In view of the global awakening of environmental awareness, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and green environment issues have gained international recognition. To promote the development of a sustainable MICE environment in Taiwan, and to publicize the characteristics of Taiwan as a sustainable MICE city, the Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA, held the "GREENTOPIA Sustainable MICE City" multinational competition this year, to solicit proposals from around the world for conventions, exhibitions, or incentive travel to Taiwan.

For the first time, this year the GREENTOPIA competition was launched online, and took the industry by storm, receiving proposals from all over the world. Over the past two months, 1,012 creative proposals from 21 countries around the world were collected, and five proposals from Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam were selected by professional judges. The award ceremony was held in the afternoon of November 17, 2022, at the Taipei International Convention Center. We invited famous artist, Chris Wang, who responds to the call of sustainable living, to be our guest. International professional media and MICE industry professionals overseas were also invited to participate in the online event to reveal the winning proposals together with the global MICE community. Each winning proposal will receive the award money, the proposers can organize MICE events in Taiwan with it to implement their plans, and to promote the concept of sustainable MICE.

The most common "sustainable practices" in each country's proposal are encouraging the use of public transportation, implementing recycling and garbage classification, backing the local economy with participating experience activities, supporting smallholders, and giving priority to vegetarian meals, the paperless lifestyle, decorating with recycled materials, using local ingredients, and e-flyers. The five selected proposals all offer innovative, sustainable approaches that combine SDGs and ESG. For example, the proposal from the Philippines plans to hold a metalworking industry event in Kaohsiung next year to achieve sustainable production goals such as reducing industrial waste, energy consumption, and carbon emissions by using the latest technology.

According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade, with the rise of global awareness of net-zero carbon emissions, the issue of sustainable MICE is gaining more and more international attention. The Bureau of Foreign Trade will keep promoting the concept of sustainable MICE, while encouraging and assisting people in the industry to implement various sustainable practices, to show Taiwan’s efforts and determination of promoting sustainable MICE to the world.

Source: China Times