Bilbao Exhibition Centre continues to maintain its commitment to sustainability. For this reason, one of its objectives is to manage sustainability in its space as well as in the organization of guests events. In terms of energy use, the venue already has a photovoltaic solar energy park, one of the most important in the Basque Country; this year the installation of solar panels will be expanded to increase the current power of 100 kilowatts and be able to reach a self-sufficiency of between 10-12%. BEC’s Sustainability Committee is made up of members from the departments of Human Resources and Finance; Communication; Conventions and Events; Food, Leisure and Other Sectors; Technical; and Industry, Energy and ICTs.

In addition, to address climate change, the team responsible for the venue has joined, along with 150 other entities, the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative supported by UFI-Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. This will be the broadest and most inclusive collaboration developed in the trade fair industry to date and will also serve to give visibility to the sector as a positive source of impacts for change.

On the other hand, in the social area, BEC and PWN Bilbao, an association for the professional development of women, have reached a collaboration agreement to work in a unified way to promote the progress of women in the workplace. Thus, BEC, which has 71 employees, more than half of whom are women, will participate in various activities organized by PWN aimed at promoting women’s rights and their visibility in leadership positions. These include the Mentoring program and the “Men on Board” project.