Taking a step towards becoming a carbon neutral event, supersalone has strategised to enact a concrete and topical sustainability approach by calculating and compensating for its greenhouse gas emissions.
The ongoing special 2021 Salone del Mobile event at the Rho Milan Fairgrounds has taken the decision to quantify and offset its carbon footprint. It is for the first time the Salone del Mobile.Milano has calculated and neutralised the environmental effects of one of its events in line with the urgent need to combat global warming. Studio Stefano Boeri Interiors had been entrusted with the overall planning of the communal spaces and exhibition areas while also keeping in mind the decision of promoting the carbon neutrality of the event. “We decided to undertake this special edition of the Salone by putting the focus on circularity and it has naturally also been an opportunity to reflect on the need to ramp up our efforts to make for increasingly sustainable events. This is the direction our future will take,” opines Maria Porro, President, Salone del Mobile.Milano.
Collaboratively, Stefano Boeri Interiors and Milan Fairgrounds have made a major contribution towards achieving decarbonisation and supported various stages of data gathering in relation to supersalone. That said, the phases of offset calculation are being professionally carried out in a technical partnership between Rete Clima and Inrete Green – bodies that support the sustainable transformation of organisations, products and event. Luca Palermo, CEO, Milan Fairgrounds adds, “With supersalone, we are launching an innovative project geared to quantifying the environmental footprint of the fairs held in our exhibition spaces. It is a joint action between the fair and its organisers, with whom we have always enjoyed a close reciprocal relationship.”
Calculating the event’s carbon footprint involves quantifying all the activities that take place at the fair, which also include those carried out by the suppliers (providing display materials, energy consumption, transport of materials and the mobility of people, waste disposal) in conformity with ISO carbon offset standards, with validation by the ICMQ certification body. “The Salone del Mobile has shown its pioneering spirit yet again with supersalone and looks set to become a model. It’s an example of sustainability. If all events had been conceived with such focus on the environment and such farsightedness, Italy would already be more liveable, green and environment-friendly,” says Vannia Gava, Undersecretary, Ministry of Ecological Transition.