With the 2nd Edition of Nullcon Berlin 2023 happening on the 09th-10th of March—this was the thought that came to us. However, contributing to the Green Conference means different things to different people, which made us open a ‘Call For Green Conference Ideas’ where individuals submitted their ideas to make Nullcon Berlin 2023 a Green Conference. While many suggestions were astonishing, the ideas shared by Andrea Cappa stood out the most in terms of providing us with the best possible outcome with measurable progress for the conference. The focus is implementing three ideas while being most effective.
- Sustainable Location: It’s challenging to balance conference needs along with sustainability, as hosting hundreds of people comes with ramifications to consider. The primary issue with managing big crowds is food wastage, therefore one of the crucial choices when it comes to running Nullcon Berlin 2023 is the venue.
Novotel Berlin Am Tiergarten, our conference venue focuses on ‘Healthy and Sustainable Food.’ They offer healthy, high-quality, balanced meals produced locally and in their garden. They achieve this goal of reducing food wastage by limiting the number of products offered in the buffets as well as by not preparing too many meals well in advance to avoid leftovers. - Utilizing Public Transports: Driving personal (gasoline) vehicles is a prime factor in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, which is highly being ignored. Therefore we encourage our Nullcon Berlin 2023 attendees to adopt public transport facilities as much as possible to reverse this trend. This includes buses, trains, and trams. For individuals who are non-residents of Berlin, we have proposed the quickest routes and modes of transport to arrive at the conference location from the airport as well as from nearby areas. Furthermore, we have also listed below online ticketing services and travel applications for convenience.
- Reducing Carbon Footprint: The amount of carbon footprint produced during a conference varies greatly depending on attendees’ contribution and conference pre-preparations. In terms of pre-arrangements for goodies and swags, we have conveyed to our vendors to use recyclable cardboard boxes for packaging. Furthermore, we have made use of cotton as a fabric to create most of our goodies as it is highly sustainable and renewable. The objective is to provide attendees with goodies that they don’t have and which can be utilized by them in their day-to-day lives, rather than use and throw products.
Taken together, these steps will seemingly impact towards a bigger change to make Nullcon Berlin 2023 a Green Conference. We believe, stepping towards being Carbon Neutral goes a long way as our motive is to encourage the attendees during these 5-days to be mindful of their consumption and traveling habits to recognize how their positive actions affect our environment.
To acknowledge and appreciate our attendees’ contribution towards the Green Conference— we will be Giving Away Exclusive Nullcon Berlin 2023 Green Con T-Shirts for those displaying their efforts towards sustainability of the event by flashing their public transport tickets or any other Green mode of travel and tagging us (using #NullconDE2023) on social media (@nullcon).
Here’s a quick recap of Nullcon Berlin 2022 Greenhouse Gas Emissions, where 40% of our attendees used public transportation which resulted in reducing approximately 102 tons of Carbon Footprint. This includes 20% of attendees taking the train to the conference, 10% traveling by Trams / Metros, and lastly 05% utilizing the bus as a transport.
Online Services and Routes to Consider for Public Transportation:
Local Travel:
- Deutsche Bahn: The national railway company of Germany: https://www.bahn.com/en
- Jelbi: Berlin’s mobility app: https://www.jelbi.de/en/home/
- BVG: The main public transportation company of Berlin:
Airport/Railway to the Novotel Berlin Am Tiergarten:
- Regional Train route from Airport: DB & S-Bahn Trains from Brandenburg Airport to Novotel Tiergarten – The airport station “BER – Terminal 1-2” is located directly under Terminal 1 on level U2.
- Routes from Frankfurt International Airport: List of ICE Trains, DB, S-Bahn, Express Bus routes to reach the venue
- Routes from Munich International Airport: List of ICE Trains, S-Bahn Trains, Express Bus
- Bus route from Airport: Express Bus routes – These can be found on the arrivals level (E0) of Terminal 1; directly in front of the building.
- Pool cab from Airport: List of car sharing services from Brandenburg Airport – The pool cab service providers can be found on P4 parking spaces from Terminal 1-2.
- Berlin City Central Railway Station: List of Bicycle, Bus, Train, Walking routes
