Sustainable travel choices

Travel

  • Where feasible, consider travelling by train – NB COST will reimburse first or business class train tickets (or other forms of public transport e.g. ferry). By comparison, COST only reimburses economy air fares. For full details of travel reimbursement options, please see the Vademecum, Section 4.
  • Purchase offsets for essential air travel – although these are not a reimbursable travel expense.

Accommodation and subsistence

  • Select accommodation options that implement energy efficient measures and/or use renewable sources;
  • Select local organic, fair trade, and/or vegetarian food – to minimise the need to transport food and other products, and reduce the carbon footprint of food consumed;
  • Encourage local organisers to separate and recycle waste where possible.

References

[1] Green Meeting Guide 2009: Roll out the green carpet for your participants. UNEP DTIE & ICLEI (2009), pp72

[2] A nearly carbon-neutral conference model: white paper/practical guide.