Oregon Convention Center achieves highest level of international sustainability standard certification

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The Oregon Convention Center has been certified to the highest level of a new international sustainability standard.

OCC achieved Level Four certification for the ASTM Standard pertaining to the evaluation and selection of venues for environmentally sustainable meetings, events, trade shows and conferences. The venue standard is one of nine standards introduced by the meetings, conventions, exhibitions and events in industry in 2012 to provide event planners and suppliers with specifications for producing events in a more sustainable manner.

Scott Cruickshank, executive director of the OCC, commented, “We are proud and excited to be the first convention center to attain Level Four of the ASTM Venue certification. Certification to the industry’s global standard at its highest level is further evidence of OCC’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.”

Earlier this year, the Convention Center earned LEED Platinum re-certification as an existing building and, in 2013, it was re-designated a Salmon Safe facility based upon its design and use of stormwater runoff.

“This is great news for the Oregon Convention Center and all of us working to make Portland a more sustainable destination choice for convention planners,” said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of Travel Portland, the destination and marketing organization for Portland. Travel Portland obtained Level One certification to the ASTM Destination Standard in 2013.

The ASTM Venue Standard delineates the procedural requirements for venue selection – the practice of researching, evaluating and choosing the facility for an event. The standard states specific performance criteria for staff management, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement, and community partners. The standards were created in partnership with ASTM International, an ANSI-accredited standards development organization.

Michael Luehrs, immediate past president of Green Meetings Industry Council, the non-profit professional meetings association that led the development of the ASTM Sustainable Meeting Standards, added, “Responsible environmental and social practices in the meeting industry is a global concern. We congratulate the Oregon Convention Center on its achievement and hope that this will encourage others in the Portland meetings and convention industry to pursue certification.”

iCompli, a division of BPA Worldwide, a non-profit international auditing organization headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, development the certification protocols for ASTM standards and performed the independent third party certification of OCC’s compliance with the venue standard. Glenn Hansen, CEO of BPA Worldwide, commented, “Our certification of the event sustainability standards driven by GMIC and now adopted by the Oregon Convention Center continues our long-standing partnership with the event industry to promote transparency.”

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