A global leader in the business events space, Adelaide Convention Centre has attained EarthCheck’s highest accolade in recognition of a 15-year commitment to environmental and social sustainability.
As the southern hemisphere’s first National Park City, with a goal of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral city, Adelaide takes sustainability very seriously, and the city’s convention centre has proven that it shares this commitment.
In 2023, EarthCheck – the world’s leading scientific benchmarking certification and advisory group for sustainable travel, events and tourism – bestowed the coveted Master status, the highest level of certification, on Adelaide Convention Centre.
This made the venue the first convention centre in the world to achieve EarthCheck Master Certification. This status can only be achieved through meeting EarthCheck’s stringent sustainability standards for 15 years, demonstrating an exceptional commitment to best practice and continuous improvement.
Julian Marchant, ESG Planning & Project Manager at Adelaide Convention Centre, says the accolade reflects the venue’s vision to become a ‘force for good’ for the local community and the environment.
“At Adelaide Convention Centre, sustainability is embedded in everything we do, from our food and design to our practices and people,” he says. “It’s been that way for more than 15 years, through active and continuous participation in the global EarthCheck program.”
Stewart Moore, CEO and Founder of EarthCheck, says the Centre has consistently demonstrated that it deserves to hold its leadership position in sustainability.
“Achieving EarthCheck certification is no easy feat, as it requires total and ongoing dedication from the entire team,” he says. “The passion and commitment demonstrated by the Adelaide Convention Centre team is not only evident in our interactions with them, but in the improvement of their results, year on year.”
Adelaide Convention Centre has embedded sustainability into its business strategy, services and operations through its participation in the EarthCheck Certified program.
EarthCheck supports the Adelaide Convention Centre in benchmarking its performance against regional peers and global best practices. This includes a focus on key criteria such as:
An independent auditor thoroughly reviews the Adelaide Convention Centre to ensure compliance with EarthCheck’s criteria and performance data. The auditor then submits a detailed report to EarthCheck, outlining the Centre’s adherence. The Adelaide Convention Centre’s certification is maintained only if the report confirms full compliance with EarthCheck’s rigorous protocols. This process ensures that the Centre consistently meets high standards of sustainability and operational excellence.
In particular, Julian says Adelaide Convention Centre’s key environmental performance indicators – potable water consumption, waste to landfill and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – have improved significantly as a result of EarthCheck’s year-on-year performance monitoring.
“EarthCheck has been the reporting framework that has helped us to order and structure our environmental performance and compare ourselves to our national peers,” Julian says.
“Through defining our sustainability focus areas, and developing a strategy with clear, defined, and measurable targets, we can determine whether we are on track to achieve our sustainability targets, and whether the actions we’ve implemented are creating the desired outcome.
“Having those clear and quantifiable targets, and actions aligned to these targets, allows us to assess the efficacy of newly implemented actions and infrastructure and ensure that we can communicate our successes and areas for improvement.”
In its most recent EarthCheck audit, Adelaide Convention Centre achieved a greater than 99 per cent diversion from landfill rate, the highest recorded rate of any convention centre in Australia.
The Centre has virtually eliminated organic waste through careful meal planning and a community food redistribution program that has seen the venue donate more than 200,000 unused meals to local community organisations OzHarvest, Foodbank and Fatihworks.
In 2023, the venue installed Adelaide’s first WasteMaster, an on-site food and organic waste recycling system that converts food waste to high value uses, including energy production, fertiliser and compost. The WasteMaster has already processed more than 43 tonnes of organic waste, and produced more than 15 tonnes of nutrient-rich fertiliser.
The Centre makes it a priority to support local producers, with 97 per cent of its produce sourced from South Australian suppliers, through its partnerships with local artisans and First Nations producers.
The Centre’s ‘Honest Goodness’ menu highlights traditional Indigenous ingredients, and connects guests at the venue’s events with the flavours of the land, giving them a genuine taste of South Australia.
Supporting local businesses also ensures that the goods and services procured by the venue have reduced mileage and transport GHG emissions, while the venue’s focus on fresh, whole foods has led to a dramatic reduction in the amount of cardboard, tins and plastic packaging being brought into the venue.
The Centre has virtually eliminated organic waste through careful meal planning and a community food redistribution program that has seen the venue donate more than 200,000 unused meals to local community organisations OzHarvest, Foodbank and Fatihworks.
In 2023, the venue installed Adelaide’s first WasteMaster, an on-site food and organic waste recycling system that converts food waste to high value uses, including energy production, fertiliser and compost. The WasteMaster has already processed more than 43 tonnes of organic waste, and produced more than 15 tonnes of nutrient-rich fertiliser.
From 2018 to 2023, the Centre reduced its energy consumption by more than 40 per cent. This was due to a variety of initiatives, including a staged transition to LED lighting. (At the time of the venue’s most recent audit, 70 per cent of its lighting fixtures were LED, and a target has been set to achieve 100 per cent by 2027.)
