On January 16, 2023, Congrès Inc. acquired the ISO 20121 (event sustainability management system) certification, and received the official certificate in a ceremony held on January 24 from URUSHIHARA Masaki, Representative Director & President, BSI Group Japan K.K., the Japanese affiliate of The British Standards Institution (BSI).

Under the certification process this time, we underwent an integrated assessment of our existing ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) and the new ISO 20121 (Sustainable Event Management System), and successfully passed to attain our certification. Congrès is the first corporation in Japan* to be granted certification for both of these systems.

* based on BSI Group Japan K.K.’s research

Congrès President, TAKEUCHI Noriko commented on receiving the certification; “We acquired the ISO14001 certification in 2009 and have been continuously proposing environmentally-conscious plans to our clients in our core business of planning and management of conventions, exhibitions and events, including at high-level inter-governmental meetings such as the G20 and major medical/academic congresses.
Today, we have a company-wide “SDGs Project Team” in place with 4 materiality themes (priority issues or key challenges). I am delighted that we have been granted the ISO20121 certification, with which we intend to further advance our materiality themes, in particular ‘Support efforts to solve issues in society through creating fora for meetings & events.’ I also believe that the integrated system has led to further enhancement of our employee’s proactive attitude toward tackling sustainability.”

■ About ISO 20121
ISO 20121, the international sustainable events standard, is designed to support the meetings & events industry’s sustainability through not only management of the impact on the environment, but also the impact on the economy and society. The predecessor to ISO 20121 was formulated by BSI in 2007 looking toward the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, aiming to ensure a well-balanced operation in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability. ISO 20121 was adopted for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic & Paralympic Games and is currently being considered for the World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

■ Congrès Inc.’s ISO 20121 certification scope and applicable offices/facilities
Congrès’ Sustainable Event Management system covers the following services and offices:
– Planning and management services for conventions
– Planning and administrative services for exhibitions and events
– Facilities operation/management services
– Consulting, planning & design, investigation duties for facilities administration

– Tokyo Headquarters
– Osaka Headquarters
– Fukuoka Office
– Nagoya Office
– Sapporo Office
– Tohoku (Sendai) Office

– Knowledge Capital – Congrès Convention Center
– Congrès Square Nihonbashi
– Congrès Square Haneda

■ About BSI
The British Standards Institution (BSI) was established in 1901. As the first standards entity in the world, and a founding member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), BSI is a professional organization active in the domain of standards formulation. Today, BSI contributes to the activities of more than 84,000 client organizations in 193 countries.

BSI Group Japan K.K., the Japanese affiliate of BSI, was established in 1999 and provides a wide range of standards-related services, including support for development of standards. The Group’s primary services comprise management systems, information security services, medical instrument certification services, product testing/certification services and training programs.

Equipped with this certification, Congrès is committed to continuing to strive to promote sustainable meetings & events toward enhancing our contributions to solving the issues facing society.