Sustainability—our path to the future
For us as a trade fair company, the issue of sustainability is also one of the greatest challenges of our time. Messe München shoulders its responsibility for the environment and society and has built sustainability into its corporate strategy.
The sustainability understanding encompasses three areas of impact:
- Sustainability in the company—We are constantly working towards our goal of becoming CO₂-neutral by 2030. We are implementing projects and measures as part of a sustainability strategy tailored to our needs. For example, we are expanding our photovoltaic strategy and gradually converting our heat generation to CO₂-neutral sources.
- Sustainable trade fairs—In our core business, we focus on sustainable event management and take the necessary steps to ensure this. For example, we do not use carpeting in the aisles at most of our own events—a measure that saved 484 tonnes of CO₂ at IFAT Munich 2022—one of our largest exhibitions. We also use the circular stand construction system woodi from our subsidiary meplan for our own stand areas at our trade fairs.
- Sustainable initiatives at our industry platforms—Our events actively address sustainability issues and present current industry trends in curated areas, the conference programme and guided tours of the exhibition. Our new “bgreen leaders” network brings together sustainability decision-makers from different industries and provides inspiration for new partnerships.
Specific Measures to make Messe München more sustainable
With its futuristic architecture and one of the world's largest and longest-running photovoltaic roof systems, Messe München was already a pioneer in sustainability when the exhibition centre was built 25 years ago.
In order to continue to meet its sustainability requirements in the future, Messe München is continuously implementing targeted measures as part of its sustainability programme. In addition to continuing to switch to CO₂-neutral energy sources and improving the environmental quality of the exhibition centre, the focus is also on waste avoidance and disposal.
At the beginning of 2020, Messe München switched completely to renewable electricity, taking a further step towards CO₂ neutrality and sustainability. In previous years, more than half of its electricity requirements had already been covered by renewable energy. The switch to green electricity will save around 6,400 tonnes of CO₂ per year in normal operation. The new exhibition halls C5 and C6, as well as the Conference Centre North, will be heated exclusively by district heating, most of which comes from geothermal energy. Messe München is currently planning the further, gradual conversion of its heat supply to CO₂-neutral sources.
Commissioned in 1998, it was the world's first rooftop photovoltaic system with a peak output of more than 1 megawatt—and remains one of the world's largest—and is still in full operation.
By using solar energy, Messe München avoids around 1,600 tonnes of CO₂ emissions every year, which would be produced by using fossil fuels to generate electricity.
A sustainable concept was already adopted when the exhibition grounds were being built and has been continuously further optimized through a host of measures since operations began over 25 years ago. Messe München is annually updating a catalogue of measures to be taken to ensure that the company can continue to meet its high sustainability standards in terms of structure and logistics. Currently in the planning phase are the continuation of the successful photovoltaic strategy and rapidly switching heat production in stages to CO₂-neutral sources.
220,000 square meters of green space, around 2,500 trees, halls with planted exterior walls and 35,000 square meters of green roof—the Messe München exhibition grounds are literally green. Even decentralized parking and logistics areas for visitors to the world-leading trade fairs such as bauma are of ecological value. Created as ecologically high-quality and species-rich rough grassland areas with trees, they serve as recreational areas for the population for 98 percent of the time. A new, additional parking and logistics area, currently under construction, will be upgraded ecologically and connected via a green bridge so that it helps protect nature and the environment in the region.
Waste is a major challenge for events. At the same time, the careful use of resources has an important leverage effect on CO₂ reduction, making it a relevant aspect for green trade fairs.
Ideally, waste should not be produced in the first place. Waste prevention is therefore a top priority for Messe München. This requires close cooperation with exhibitors, which is why a Waste Prevention Guide has been developed to provide exhibitors (and their stand builders) with recommendations on how to avoid waste at trade fairs and reduce CO₂ emissions.
At the same time, Messe München is revising its waste management strategy to ensure that the remaining waste is recycled and disposed of properly and in a way that conserves resources.
Fostering Industry-focused Dialog on Sustainability at our Exhibitions
Messe München has numerous trade fairs in its portfolio that per se have a strong focus on sustainability issues. Through their international presence, they contribute globally to the exchange of information and knowledge across industries.
In addition, to jointly drive forward solutions for a sustainable future, Messe München and CIRCULAZE, the impact initiative on the circular economy, have launched the bgreen leaders sustainability network. “bgreen leaders” operates across all industries and aims to offer companies, startups and investors a cross-industry platform for networking and collaboration, to present their initiatives in the field of ecological sustainability, and thus initiate change.
Learn more about bgreen leaders
Trade fairs with Focus on Sustainability
IFAT
OutDoor by ISPO
EXPO REAL
Being Good Neighbors
Messe München brings the world to Riem for its fairs and events. Despite efforts to keep the increased traffic and noise levels during events as low as possible, traffic jams at peak times and occasional noise pollution in the district cannot be completely avoided.
This makes it all the more important for Messe München to be a good neighbour, which is why, in addition to sustainability initiatives, it regularly supports social projects through employee campaigns and donations. For example, together with the new Riem municipal library, Messe München employees took part in the nationwide Read Aloud Day by reading to children in Riem in several languages. Donations also supported projects at the ECHO youth centre, the Riem bicycle workshop and a STEM project at the school in Lehrer-Wirth-Strasse.