Try to choose a hotel that operates in an environmentally responsible manner (e.g. sustainable energy management and reuse of towels and linens).

To support the objectives of the Convention and to reduce the carbon footprint of the conference, to the extent possible, the food on sale will be regionally produced (within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia) and include a high share of seafood and vegetarian meals (including vegan options).

Sandwiches are wrapped in foil that uses only the minimum amount of plastic prescribed by German law.

Desserts are served exclusively in multiple-use glasses.

Cold drinks on sale at the WCCB come in multiple-use bottles. Empty bottles should be returned to the point of sale.

When ordering hot drinks, all of which are Fairtrade-certified, for consumption at one of the cafeterias, try to request ceramic cups. Take-away cups, which are made of compostable BioWare with laminated (PEFC-certified) paper with bio-coating, are available upon request and exclusively for consuming drinks away from the point of sale.

This CO₂ calculator kindly provided by the city of Frankfurt allows you to compare the carbon footprint of various ingredients and menu examples in a playful way.

You can make your life climate-neutral and be recognized for it. It’s easy and worth it!

UNFCCC’s Climate Neutral Now initiative offers all conference participants the possibility to compensate the unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions they generate as part of their daily life using certified emission reduction credits (CERs) from clean development mechanism projects, which promote climate-friendly projects in developing countries and contribute to sustainable development.

Visit the Climate Neutral Now platform to browse through the projects that sell their CERs. You can filter them by region, country, co-benefits or price, for example. Your purchase will fund an array of projects such as wind power projects, efficient bus transit systems, or projects that replace harmful cook stoves with healthy, clean-burning ones. You can choose what to invest in to compensate your emissions and your payment will go directly to the project owner.

Emissions generated by air travel can be calculated using the ICAO official calculator. To calculate the emissions you generate in your own life, you can use this simple calculator.

Participants who compensate their emissions through the platform will receive a personalized certificate from the secretariat to attest to their climate action.

Go Climate Neutral Now!

To make use of links within the documents and save paper, try to rely on electronic versions of documents, available at https://unfccc.int/documents and on the SBSTA 50 and SBI 50 web pages.

The Daily Programme for the conference will continue to be made available in electronic form only.

Try to refrain from distributing any printed material, such as publications and information related to side events and exhibits, other meetings or future conferences. Instead, information should be disseminated electronically.

Energy-efficient building technology is used in the main building of the WCCB, which utilizes natural power sources and energy-saving lights, efficient heat recovery in ventilation systems, geothermal energy for heating and air conditioning, a photovoltaic system on the roof, centrally managed energy via a building control system and green roofs.

Water dispensers are available throughout the WCCB and close to the large conference rooms on the United Nations Campus. Bring your own multiple-use bottles or buy a bottled drink and then refill the empty bottle at one of the water dispensers in order to reduce the amount of plastic waste and thereby help to limit damage to oceans, biodiversity and human and animal health.

Individual transportation arrangements, such as car or van rentals, are strongly discouraged. Individual transportation results in higher greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and traffic congestion – with the resulting loss in productive time and increased stress levels. During peak hours, individual transportation hardly reduces commuting times and may lead to additional delays.

Instead, transportation by bus, tram, metro and regional trains is strongly recommended. The closest bus stop, “Deutsche Welle”, is 100 m from the WCCB entrance, the metro stop “Heussallee” is 400 m away and the train station “UN Campus” is 800 m away.

Discover Bonn by sustainable transport is a city guide developed as part of the German Partnership for Sustainable Mobility.

To offset the unavoidable climate footprint associated with the Conference (including emissions related to travel of participants), the purchase of CERs from clean development mechanism projects via the Climate Neutral Now platform is planned.

To make use of links within the documents and save paper, try to rely on electronic versions of documents, available at https://unfccc.int/documents and on the SBSTA 50 and SBI 50 web pages.

Try to print and photocopy only what is necessary prior to and during the sessions. The use of colour paper should be kept to a minimum.

Print and photocopy on both sides and keep the font size to a legible minimum.

Reuse paper that has print on one side only.

Consider eliminating the use of paper business cards. Many smartphone apps support sharing digital business cards that are automatically updated and scanning and storing personal information received from others.

To reduce the carbon footprint of the conference and owing to logistical considerations such as storage availability, as per past practice the secretariat is not in a position to receive shipments with a cumulative total weight in excess of 100 kg per Party and observer organization.

Please keep the original packaging of your shipments in good condition for reuse in the return shipment at the end of the conference.

The WCCB and the official caterer are certified partners of the Sustainable Bonn project, an initiative aiming to make events in Bonn more environmentally friendly.

Sustainable cleaning products and eco-certified paper towels are used at the WCCB to the extent possible.

To be added in due course.

Every effort should be made to avoid the generation of waste. All unavoidable waste will be strictly separated at the source to enable the highest possible degree of recycling. Please support waste avoidance and waste separation. Pictograms provide information on which bin should be used:

The yellow recycling bin: among other things, packaging other than glass and paper – so-called lightweight packaging made of plastic, aluminium, tinplate or composites (for example, beverage cartons). Examples include disposable cups, milk and juice containers, straws and yoghurt pots.

The blue paper/cardboard bin: paper, cardboard, cardboard boxes (taken apart), newspapers and envelopes.

The grey bin: other materials, such as leftover food, chewing gum, sanitary products, used nappies and wooden spoons.