MCI SUSTAINABILITY PROJECTS RECEIVE TWO PRESTIGIOUS IMEX AWARDS

MARINA BAY SANDS WINS IMEX-GMIC GREEN SUPPLIER AWARD AND SYMANTEC WINS IMEX-GMIC GREEN MEETING AWARD

Frankfurt, 21 May 2014. MCI clients Symantec and Marina Bay Sands last night received prestigious IMEX awards for projects delivered by MCI’s sustainability team.

Marina Bay Sands, which became the first integrated resort in South-East Asia to obtain the ISO20121 sustainable event certification in 2014, was awarded the IMEX-GMIC Green Supplier Award.

Marina Bay Sands and MCI worked hand-in-hand on the implementation of an innovative performance management solution for the property based on ISO20121. MCI developed the event management system and supported the Marina Bay Sands team to develop the stakeholder engagement and management processes, and skills required to implement the standard and train over 15,000 staff.

“MCI played a key role in Marina Bay Sands’ quest towards achieving the ISO20121 Sustainable Events Management System certification in 2014,” said Mr Kevin Teng, Executive Director of Sustainability, Marina Bay Sands. “As an industry-leading solutions provider for meetings and events management, MCI served as a strong counsel for our Sands Eco360 Meetings programme, which enabled us to successfully integrate best practices in our daily operations and allowed us to win the prestigious IMEX award.”

Symantec received the IMEX-GMIC Green Meeting Award for its 2014 Vision EMEA Symposium.

Working together since 2012, MCI has guided Symantec on how to align its global Corporate Responsibility commitment with its events strategy and operations. For Symantec Vision EMEA 2014, MCI helped Symantec achieve a number of impressive results in the four city Symposium, including:

• €25,000 saved through sustainability initiatives alone.
• 100% of key supplier contracts included sustainability.
• 88% reduction in waste, 89% waste diversion rate and 67% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the previous symposium.
• 19,228 trees pledged to be planted and 43 children trained as Climate Justice Ambassadors.
• Increased participant awareness of Symantec’s Corporate Responsibility programme by 49%.

“Integrating sustainability strategically into business events is an ongoing journey of team collaboration, improvements, ideas and perseverance,” said Claudia van’t Hullenaar, Global Event Marketing Manager at Symantec. “This award is great recognition of the progress we have made with the support of MCI.”

“It has been a pleasure to work with such forward-thinking and pioneering organisations to help them leverage sustainability as a brand value generator that delivers measurable social, environmental and economic results. These organisations are proof that sustainability is ultimately providing a competitive edge,” said Guy Bigwood, MCI Group Sustainability Director.

To date, MCI’s sustainability consultants have helped seven clients win IMEX-GMIC Green Awards.

Photo ©IMEX Group

From left to right: Roger Simons, MCI Group Sustainability Manager; Benny Zin, COO and VP of Conventions & Exhibitions at Marina Bay Sands; Ellen Van den Branden, Managing Director of Destination Unlimited; Claudia van’ t Hullenaar, Global Events Manager, Symantec; Ray Bloom, Chairman IMEX group