Community Updates

Meeting Minus Carbon program honoured at MKG Worldwide Hospitality Awards 2015

Published 8 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Club Carlson for Planners was shortlisted for Best Initiative in Sustainable Development & Social Responsibility for their Meetings Minus Carbon Program at the 2015 MKG Worldwide Hospitality Awards. Club Carlson, the worldwide hotel rewards program for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group has become the first hotel loyalty program to commit to a global meetings and events carbon offsetting initiative. As part of this program, Meeting Minus Carbon by Club Carlson for Planners has multiple sustainable and social benefits including: combat climate change, prevention of soil erosion, protection of biodiversity, poverty reduction through job creation and quality of life improvement through education.

Meeting Minus Carbon is a free service for meeting planners and is managed through Carlson Rezidor’s partner, Carbon Footprint Ltd. Carbon credits are purchased and invested in renewable energy in India and in rainforest protection projects in Brazil. For every ton of carbon that is being offset, an additional tree is planted in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. Since the program was launched on Earth Day in 2013, over 30,000 tons of CO emissions have been offset and an additional 30,000 trees have been planted in the deforested Great Rift Valley in Kenya. All carbon credits are from Verified Carbon Standard projects.

Even though we didn’t win the award last night, I am still delighted that our Meetings Minus Carbon program has been shortlisted for this prestigious award. Meetings Minus Carbon proves that environmental, social and business benefits can be combined in one innovative service concept. In combination with our Think Planet actions to minimize the carbon footprint of our hotels, Meetings Minus Carbon proves that sustainable hospitality contributes to the world’s efforts in combatting climate change. Meetings Minus Carbon is a unique loyalty concept that allows meeting planners and corporate clients around the world to act responsibly by simply meeting in one of our Carlson Rezidor hotels around the world.