PREPARE Workshop Green Events

29.11.2006

PREPARE
(Preventive Environmental Protection Approaches in Europe) promotes development throughout Europe of new ideas and initiatives in the area of cleaner production, sustainable products and systems. It’s designed to facilitate the exchange of information and dissemination of knowledge and skills by maintaining an informal, independent European network of experts in the field of cleaner production and sustainable development. PREPARE is also meant to spin off additional forms of cooperation among research institutions, government agencies, businesses and international organizations.

The latest meeting of selected experts took place November 24-25, 2006 in Vienna, at which Linz 2009’s Gudrun Wallenböck had the opportunity to present the European Capital of Culture year’s possibilities, ideas, development plans and expectations to an international audience. Among the focal-point issues at this Green Event workshop were the Capital of Culture concept and the event format inherent in it. This exchange of ideas about sustainability with experts and other event organizers brought out some important new suggestions that participants could discuss and elaborate on. Most of the attendees were negatively disposed to EU-wide standardization of Green Events—in light of the widely divergent array of national laws, regulations and norms that manifested itself even in this small working group, it was clear that no consensus could readily emerge. A platform for experts and event organizers who wish to facilitate further discussions with representatives from throughout the continent is currently in the planning stage. The next meeting is set for June 2007 in conjunction with the
European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) in Basel, which is designed to implement tangible results from these “Green Event” discussions.