Green Events
Proud to be part of the Emerald Isle, Kerry is committed to ‘keeping it green’
The Kingdom of Kerry has no shortage of both greenery and green initiatives.
Kerry Convention Bureau is constantly striving to work with our members to innovate and improve on new ways to be greener than before, pushing to bring sustainability to the forefront of the industry and at the heart of what we do.
All Kerry Convention Bureau familiarisation programmes and events are paper & single use plastic free.
We are members of Sustainable Travel Ireland and Green Travel and work closely with organisations such as Sustainable Events Alliance and Fifty Shades Greener to stay informed and ensure that we are adopting best practice, accessing current training opportunities and in turn, sharing these with our members.
Why Kerry for Green Events
Proud to be part of the Emerald Isle, Kerry is committed to ‘Keeping it Green’, putting the focus on protecting the environment and developing a green economy.
Home to both Siamsa Tíre, Ireland’s first accredited Green Theatre and Events Centre and The Europe Hotel & Resort, who operate on 100% green renewable energy, we are committed to working with all our industry partners across the region to promote sustainability within the MICE industry. Our objective is to make having a green meeting easy!
For a detailed guide on running Green Meetings and Events in Ireland, please click here +
Killarney Hotels Sustainability Group
Kerry’s commitment to Sustainability is reinforced by activities of the Killarney Hotels Sustainability Group (KHSG)
The group is made up of 22 Kerry Convention Bureau member hotels in the Killarney area, representing over 2,500 bedrooms. It is the first sector-based Sustainability Group in Ireland and the member hotels, represented by Owners and General Managers of each property all have sustainability at the core of their values.
For 2020, all member hotels committed to reduce their carbon emissions by 25% and to eliminate Single Use Plastic from their Operations. The group aims to bring in more hotels from the Killarney area in the coming months and influence the Retail and Bar / Restaurant sector to make sustainability improvements as well.
Carbon Offsetting For Event Planners and the Irish Tourism Industry
Reducing your carbon footprint is a highly recommended step for event planners and tourism businesses that care about our climate and their emission levels. We strongly encourage visiting event planners, KCB Members and our industry partners to consider offsetting any emissions they produce.
Kerry Convention Bureau works with two organisations who offer Carbon Offsetting initiatives; Sustainable Travel Ireland and Flogas.
Both organisations have partnered with South Pole, a gold standard provider of emissions-reduction projects worldwide.
Sustainable Travel Ireland have created a group carbon-offset scheme for the Irish tourism industry, which can also be utilised by event planners when holding events in Kerry.
The scheme offers a wide array of internationally accredited offsetting projects, including hydropower, clean drinking water and forest protection schemes.
Visit Sustainable Travel Ireland for more information and handy tools to calculate and offset through one of its chosen high-impact projects. and note, members of Sustainable Travel Ireland can avail of discounted rates.
Member Hotels of Kerry Convention Bureau, who are or become customers of Flogas, can avail of the carbon offsetting scheme currently offered by Flogas to all its business customers throughout Ireland.
For a minimal fee, Flogas will purchase carbon credits on behalf of commercial customers, investing in sustainable global projects that either reduce or capture an equivalent amount of carbon emissions.
Examples of the supported projects include forest protection, providing access to clean and efficient LPG cookstoves, supporting renewable energy projects and wastewater treatment and biogas utilisation projects. For more information on how to get involved, contact Flogas
In 2021, Kerry ranked #13 in Top 20 Global Destinations | #9 in Top 20 European Destinations
The GDS Movement is a collaborative business initiative created to help Destinations, Convention Bureaux, Event Planners and Suppliers drive the adoption and recognition of sustainable practices in their regions and in the global events industry. It aims to bring destinations together to benchmark and improve the social and environmental performance of their respective industries by highlighting best practice and promoting responsible business and leisure tourism.
To be considered for inclusion, destinations from around the world complete a comprehensive annual submission process and are assessed on factors such as the environment, social indexes, supplier performance and the convention bureau and destination marketing organisations themselves. The index is then used by event planners and visitors as a resource when searching for sustainable destinations in which to meet or visit.
