Going Green Together
At ICS 2024 we believe that we all have a part to play in preserving our future for generations to come, both locally and across the globe and that everyone can help in maintaining a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. Even small actions matter! Therefore, we’ve taken steps to make the Meeting more environmentally friendly.
This Sustainability plan considers all the necessary measures to correct, mitigate or improve the aspects that the event 54th annual meeting of the International Continence Society have on the environment, as well as reduce the carbon footprint of the event, while also planning the measures to be put into practice to increase the positive socio-economic impact.
Contributions You Can Make as an ICS 2024 Delegate:
As individuals and as a community, we can and should individually contribute to protecting the earth and its natural systems and resources and to sustaining the natural ecological balance of the ecosystem. Here is what we encourage you to do during the ICS Meeting:
- Use the online interactive programme (instead of printing) to explore sessions details
- Use more sustainable ways of traveling to and around the city (take the train instead of a flight; get around Madrid by Metro, ride a bike or walk instead of taxi)
- Reduce the waste you generate and separate disposal
- Opt for reusable mugs and bottles
ICS 2024 and the Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, also called the Global Goals) are 17 goals with 169 targets that all UN Member States have agreed to work toward achieving by 2030. They set out a plan for a world without poverty, hunger, and disease.
We at ICS 2024 want to contribute to the achievement of these objectives in our value chain. We support and work toward the following SDGs:
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Initiatives |
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End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
- The food items offered to our participants will be seasonal, organic and prepared from local and regional products.
- The amount of food will be planned ahead according to the participants of the event, in order to prevent food waste.
- Food donations to local non-profit organizations.
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Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages:
- We are introducing several dedicated ICS initiatives, aiming to promote healthy lifestyle, while enjoying being together with the community.
What we are doing in 2024:
- Healthy food served during lunch and coffee breaks.
- Wellness program introducing participants to the local flavours.
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Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Our top priority is to make high-quality education available to our community. Our goals include eliminating educational gaps between genders; providing more accessible conference options; and enhancing the quality of the scientific programme.
What we are doing:
- Workshops for early career professionals
- Sessions On Demand – The recorded sessions are available to participants for 3 months after the conference dates with purchase of the Gold Pass, allowing attendees to catch up on any learnings they missed during the Meeting, or re-watch important presentations and discussions.
- Presentations of clinical and laboratory findings from applied research that encourage audience participation.
- Special keynote presentations delivered by a number of internationally renowned experts covering the full spectrum of incontinence.
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Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
We recognize the environmental impact that large-scale events like ICS 2024 can have, so sustainable production and consumption are one of our top priorities in organizing the Annual Meeting. We are working with our suppliers to ensure maximum positive change.
What we are doing:
- A mini-program will be printed.
- E-Posters instead of printed Poster Boards: easy to use and available both at the venue and on your device.
- We are limiting printed promotional materials in favor of digital alternatives.
- We encourage all our exhibitors to participate in this initiative by reducing single-use giveaways at their booths.
- Delegate badge and lanyards collection and recycling at the end of the event.
- To reduce food waste at the Meeting, the amount of food will be planned in advance according to the participants of the event.
- We work with our local catering partner to ensure the use of local and seasonal products, to reduce the transportation footprint of the congress.
- We will make sure of the removal of the separated residues, using authorized recycling collectors (companies specialized in collection, selective collection services of the contracted venue, municipal cleaning services, clean points etc.), ensuring that waste/materials are kept separate.
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Read more about sustainability in the city
A message from Madrid CVB
"We appreciate the support of the Madrid Convention Bureau and its team in the development of the International Continence Society 2024 SDGs plan - whose inaugural session is taking place in Madrid. These actions have been jointly identified with the MCB with the aim of providing comprehensive, current, and reliable information about sustainability."