Conferences, meetings and other events are standard business practice within the United Nations for the simple reason that they are often the most time efficient and effective way of sharing thinking, identifying solutions and reaching agreements. At the same time, however, they can leave a significant environmental footprint through consuming energy and water, generating waste, polluting the air and water, and use of paper.

In order to counteract the numerous risks associated with climate change in holding these events, there are many on-going initiatives at global, regional, sub-regional and national levels to develop strategies to address the challenges of climate change. ECA, following the steps of other UN Conference Centers has considered how it can be part of these initiatives and change from paper-based conferences to paper smart conferences.