Kerry made its first entry on to the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) in 2018 and in 2019, was delighted to be ranked #20. In just one year, Kerry moved up 17 places on the Index and took out the #1 position on the Most Improved Destination leader board.
2021 has seen Kerry continue it’s rise, with the region ranking #13, cementing it’s position as Ireland’s leading Sustainable Tourism destination.
Fáilte Ireland’s Meet In Ireland Convention Bureaux partnership of Dublin, Shannon, Galway, Cork and Kerry was also recognised with the 2019 inaugural GDS-Index Improver Award being presented to Ireland. In the past, the award has only been given to individual cities, but in recognition of the overall improvement from all of Ireland’s Regional Convention Bureaux, the award was given at a national level to recognise the efforts of the entire country with Meet In Ireland commended as a great example of regional collaboration.
Kerry is extremely proud to be Ireland’s leading Sustainable Tourism destination and to be ranked alongside key global MICE destinations in the Top 20 including Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Sydney, Melbourne, Cork, Helsinki, Stockholm, Belfast and Brussels.
Working in collaboration with our partners at Kerry Tourism Industry Federation, our participation in this global benchmarking tool enables us to drive progress in the sustainable development of Kerry by engaging industry stakeholders, local community, and government. As part of the GDS-Movement, we are part of a network of destinations striving for long-lasting regeneration of our sector and in doing so, continue to grow together, share best practice, and celebrate success.
A typical five-day conference with 2,500 attendees consumes up to…
In 2021, Kerry ranked #13 in Top 20 Global Destinations | #9 in Top 20 European Destinations
The GDS Movement is a collaborative business initiative created to help Destinations, Convention Bureaux, Event Planners and Suppliers drive the adoption and recognition of sustainable practices in their regions and in the global events industry. It aims to bring destinations together to benchmark and improve the social and environmental performance of their respective industries by highlighting best practice and promoting responsible business and leisure tourism.
Kerry made its first entry on to the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) in 2018 and in 2019, was delighted to be ranked #20. In just one year, Kerry moved up 17 places on the Index and took out the #1 position on the Most Improved Destination leader board.
2021 has seen Kerry continue its rise, with the region ranking #13, cementing its position as Ireland’s leading Sustainable Tourism destination.
Fáilte Ireland’s Meet In Ireland Convention Bureaux partnership of Dublin, Shannon, Galway, Cork and Kerry was also recognised with the 2019 inaugural GDS-Index Improver Award being presented to Ireland. In the past, the award has only been given to individual cities, but in recognition of the overall improvement from all of Ireland’s Regional Convention Bureaux, the award was given at a national level to recognise the efforts of the entire country with Meet In Ireland commended as a great example of regional collaboration.
Kerry is extremely proud to be Ireland’s leading Sustainable Tourism destination and to be ranked alongside key global MICE destinations in the Top 20 including Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Sydney, Melbourne, Cork, Helsinki, Belfast and Brussels.
Working in collaboration with our partners at Kerry Tourism Industry Federation, our participation in this global benchmarking tool enables us to drive progress in the sustainable development of Kerry by engaging industry stakeholders, local community, and government. As part of the GDS-Movement, we are part of a network of destinations striving for long-lasting regeneration of our sector and in doing so, continue to grow together, share best practice, and celebrate success.
To be considered for inclusion, destinations from around the world complete a comprehensive annual submission process and are assessed on factors such as the environment, social indexes, supplier performance and the convention bureau and destination marketing organisations themselves. The index is then used by event planners and visitors as a resource when searching for sustainable destinations in which to meet or visit.
A typical five-day conference with 2,500 attendees consumes up to…
Kerry County Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2021-2023
As the two official bodies representing Business and Leisure Tourism within Kerry County, Kerry Convention Bureau (KCB) and Kerry Tourism Industry Federation (KTIF), with the support of key partners Kerry County Council (KCC) and Fáilte Ireland (FI), acknowledge the importance of working collaboratively to lead by example and create an actionable sustainable tourism strategy for the county.
