Conference 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.
  • The 2025 Annual Meeting host hotel, the Hilton San Francisco - Union Square, is an Energy-Star Rated hotel and is reducing its environmental impact through recycling programs, energy efficiency, and more. Click here for more information on efforts underway from Hilton Worldwide.
• Utilizing a paperless mobile app for the conference program, and requiring attendees to opt-in for a printed program. The programs that are printed are 100% recyclable and the paper used is recycled and/or comes from a responsibly managed, certified forest.
• 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).

How You Can Help

SBM encourages 2025 Annual Meeting attendees to take part in eco-friendly activities. Participate in at least one activity from the list below and log your participation in our online form by Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. PT for a chance to win. Three winners will be randomly selected and can each choose either a waived 2026 Annual Meeting registration or a $50 Visa gift card.

• Decline a printed program and use our mobile app instead
• Bring a re-usable coffee mug/water bottle and use it throughout the meeting
• Avoid single-use plastics while in San Francisco
• Limit water use in your guestroom, for example by turning off the water while brushing your teeth
• Turn off lights when not in your guestroom
• Turn off heat/AC when not in your guestroom
• Book a low-carbon flight or alternative non-flight travel
• Take public transportation from the airport to the hotel
• Walk to lunch, dinner, or other activities outside the Annual Meeting hotel
• Order locally-sourced food and/or drinks while in San Francisco
• Participate in plant-based foods day on Thursday, March 27
• Let others know you are doing your part to help the environment by tweeting and posting using the hashtag #SBM2025

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