RESPONSIBLE, SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED

EVENTS

Calculating & offsetting carbon emissions associated with AWE USA.
Conscious Garbage Disposal & Waste Treatment.
Selective waste collection throughout the venues, including paper, combustible waste, glass, and tins.
Containers provided for specific exhibition-related waste in order to maximize recycling.
Delegate badge and lanyard collection for recycling at the end of AWE events.
Hand towels & toilet paper are made from recycled paper (Austria Ecolabel).

AWE Invites You to Join Our Sustainability Efforts
As individuals, as well as a community, each of us can and should contribute towards making a positive impact on our planet, and its natural systems and resources.
Here is what we invite you to do as an important part of AWE events:

Use the mobile app and website to stay informed about event details (avoid printing).
In Europe, use more sustainable ways of traveling to and getting around Vienna (take the train instead of a flight, walk/bike instead of taking a taxi).
If attending AWE EU in Vienna, you can offset the carbon emissions of your travel and hotel stay through our trusted sustainability partner, ClimeCo, by visiting https://www.climecogreen.com/conferences/awe-eu-2024
If attending AWE USA in California, you can offset your travel and hotel stay through our trusted sustainability partner. Check back for updates!
Reduce the waste you generate and separate disposal according to facility guidelines.
Opt for reusable mugs and water bottles (be sure to label with your name). Note: Long Beach Convention Center has free water bottle filling stations throughout the venue.

Since our inception, it has been AWE’s mission to further human progress through technology, and harness the power of XR to fight the greatest challenges facing humanity. Since there is no greater challenge today, we have committed to do all that we can to leverage our platform and community in service of fighting climate change and its effects.
In the continued effort of maintaining the delicate climate balance, for our USA events we are partnering with ClimeCo, a leading global decarbonization and environmental solutions company, to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions related to the event and purchase carbon credits to offset the environmental impact by investing in CO2 destruction tech, reforestation, and methane emission reduction projects. We continue to follow the recommended model to calculate, reduce, and offset our carbon footprint - both at our events and in how we approach our business. Our commitment started long ago and continues into the future.
We plan to use what we have learned from our ongoing efforts to continue to improve while striving to put sustainability at the forefront and work towards making AWE events carbon neutral.
In Europe, we partner with Austrian Eco Label to ensure AWE EU maintains its status as a certified green meeting.

Through our work around sustainability starting at AWE USA 2023, we’ve worked with trusted sustainability partners to calculate the anticipated event emissions based on operational data for the event venue, shipping, staff air travel, car travel, ground transportation, hotels, paper, water bottles, meals, and waste.
We invite and encourage you to make a positive impact by offsetting your travel emissions for AWE USA 2024 by using this link.

While AWE offsets the majority of the carbon footprint for our events, the AWE community can help make a further impact by easily calculating and offsetting your carbon footprint on the website.
We understand that the event industry has many opportunities to make a positive and sustainable impact on our planet. We’re working with our sponsors, exhibitors, and partners to change the status quo at our events, including reducing one-time use items, eliminating print waste, encouraging sustainable swag, and digital lead-generation activities.

Walkable events. We’re taking a new approach to off-site events and completely eliminating the need for car and bus travel by hosting our parties on or within walking distance from the convention center grounds.
We prioritize digital signage and apps to help the AWE audience plan their schedules and find their way around the event wherever possible.
For the limited printed materials we must create (often for accessibility reasons), we’ve moved to fully biodegradable or recyclable materials:

Major set pieces will now be made from recyclable cloth banners, instead of vinyl.
Sign boards will be printed on honey-comb paper board, instead of corrugated plastics.
Name tags will be biodegradable, and we’ll have recycle stations to collect lanyards & badges after each event.

Local, sustainable vendors partner with AWE. To consider the entire footprint of our events including everything we make and ship, we’re working with new local vendors for things like printing t-shirts and signage to reduce both production waste and shipping.
To limit food and service waste, we’ve requested reusable or compostable service items for catering at AWE events.
Renewable power. The Santa Clara Convention Center, site of AWE for 14 years, uses 100% renewable wind and solar energy and is a green partner with the EPA and an award winner for its sustainability efforts.
The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center has an extensive sustainability program, more on which you can read here.
Austria Center Vienna is Austria’s first certified Green Conference Center.
AWE is committed to accessible content and supporting our global community with digital options. All Main Stage sessions from AWE USA and AWE EU are streamed live for people who cannot or do not want to travel. Additionally, all AWE conference sessions are recorded and hosted for free on our YouTube channel.