and 900 square metres, the "Blue House" belonging to the Förderkreises krebskranke Kinder Stuttgart – the support organisation for child cancer sufferers – provides a temporary home for families while their child is undergoing hospital treatment. It provides accommodation, support and a chance to regenerate, and – most important – it's only a stone's throw away from the young patients at the Olgahospital. Under the umbrella of the Stuttgart Cancer Center (SCC), its Department of Oncology, Haematology and Immunology is the central point of contact for all children and young people suffering from the disease.
• A Social Day provides an opportunity to incorporate tangible civic engagement into programmes for employees and conference participants. In the community, they can get to know the people who benefit from their help. This might, for example, include memorable encounters with refugees, people with visual impairment, senior citizens, or children and young people from socially disadvantaged families. Participating teams are fortified and important impulses gained, both for empathising with other people's realities and for one's own personal development.
• For a quarter of a century now, Christoph Sonntag has been the mouthpiece of Swabian comedy and is one of Germany's best-known cabaret artists. Since 2007 his charitable foundation "Stiphtung Christoph Sonntag" has supported nature and environmental projects as well as social and educational causes.

As a prime example for green events, Karina Grützner names the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Liederhalle. The Culture and Congress Centre is a partner of Fairpflichtet, Naturelife International and Globe Climate. Even as far back as 2013, the KKL implemented a sustainability checklist for measurably sustainable events.

No less exemplary, and also "fairpflichtet" since 2012, is the Messe Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre with the ICS Internationales Congresscenter Stuttgart. The Messe Stuttgart already set a groundbreaking benchmark for the sector back in 2010 with its Green Statement, and since 2017 has published its own, constantly updated sustainability report. The trade fair location has been climate neutral since 2020.