A sustainability rating for hotels and venues across the UK has been launched recently by event organiser Conference Care, and has already received an excellent response.

The benchmark has been created to allow companies to include a standardised corporate social responsibility (CSR) rating in their criteria for venue choice. It has been well received by hotels, venues and corporates across the UK. In just two months since the launch of the database, more than 500 of the UK's leading conference and event venues have taken part in the online survey, which will create the UK's first venue sustainability rating.

Criteria measured include recycling and waste, energy and efficiency and the venue's contribution to the local community. Central to the initiative is
Conference Care's ability to add the Sustainability Rating to its venue searches, thereby ensuring that its clients’ CSR policies come into the decision-making process. From June 2008, reporting by sustainability of venues will also be available on a monthly basis for Conference Care's contracted clients.

Conference Care is one of a handful of agencies already ISO 14001 certified.
The company is a prime mover in helping corporates and hoteliers understand their impact on the environment and community.

"We are very pleased at the uptake so far,” said Conference Care’s Chris Peacock. “We had envisaged around 400 hotels and venues in the early stages, and we have exceeded this with over 500 registrations to date. We're confident that by the end of the year we will have more than 1,000 venues taking part. Many clients have long been asking for us to address CSR and bring it into the decision-making process. The Sustainability Rating means that we can now offer this for each and every event we handle."