Written by Birgit Bosio & Elodie Puraye
As the Enricher hubs project is all about introducing sustainable practices to the tourism industry of Moldova and Georgia, we had the initial idea to certify our final wrap-up meeting in Innsbruck as a Green Event. Green Events Tirol is a certification and advisory program in Tyrol, Austria, that promotes environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and sustainable event planning. Businesses and organisations can apply on three different levels, the basic one, the general one and the star version. This gives event organisers the opportunity to get started with basic criteria, and move your way up the ladder to the star certification.
MCI already has a vast experience in organizing green events through our Center for Responsible Management & Social Impact. However, for MCI Tourism this was the first Green Event which we applied for ourselves. Through the support of the center, we had to fill out the long list of criteria for the certification. This included environmentally conscious mobility in Innsbruck, which was rather easy, as guests staying for 2 nights+ receive the Welcome Card, which includes all public transportation in the region for free plus discounts for certain sights. Therefore, we planned all trips either by active mobility, so simply walking, when possible and busses and cable-cars for other locations.
Another main important aspect was the catering. While we first had various locations in mind, we changed our minds when we understood, that certified catering and restaurants would be needed for getting the certification. Therefore, our choice was on gastronomy concept being either Green Event Tirol (GET) partners or having acquired the Austrian Ecolabel. Therefore, our choice was on Futterkutter as a mobile food bike concept with regional and sustainable food wasting preventing packaging waste through reusable glass chars. In the evening, we had a social dinner at restaurant Goldenes Dachl, which gained the Austrian ecolabel in 2025 providing 80% of food from the region and offering many vegetarian and vegan food options. On the second day, we went up to 1.905 meters to the Nordkette and enjoying a local cold platter and a famous Austrian sweet dish of “Kaiserschmarrn” in the restaurant Seegrube run by DON, a GET partner since 2018. On the last day, Feld:schafft presented its holistic concept of preventing food waste through the use of otherwise unused food sources. Applying for the GET certificate helped us to find the right partners for sustainable catering.
Other criteria focused on waste prevention and separation. This aspect was much easier to fulfil as MCI has a recycling system put into place in all locations providing clear sorting options. However, the other aspect was also the reduction of waste in the first place. We therefore thoroughly thought about which giveaways to provide and which ones were really necessary. Very often we go to events and each participant automatically gets a – yes – clothes bag, but honestly, how many of those do we already have at home. We thus only provided a reusable MCI branded water bottle and explained to all participants how valuable and of high quality drinking water is in Innsbruck. As this is not the case in many of the participating countries, we told them the story that water runs through the Nordkette in 10-15 years and is therefore very clean and full of minerals. So the much better option than buying bottled water. Some other give-aways like the fabric bag were only provided on demand. Creating an inclusive and accessible experience for all participants also included the conscious calculation of costs, as prices in Austria are much higher than in many participating countries. Also, language is an important issue to make sure to not exclude anyone from discussion. Even though we did not have any disabled participants or special food allergies, this was also one aspect of the Green Events Tirol certification.
Also, side events were selected consciously like the guided walking tour through Innsbruck providing a historic and cultural background of the city for more cultural awareness. The ride up to Nordkette straight from the city centre with the cable-car to the highest peak at 2.300 meters provided a special experience for participants with a sustainable mobility option. The cable-car is part of the Best Austrian Summer Cable-Cars, which jointly also work on an environmentally and socially sustainable development of summer tourism in the Alps. Last but not least, the excursion to the second most visited sight of Austria, the Swarovski crystal world, gave participants the option to experience a green museum close to Innsbruck.
While at the beginning we felt a bit overwhelmed with the certification process, Green Events Tirol proved to be were supportive throughout the application also providing banners and extra material for our event. Once you as an institution have understood their approach, it is not as difficult to make green events happen. And in the best case, it might even change institutional structure, like the question of offering Fairtrade coffee and tea only, not just for events, but also for staff, rethinking giveaways and focusing on GET or otherwise certified partners. For ourselves, we have decided that this was not our last Green Event for MCI Tourism.
