Reducing Climate Impact

Climate change is one of the most pressing health issues of our time and has long been on the agenda at the World Health Summit. The World Health Summit is based on the idea that bringing the right people together from around the world accelerates progress. We believe that in-person encounters lead to new partnerships and strategic collaborations. In addition, the entire program is available for free online, enabling participants to join remotely from anywhere. We have a responsibility to act sustainably and are constantly seeking ways to minimize our carbon impact, while still facilitating fruitful discussions and future-oriented solutions for global health.

Emission Reduction Projects

Estimated carbon emissions from speakers' flights to the World Health Summit have been offset in full by supporting a variety of emission reduction projects. Certified by Gold Standard, the Wind Energy Project in Gujarat, India supports clean energy generation by harnessing wind power, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and contributing to sustainable development while also creating local job opportunities and supporting community well-being. All projects are designated to one or more SDG.
View CO2-Compensation Certificate

Alternatives to Air Travel

Speakers and participants are encouraged to avoid flying if possible. The World Health Summit recommends participants from neighboring countries to travel via train (if possible) in order to avoid short distance flights. The entire program is available for free online, enabling participants to join remotely from anywhere.

Trees for WHS Participants

Climate and health are high on the agenda at the World Health Summit, therefore we are proud to announce that one tree was planted for every WHS participant in 2023 and 2024. Our partner Tree Adoption Uganda planted the trees in Nakaseke District, Uganda at health facilities. By teaching community health workers about the effects of climate change on health, the partnership helps building climate adaptive and resilient health systems.

Speaker & Participant Management

Communication with speakers & participants is entirely digital. This includes the registration, invitation, confirmation of speakers & participants and further organizational correspondence.

Environmentally Conscious Printing

The World Health Summit program is printed on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as coming from FSC-certified forests, recycled material, and controlled wood. The greenhouse gasses associated with the program’s production have also been offset through the support of climate protection projects.

Conference Material

All World Health Summit giveaways are ecologically manufactured and fair trade if available.

Getting Around Berlin

The World Health Summit venue is accessible by public transportation. The venue is also the conference hotel and offers accommodation for WHS speakers and staff, which reduces unnecessary travel within the city.

Catering

Meals at the World Health Summit are entirely vegetarian and prepared using seasonal and organic products from mainly local and regional sources with short transportation needs. All ingredients and processed products are fair trade. There is no disposable packaging, crockery or cutlery at the World Health Summit.

Energy Use

For the conference and also in the organizing office, mainly energy-related devices with very high energy efficiency classes in the sense of the EU regulation 2017/1368 are used.
The room temperature in all conference rooms will be reduced from a capacity utilization of 60%.During the night, the heating output of the conference rooms is further reduced.

Technical Equipment

During the World Health Summit, LED technology is used and care is taken to ensure that energy-efficient technology is utilized when choosing the needed equipment. WHS uses shared multifunctioning printers during the conference and at the WHS office. Not every workplace is equipped with its own printer.

Procurement

When choosing products and services for procurement, attention is paid to climate-friendly services and companies. Local service providers are always preferred.

Waste Management

Waste at the conference and also in the organization office is separated into paper, organic waste, glass, lightweight packaging and residual waste for recycling purposes.

Reuse of Branding Material

Our graphic designers, technicians and stage builders are required to produce and structure the branding materials in such a way that they can be used several times depending on their content. The prints are stored in Berlin between the conferences.

Use of e-signatures

The WHS Foundation GmbH uses a cloud-based e-signature service to digitally sign internal and external documents in order to avoid unnecessary printing and digitalize document processes. This saves paper and toner consumption in the daily work routine of all WHS employees.

SDGs

The World Health Summit promotes the global health debate in the spirit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.