Sustainable mobility for conferences in Leipzig
Getting here won’t cost the earth
Leipzig Central Station is one of Germany’s major railway hubs. Its central location and good accessibility are a plus for all conference delegates travelling without a car – and good news for the sustainability of your conference. After all, travel by delegates is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions at conferences. With the Deutsche Bahn event ticket, you can make carbon-neutral travel easier for your conference guests. With the services of the LVB public transport authority, you can also make sure that everyone gets around the city in an environmentally friendly way. With the Leipzig congress ticket, your delegates can use their conference badge as a travel pass. The Leipzig MOVE app provides an up-to-date overview of all timetables and mobility options, including rental bikes, making it the ideal companion for getting around the city.
Good to know: Arriving at the main railway station, the conference venues, hotels, restaurants and cultural hotspots in the city centre are just a short walk away. Those wishing to explore Leipzig’s central sights while attending the conference can do so on foot.
Leipzig is also the place to be when it comes to e-mobility. There are already 788 electric vehicle charging points across the city. There is a growing network of charging points for e-bike batteries. LVB is gradually electrifying its buses. With its ABSOLUT project, the organisation is also working on new public transport services to get even more people using environmentally friendly mobility. Thanks to BMW and Porsche, Leipzig is a major production centre for electric vehicles. So if you are an event organiser interested in sustainable mobility, Leipzig is an attractive choice for you in every respect.
Venues and conference hotels committed to sustainability
Certifications from Green Globe to Zero-Waste Stadium
In Leipzig, you will find many examples of sustainable ideas in the resource-intensive event business. The trade fair company Leipziger Messe and the Congress Center Leipzig have been certified to Green Globe standards for 15 years. Since its opening as a conference centre, the KONGRESSHALLE am Zoo Leipzig has also met these international sustainability standards. Other congress and event venues and conference hotels are green certified, combining the highest quality with measures to minimise waste, conserve resources and improve energy efficiency.
Zoo Leipzig is EMAS-certified. Porsche Leipzig and the Quarterback Immobilien Arena Leipzig provide a home for millions of honey bees on their grounds. At the Red Bull Arena, it’s all about “SEATainability” – with football fans sitting on seats made from recycled plastic. The certified Zero-Waste Stadium places great emphasis on the circular economy. Around 1,400 square metres of green roofing is being added to the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and a further 3,000 square metres will be fitted with a photovoltaic system in the centre of the city. Leipzig Opera was the first theatre in Germany to be certified for its sustainable approach to event management.
Leipzig-based start-up Trash Galore sells used materials from trade fairs and events to social projects. It’s all about the circular economy. The public bike rental system nextbike was also developed in Leipzig. Sounds like a lot of sustainable ideas for your green event, doesn’t it?
Sustainable ideas for catering
Going green can taste so good
No green event would be complete without the right catering. Many of Leipzig’s caterers combine quantity and quality with sustainability. fairgourmet, part of the Leipziger Messe group, was the first catering company of a trade fair operator to receive GreenSign Gastro certification. The certified measures cover the entire value chain. This includes the use of seasonal and fair-trade products. There are also long-standing relationships with regional producers.
The Ratskeller Leipzig also carries this label for environmentally and socially responsible catering. For evening entertainment, Leipzig offers a variety of vegan restaurants and upmarket organic cuisine. Even in the stadium, it is no longer just currywurst: football fans can enjoy plenty of vegan snacks at the Red Bull Arena. And to avoid food waste, there are more and more partners in Leipzig for the “Too good to go” app, including Konsum Leipzig.
Supporting programmes for green events
Head for green spaces
A green event in a green location? No problem. Leipzig’s green spaces and parks contribute to a relaxed conference experience in the city. It’s never far from the city centre to the nearest green space.
By 2030, the city aims to have even more urban spaces cleared of tarmac, redesigned and landscaped. Because one thing is clear: trees and shrubs do more than just make things look better. They improve the city’s climate and quality of life.
If you want to relax close to nature, you are also not far from the floodplain forest and Leipzig’s New Lakeland region. As part of the supporting programme for your green event, how about tracing the transformation of the open-cast mining landscape into a local recreational paradise? Two of many options: a guided bike tour to the New Lakeland or a canoe tour with local guides along the city’s canals to Lake Cospuden.
Leipzig’s commitment to a sustainable future
Tips for event organisers and urban initiatives
How is Leipzig dealing with the issues of the future? With the new Department for Sustainable Development and Climate Protection, the city administration has created a permanent home for sustainable development issues. Leipzig’s strategic vision for 2035 focuses on ensuring that the city grows sustainably and serves the public good. It includes goals such as climate neutrality by 2040.
One focus is on transforming the energy and heating infrastructure and making urban neighbourhoods climate-neutral. To this end, Leipzig was part of the European SPARCS funding programme until 2024. A section of western Leipzig served as a real-life laboratory for the future direction of a “smart city” strategy that will encompass all of Leipzig.
For you as an organiser, the west of Leipzig offers interesting venues such as the Kunstkraftwerk, which will give you an insight into the history of this location. The city’s guide to organising sustainable events also provides you as an organiser with clear and measurable recommendations for action in areas such as mobility, the careful use of resources, regional and fair trade, and social responsibility.
The city administration is not facing the major challenges of the present alone. Rather, a variety of players from across city life are involved in implementing the plans. Some examples:
- Sustainable LeipzigForum: an open movement for the sustainable development of the city
- Wandelkarte: a compact overview of sustainable companies and initiatives for the common good
- “Leipzig handelt fair” network: supporting fair trade in the “Fairtrade Town”
- Forum Gemeinwohl: strengthening thinking and action for the common good in all areas of society
- Ökolöwe environmental association: commitment to nature conservation, urban green spaces, biodiversity and sustainable mobility
A thoroughly sustainable programme: Conferences and events
Major events – learning from experience
Conferences such as the “greenmeetings and events” conference (now SECON) and Velo-city have already shown how well suited Leipzig is to events with a focus on sustainability. The Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum focuses on sustainable mobility and brings together a wide range of international players in Leipzig once a year. Leipzig has proven time and again to be a highly valued source of inspiration and an open-minded partner for new ideas.
P.S. UEFA Euro 2024 showed what sustainability can look like at major sporting events. The host city of Leipzig combined UEFA’s sustainability goals with its own set of criteria for sustainability at major sporting events when designing the fan zone in the city centre. The venue included a reusable deposit system, green electricity and free drinking water.
The tournament was also a great excuse to hold the ‘forest championship’, a major tree-planting campaign. This approach will continue in 2025 with the International German Gymnastics Festival Leipzig. Some 80,000 athletes and 750,000 visitors are expected in Leipzig for the gymnastics festival. The event will deliberately prioritise sustainability. This will include focusing on inclusion and accessibility, as well as interactive formats to make sustainability come alive.
The congress initiative “Feel the spirit... do-it-at-leipzig.de”, in which more than 50 partners have joined forces for the conference location, also focuses on sustainable cooperation. The partnership-based cooperation between congress and event venues, conference hotels, service agencies, local PCOs and logistics partners will benefit you when planning, organising and holding conferences in Leipzig. As part of this strong network, the Leipzig Convention Team is your first point of contact for all questions relating to green events in Leipzig. The team will be happy to give you more tips on how to make your event in Leipzig sustainable.
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