Chcago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Choose Chicago announce that The City of Chicago is one of the first cities in the world to be certified as sustainable destination for meetings and events
In addition, McCormick Place is now the world’s largest convention center to be certified as a sustainable venue under the APEX-ASTM standard for venues of environmentally sustainable meetings, events, trade shows and conferences.
“The City of Chicago is one of the world’s premier convention and tourism markets, and a leader in global sustainability,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Chicago’s sustainability as a destination is a key competitive advantage, and part of a strategy to achieve my goal of 50 million annual visitors by 2020. This certification will bring more events and trade shows to the City, boosting local economic development and job growth.”
The announcement comes after some hard work done byt the city. Chicago hosted a near-record of 46.2 million visitors in 2012, a 6.1 percent increase over 2011 and was ranked the number one U.S. city for Environmental Governance by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2025 Global City Competitiveness Index. And Mayor Emanuel’s Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda was awarded the Emerald Award by the US Green Building Council Illinois Chapter for outstanding work in sustainability, including the most Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rated buildings.
These achievements highlight Chicago’s continuing efforts to become the greenest city in the world and achieve 50 million annual visitors by 2020.
