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Climate-Friendly Travel to Berlin

Effective reduction of negative environmental impacts has long become a set goal for many event planners. But how to integrate sustainability measures into the planning and execution of events? This question is approached and discussed as eagerly as the creation of memorable event experiences and the facilitation of meaningful encounters among participants, various stakeholder groups, and the host destination.

Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Events The opportunities to minimise the environmental impact of an event are numerous:

-procurement processes tied to sustainability criteria along the entire supply chain (e.g. the use of renewable, reusable and biodegradable material)

-the introduction of zero-waste policies and circular systems -the opportunity to compensate for carbon emissions in different areas of event production

-the use of smart technologies for live monitoring and reporting of emission data -the curation of a steadily growing portfolio of sustainable partners and service providers in the MICE and travel industry who committed to responsible business operations.

Use our Sustainable Event Guidelines, a clear and action-oriented guide for planning and conducting sustainable meetings in Berlin.

Emission Factor Number One:

Travel However, there is one significant factor for conducting "climate-neutral" or even "climate-positive" events that, due to its complexity and the diversity of stakeholders, is seldomly touched: According to the climate organisation atmosfair, about 70 to 80 percent of emissions from events are due to the travel activities of visitors as well as of staff and service providers. (Source: atmosfair, 2024).

ATTENTION: Don’t forget to think about your staff and service providers!

From exhibition booth builders to caterers – they also contribute to the carbon footprint of your event with their travel. All facts at a glance: The proportion of event participants who travel to Germany for business purposes using climate-friendly means of transport (such as trains) has increased by over 50 percent in 2022 within the last three years (Source: Travelperk, 2022).

Nevertheless, rail travellers among business travellers in Germany in 2022 still accounted for just over 20 percent. According to a survey on business travel preferences, 55 percent of respondents prefer to fly rather than take the train for the same travel duration to their destinationk (Source: Statista, January 2024). In the B2C business, in comparison, travelling by train ranked third with 28 percent,(Source: ADAC-Study, 2023). The most popular means of travel remains the car, followed by the plane, with about 39 percent.

Travel Management in the Events Industry

These figures show that creating and promoting attractive sustainable alternatives in the travel planning of event participants is a central lever to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of events. Offers and Incentives for Climate-Friendly Travel It is important to note that the absolute emissions vary significantly from event to event as they depend on a variety of factors. These include, for example, the geographical range from which event participants come, the centrality and accessibility of the host destination, its connectivity to public local and long-distance transport or the number of existing (direct) flight connections, and the availability of safe, barrier-free and reliable mobility services suitable for large capacities. With the choice of event destination in accordance with the participants’ spectrum of origin, planners therefore lay the first foundation for emission reduction in event planning.

Furthermore, they can also raise awareness for the harmful effects of certain travel modes of travel as opposed to more climate-friendly alternatives in communication with participants and stakeholders in the run-up to the event. Setting incentives for the choice of sustainable transport modes (e.g., financially or in other creative ways) could be another important leverage factor to consider. An interesting study on this topic was published by The Crowd Impact team in May 2024: In a pilot project with the German pop band AnnenMayKantereit, the travel activities of 5,000 festival visitors were analysed. In sum, the attendees of the AnnenMayKantereit summer tour travelled around the world 1,196 times to and from the shows. This means that their travel emissions accounted for almost 90 percent of the greenhouse gas footprint of the major event.

As a counter-offensive, the organisers launched the TICKET TO RIDE mobility project, aiming to make fans' journeys more sustainable. In their pre-event communication with festival visitors, they focused heavily on sustainable travel and intensively promoted the choice of climate-friendly means of transport. The result? The communication measures lead to a reduction of the emissions from travelling to and from the festival by 19 percent among the people who heard about it.

The success of such measures and projects, however, also significantly depends on demographic factors, price levels, and the situational conditions at the event destination. For this reason, visitBerlin (the official DMMO of the city of Berlin) is continuously strengthening its cooperations with partners from the travel, transport, and mobility sectors, first and foremost the Deutsche Bahn and Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). Their collaboration is crucial to create attractive offers that make the destination of Berlin an easy choice for environmentally conscious event planners. For a smooth customer journey for your event participants discover the Berlin WelcomeCard or the DB Event Ticket.

Climate-Friendly Travel to Berlin by Train Given the numerous long-distance train and railway connections towards the largest metropolises in Europe, Berlin holds an impressive track-record in climate-friendly travel in international comparison. Also, Berlin the city offers many opportunities to realise emission-free transfers to, from, and between event venues. From collaborations with the BVG to e-shuttles and vehicles from internationally leading sharing providers, everything is possible in Berlin.

Did you know?

In 2019, the congresses acquired by visitBerlin accounted for 347,480 person-kilometres that were travelled CO2-free, thanks to the provision of DB event tickets. That number is equivalent to a distance of more than seven times around the world! Sustainability in Aviation Of course, flights cannot always be avoided. Professional events with a special B2B focus, whose very essence is the personal encounter, gathering, exchange, and networking among an international audience of leading experts from industry and research from different backgrounds, cannot happen without air travel.

In 2023, for instance, the share of international participants at events in Germany was 62 percent. For them, attending the event would not have been possible without flying. But that makes it even more important for event organisers to familiarise themselves with new technologies that allow for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from unavoidable flights. Indeed, Berlin is at the forefront of research and development of green aviation fuels and other innovations.

At the ILA, the world’s leading trade fair for aviation and aerospace, held from 5 to 9 June 2024 on the grounds of BER Airport, over 600 exhibitors from more than 30 nations presented the latest technologies and innovations in the air travel industry. Especially the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was the centre of attention as they demonstrated their aircraft prototype which is used for testing alternative propulsion technologies, such as hydrogen or e-fuels. These and other product presentations made curious about further breakthroughs in sustainability in aviation expected in Berlin throughout the next years. Green Mobility Projects at BER Airport Besides the ILA, the BER airport is consistently committed to setting the congress metropolis of Berlin up for a sustainable future.

In 2023, the airport was ranked the most popular airport in Europe by the expert ranking of Eurochange (https://www.eurochange.co.uk/airport-index/european-airport-index). In the International Airport Review, the BER moreover impressed with its continuous investments in innovation and transformation, resulting in excellent customer experiences. At the 14th Airport Honour Awards, the airport received the the Airport Innovation Award for product and service solutions (such as the BER Runway, BER Traveller, and self-service check-in) which offer high service quality for travellers.

In addition to above-average punctuality and reliability in operational business, investments in research and future technologies were the key factors of the airport’s success. On the Fast Track with Our Experts Whether through incentivising climate-friendly travel among event participants or by fostering technological breakthroughs in green and e-mobility: taking measures to make the travel of your stakeholders is key to a significant reduction of the carbon footprint of your event. Event planners should be aware of this fact and feel empowered to experiment to keep their event emissions as low as possible. The journey might be long but it’s a path worth going down: Those pioneer event planners who succeed will build a sustainable legacy that might become a role model for other events worldwide.