The Centre’s building management system also allows for the compartmentalisation and automation of building lighting and air conditioning systems, which provides the flexibility to light and cool or heat individual spaces within the venue as needed.
South Australia is widely considered the driest state in the driest inhabited continent on the planet, which makes water conservation particularly important. The Centre utilises recycled water for the irrigation of its garden beds and lawn area, and for more than 40 toilets, reducing costs and reducing the venue’s reliance on the River Murray for its water supply.
Other water-saving features include the installation of waterless urinal systems, dual flush toilet systems and low flow fittings, and the planting of low-water-demand vegetation throughout the venue.
As a result, the Centre has reduced its potable water consumption by more than 12 per cent over the last five years, and its average potable water consumption is 73 per cent lower than the Australian convention centre regional average.
In order to continue making improvements, the Centre has recently installed water monitoring software across its in-house commercial dishwashers, and is investigating opportunities to expand the use of recycled water across the venue.
Julian says the Centre has encouraged its staff to embrace its sustainability initiatives through a variety of training and participation opportunities, including the establishment of dedicated committees, working groups and mentor programs.
“Our staff are drivers of change within the organisation,” he says. “We have established a range of mechanisms to capture and best utilise staff knowledge, and to empower team members to make changes across all departments.
“A dedicated sustainability management committee meets quarterly to discuss the strategic implementation of actions outlined within our sustainability strategy. The delivery of such actions is supported by our Green Team, a passionate group of staff representing all departments across our business who are charged with responsibility for implementing actions, and reporting back on barriers and enablers to implementation.
“To build staff awareness and capacity to support sustainability actions, we recently completed a staff engagement process. This included over 40 interviews with key decision makers within the business, eight workshops engaging over 90 full time staff, and a whole-of-staff survey.
“The information gathered through these activities has helped inform our sustainability strategy, including actions and targets. This has provided enormous benefit to the organisation, and important learnings on what we’re doing well and where we can improve our efforts in the future.”
Julian says EarthCheck Certification provides the Centre with the evidence it needs to demonstrate to clients and guests that its sustainability initiatives and actions are making a positive impact and driving real change.
“It’s important to have metrics to back up your story and initiatives, so you can communicate with confidence,” he says.
“We know that any claims we make are supported by evidence, and that we can provide this evidence to anyone who is interested.”
One way the Centre does this is through its website, which provides visitors with extensive information about the venue’s sustainable systems and accomplishments.
“For many of our guests, their initial interaction with our sustainability story is our website,” Julian says. “It plays an important communications role in helping educate guests on our approach to sustainability, our achievements and our future plans.
“Our website addresses our key sustainability focus areas, providing visitors with an overview on our management of waste, greenhouse gas emissions, energy, Aboriginal engagement, water, and food.”
In order to serve as a true partner in staging sustainable events, Julian says the Centre also makes its sustainability metrics available to event organisers, so they can include this information in their own communications.
“Our staff work closely with event organisers to ensure access to our sustainability data can be incorporated into the story of each and every event,” he says.
Adelaide Convention Centre has been a leader in sustainability for over a decade and a half, but it’s up to all event planners, venue managers and organisations to play their part in hosting sustainable and responsible meetings and events.
EarthCheck has recently launched a comprehensive suite of solutions to ensure that events of all sizes can implement sustainable practices that make a real difference.
EarthCheck’s Stewart Moore says the new tools are a response to increasing regulatory demands for events, and the growing environmental expectations of attendees.
“The regulatory landscape surrounding event sustainability is becoming increasingly stringent, and rightly so,” Moore says.
“Moreover, delegates now expect their events to be environmentally responsible – to know that their participation is not contributing to the planet’s degradation. Our new offerings equip our clients to meet these expectations head-on, not just with compliance, but with leadership.”
The newly introduced services include:
With these tools, EarthCheck is enhancing and empowering sustainability in the events industry – ensuring every event is an opportunity to showcase your commitment to the planet.
Learn more about Responsible Events and Meetings by EarthCheck.
Put your organisation’s commitment to sustainability on show to the world with EarthCheck Certified.
Learn more about Adelaide Convention Centre’s sustainability commitment and initiatives.
There are more than 476 million Indigenous Peoples, found in all regions of the world, from the Arctic to the tropical forests. They make up more than 6 per cent of our global population.
In the spirit of reconciliation, EarthCheck acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout the world and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous Peoples today.
EarthCheck acknowledges that Indigenous Peoples are guardians of the forests and biodiversity hotspots we all depend on. Research shows that lands managed by Indigenous Peoples, with secure rights, experience lower deforestation rates, store more carbon, hold more biodiversity, and benefit more people than other lands — including protected areas.
We recognise and support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration is a positive document that maps out a path for Indigenous Peoples to be free from discrimination and secure in their identities and life choices.
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