Multiple venues in the bureau’s 50-plus Cambridge portfolio have begun working toward Green Meetings accreditation, giving planners a clearer way to assess environmental practices when sourcing events.
Meet Cambridge has partnered with Green Meetings as multiple venues in its 50-plus portfolio work toward third-party sustainability accreditation.
- Multiple venues across Meet Cambridge’s portfolio of more than 50 properties have signed up to work toward Green Meetings sustainability accreditation.
- The Green Meetings process is designed specifically for meetings and events and requires evidence to be reviewed by Green Tourism assessors before certification is awarded.
- The certification framework covers areas including biodiversity, waste reduction, energy and carbon, community impact and wider sustainability management.
- Meet Cambridge already provides a Sustainable Events Toolkit for organisers, while some venues in its wider portfolio have previously achieved Green Meetings accreditation.
(NEWS) CAMBRIDGE, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, 2026-Sep-03 — /Travel PR News/ — Event planners sourcing conferences and corporate gatherings in Cambridge are set to have more independently assessed sustainability credentials to compare as Meet Cambridge rolls out a new partnership with Green Meetings across its venue network.
Multiple properties from the city conference bureau’s portfolio of more than 50 venues in and around Cambridge have signed up to work through the Green Meetings accreditation process. The programme is intended to help participating venues evidence practical action around areas such as biodiversity, waste reduction and energy efficiency while giving buyers a third-party benchmark when they compare potential event locations.
The distinction is important for planners: signing up does not mean a venue is already certified. Green Meetings, which is operated by Green Tourism and designed specifically for the meetings and events sector, requires venues to review sustainability criteria, submit supporting evidence and undergo assessment before an award is confirmed.
Third-party verification moves further into venue selection
The Green Meetings framework is built around 15 sustainability goals and covers measures ranging from carbon reduction and resource use to biodiversity, community impact and wider environmental, social and governance practices. Evidence submitted by participating businesses is reviewed by Green Tourism assessors, with reassessment required at least once every three years to maintain certification.
That external review is the element Meet Cambridge is putting at the centre of the initiative. Rather than relying only on venues to describe their own environmental policies, the programme gives corporate buyers a common certification process against which participating suppliers can be assessed.
Sarah Maycock, Sustainability Lead at Meet Cambridge, said the bureau has been working on more sustainable events for several years and described Green Meetings as the next stage of that work. “We’re pleased to support the participating venues as they take the next steps on their sustainability journey and strengthen Cambridge’s reputation as a sustainable destination,” she said.
Meet Cambridge says the move also reflects the growing role sustainability plays in destination and supplier selection, citing the Events Industry Council’s 2025 sustainability research. The wider business-events sector continues to focus on measurable standards: in March 2026, the Events Industry Council launched a refinement of its Sustainable Event Standards to keep guidance aligned with evolving expectations and real-world implementation.
Cambridge builds on existing sustainable-event guidance
The accreditation partnership adds another layer to work already being promoted through Meet Cambridge’s Sustainable Events Toolkit. Its guidance encourages organisers to consider recognised sustainability accreditation when choosing a venue, alongside access to public transport, waste-management practices, energy reduction measures and lower-impact food and service choices.
The bureau’s venue pages already identify examples of Green Meetings adoption. The Pitt Building, one of the properties listed by Meet Cambridge, is described as having achieved Green Meetings accreditation and highlights measures including reusable glass water bottles and separate recycling and composting systems. That existing award should not be read as confirmation that the Pitt Building is one of the venues newly signing up under the latest initiative, but it shows the certification is already present within the wider Cambridge meetings portfolio.
Meet Cambridge serves as the official venue-finding service for space at the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Colleges, while its portfolio also includes hotels and other event properties around the city. By encouraging more of those venues to move through the same external accreditation framework, the bureau is aiming to make sustainability performance easier for organisers to identify during the sourcing process.
For planners, the practical value will depend on how many participating venues complete the assessment and what level of certification they achieve. But the direction is clear: sustainability is moving further into the evidence-and-procurement stage of event planning, and Cambridge is seeking to make third-party verification a more visible part of its destination offer.
