Leaders Converge to Extol Sustainable Development

There were two things notably missing from the opening of the ICLEI World Congress Sunday: water bottles and plastic grab bags.

"Organizing a green event requires that you ask yourself about sustainability with every decision that you make," said Cliff Higuchi, chair of the ICLEI local host committee's green team, and assistant general manager of the Shaw Conference Centre.

A total 628 delegates from 57 countries are meeting at the Shaw this week to discuss local environmental and sustainability issues. Founded in 1990, ICLEI is an association of more than 1,000 local governments that have made a commitment to sustainable development.

Instead of plastic water bottles, Higuchi's green team provided congress participants with stainless steel bottles. Finding an alternative to the delegate bag, a typical conference staple, was a particular challenge.

"You think maybe the most sustainable way of dealing with a delegate bag is not to have a bag," Higuchi said. Ultimately, the green team designed a reusable organic fabric tote.

"It was difficult for us because there isn't a road map that one can just go to to find out how to green a conference," Higuchi said. "The notion of greening a conference is somewhat new and innovative."

Edmonton is hosting the seventh edition of the ICLEI congress, which meets every three years to allow municipal leaders from around the world to exchange ideas and share their achievements.

Higuchi hopes the meeting will set the environmental standard for future conferences in Edmonton and beyond.

In addition to cutting out plastic, meals served at the Shaw this week will feature locally grown produce and poultry. Everything coming into the exhibition space -- brochures, booth displays, packing material -- will be measured, and weighed again when it leaves the building to ensure no garbage is left behind, Higuchi said. "Our goal is to get as close to zero as possible."

In his opening address Sunday, David Cadman, ICLEI president and deputy mayor of Vancouver, called on world leaders to agree on a new climate protocol at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

Municipal governments have agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, said Cadman, and are waiting on national governments to do the same with a "post-Kyoto framework that works."

"If we can get so many cities to agree on what needs to be done, and we're the major population bases in countries, what's the impediment to national governments coming to an agreement on what needs to be done?" Cadman said. "Failure in Copenhagen is simply not acceptable."

Media Contact

Thomas Colonna
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