We share the same mandate, mission, values and vision when it comes to sustainability and it is our role and responsibility to encourage, develop, establish and promote sustainable practices within the Kerry tourism sector, which delivers benefit to both our visitors and all within our realms of influence, as well as best protecting the natural environment around us.
Within KCB, it is our objective to adopt the UNWTO definition of sustainable tourism; ‘Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities’ and we want to work with our suppliers and community to make Kerry a sustainable destination for MICE events and tourism as a whole.
Kerry Convention Bureau Sustainability Policy
The Kerry Convention Bureau Sustainability Policy is an actionable sustainability policy which ensures we are having an overall greater benefit to all within our realm of influence.
Kerry Convention Bureau is aware that its business activities impact upon the environment and is committed to ensuring these activities have the least possible detrimental effect. Our policy is to continually progress to be a more environmentally friendly business reviewing our mind-set, behaviours, practices and processes to have a business model that protects the environment as far as we are able.
Kerry Convention Bureau Green Procurement Policy
Kerry Convention Bureau’s Green Procurement Policy is a process where we seek to source goods, services or works with a reduced environmental impact. We commit to promoting green procurement, in order to support our Sustainable Destination strategy and to align with both Ireland’s environmental and wider sustainable development objectives and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
We endeavour to minimise the environmental ‘footprints’ of our procurement activities by purchasing products and services that cause minimal adverse environmental impacts while offering high quality products and services at competitive prices.
Keeping It Green Initiatives
Here are some local ‘Keep It Green’ initiatives and practical suggestions to consider when planning your meeting in Kerry:
Support the Local Community
Leftover Food
- Food Cloud will take donations of excess food from events, who will collect the food on site at no extra cost and arrange for distribution to appropriate charities
Surplus Stock
- Have something that could potentially be used by a charity for another purpose such as cardboard boxes, wooden pallets etc? Left over materials can be recycled and provided to DEIS schools, such as Lyreacrompane in North Kerry to use as Arts and Craft materials
- Alternatively, liaise with the venue for assistance to connect with other local organisations who could reuse materials, helping to reduce landfill waste and further a circular economy
Food & Drink
- Vegetarian and vegan options are more environmentally friendly and often tend to be cheaper, so make sure to incorporate some meat free options into your menu
- Tap water is a sustainable choice with no transportation or waste packaging. Use glasses and water jugs over single use plastic bottles
- Provide attendees with information on where re-usable bottles can be refilled – click here for map of locations in Kerry’s where this can be done
- Encourage attendees to visit cafes and restaurants that are part of the Conscious Cup Campaign – these outlets will use customers’ own cups. See a full list of outlets here
- Opt for local, seasonal and organic produce
- Choose ethical, eco and fair-trade options
- Select local catering companies that have environmental credentials
Transport
- Due to the close proximity of our Convention Centre, hotels and venues to each other within each of our destinations, delegates are able to easily walk between locations, without the need for dedicated transport
- If attendees do choose to drive, provide details of where electric vehicles can be charged – find out where Kerry’s car charging points here
- Many hotel properties offer complimentary bike hire and our destinations are extremely easy to navigate by bicycle
- Encourage attendees to utilise soft mobility options by sharing details of Kerry’s network of bicycle paths and walking trails
Venue & Accommodation
- Encourage delegates to stay in close proximity to the event venue
- Choose accommodation providers that have an environmental certification
- Choose an event venue that has an environmental certification
- Ensure that accommodation options are within walking distance to the event or have good public transportation links
Purchasing & Waste
- Think Reduce-Reuse-Recycle for event materials and communications
- Keep it digital where you can; electronic invitations, registration, follow ups etc
- Encourage attendees to adopt the “Leave No Trace” ethos
- Ensure recycling bins are readily available throughout meeting venues and accommodation, with multi language signage to enable attendees to easily sort and recycle their rubbish
Green Suppliers
If you’re looking for a venue that cares for the environment as much as you do, Kerry has a range of venues with environmental and sustainability policies that will assist you to reduce your event’s carbon footprint.
Make an easy and well-informed choice with our list of Green Meeting suppliers who are as passionate about the environment and sustainability as you are.