International
Holistic
sustainability
Uwe Behm, member of the executive board at Messe
Frankfurt, on the company’s move to renewable energy
How has Messe Frankfurt’s
attitude to sustainability and CSR
evolved in the last decade?
Responsible business practices,
including social, environmental and
economic aspects, are central to Messe
Frankfurt’s work. Our company has
always been committed to long-term
thinking and planning, following in
the great tradition of our ancestors
and working closely together with our
longstanding shareholders, the City
of Frankfurt and the federal state of
Hesse. We build on well-established
CSR measures and invest in new
developments.
The Group’s CSR activities can be
structured in four central areas of
activity:
1. Environment/Sustainability – e.g.
systematic energy management.
2. Social Responsibility – as an employer
and supporting social institutions.
3. Commitment to culture, especially
music and art.
4. Education/Science – since the
2018/2019 winter semester, Messe
Frankfurt has been helping to fund
programmes at Frankfurt University
of Applied Sciences (Frankfurt UAS)
14 — April
Do you feel that sustainability
is becoming a priority for
companies in the exhibition
industry?
Our flagship events are key indicators
of the economic performance and
outlook of their industry sectors.
Here, innovations and trends tie in
closely with factors that influence
our society worldwide, such as
globalisation, digitisation, urbanisation
and ecologisation. On our interaction
platforms around the world, experts
in their respective communities come
together to discuss global challenges and
changes towards a values-based growth
approach and to present discussions as
part of an interdisciplinary exchange.
However, there has been an increasingly
great focus on sustainability at various
levels in recent years.
What was the process of
switching entirely to renewable
energy?
A lot of energy is needed to power
the Frankfurt exhibition grounds with
its current total of eleven halls, two
congress buildings and up to 300 or
so events a year. Messe Frankfurt is
well aware of its responsibility in this
regard and operates an active energy
management system across its various
departments. Our energy manager
ensures that we use energy resources as
efficiently and sparingly as possible. For
instance, solar energy has been playing
more and more of a key role at Messe
Frankfurt for years.
There are now three photovoltaic
systems in operation on our exhibition
grounds – the most recent addition has
been harvesting solar energy on the
roof of Hall 12 since 2018. It was built
for Messe Frankfurt’s own use and,
measuring some 9,000sqm, is as large as
our other two systems put together.
Our Kap Europa congress centre has
been supplied exclusively with green
power since first going into operation, as
is also the case with a number of guest
events. We are receiving more and more
enquiries about sustainable trade fair
participation. Because of this, when
renewing our contract with our energy
provider, we decided to switch over
entirely to green power as of event year
2020.
Do you believe that venues should
be leading the way when it comes
to sustainability?
With specific measures designed to
protect resources, increase efficiency and
minimise distance travelled, exhibition
venue operators can bring about
extensive changes, position themselves
accordingly and, of course, work more
cost-effectively as well. For trade fair
companies like Messe Frankfurt,
sustainability is not only a relevant
business attribute in its ‘big picture’, but
is also proving to be more and more of a
locational advantage for us as a company.
What is the biggest challenge the
industry faces when it comes to
sustainability?
Over three decades ago, sustainability
did not feature at all in political,
business or social discourse. Today,
holistic sustainability is a megatrend
that, in view of the ecological and social
challenges throughout the world, affects
companies in all industry sectors with
respect to values-based corporate
management. This aspect begins in
companies’ strategic statements and
subsequent actions and extends through
the entire value chain for products. This
means that, with regard to sustainability,
trust and credibility constitute a
competitive advantage, not least because
companies can also ensure in this way
that they are accepted by society. EN