Environmental Responsibility

In-person events have their own unique value, but necessarily come with environmental impacts. Here's how SBM is working to reduce the environmental impact of our in-person conferences, and how attendees can join us in this important effort.

What SBM Is Doing

• Avoiding beef and lamb in all conference food items, and providing plant-based foods as often as possible. In 2024, we began offering only plant-based foods for one entire day of the conference. Plant-based diets produce 75% less heat trapping gas, generate 75% less water pollution, and use 75% less land than meat-rich diets.
• Working with our hotel partners to have reusable dishes and other items at banquet functions, and to limit use of table linens.
• Working with our hotel partners to have unused food composted or donated.
• Evaluating future conference hotel sites based in part on the property's sustainability efforts.
• Utilizing a paperless mobile app for the conference program.
• Offering digital conference registration confirmations, with no print option.
• Requiring attendees to opt-in for a registration bag, using recycled bags and lanyards, and donating any leftover bags.
• Limiting travel and paper use for the Annual Meeting Planning Committee's "program planning meeting" where abstract decisions are made and the final program is built.
• Featuring prominent speakers on the topic of climate change and health.
• Offering incentives to attendees for participating in their own eco-friendly activities while at the conference (see more details below).

For information on how SBM is working to address climate change beyond conferences, click here.