CBRE's booth at the Georgia World Congress Center measured 4,420kg CO2e. The reception, the graphics and all the furniture came from previous CBRE booths, and the whole thing was built in the United States.
CBRE · Georgia World Congress Center · Atlanta, USA · 2024 · Real Estate · Design; Production; Project Management
NMSDC is the certifying body for minority owned suppliers in the United States, and its annual conference exists to forge partnerships that create growth for emerging businesses and untapped markets. CBRE buys at scale and is asked about its own supplier diversity by its clients, so at this show the booth sits on the buying side of the room rather than the selling side, in front of an audience that will test what it is told. The brief was a booth aligned to the circular economy and built locally. On a US show that is a production question before it is a design question: what travels, what is made in Atlanta, and what already exists.
As much of it as possible already existed. The reception counter and the graphics were reused from previous CBRE booths, and all the furniture was reused from previous CBRE booths too. What was new was specified to come apart: FSC certified timber framing, recyclable fabric graphics with zero PVC so no toxic materials were used on any graphic, and an FSC MDF reception finished in low VOC water based paint. The whole booth was created in a US production house, with every rented element delivered from within Atlanta, and after the show it was stored locally for future events rather than freighted back.
One material did not meet the standard and the report says so: the carpet was locally sourced but not responsibly sourced, because of site restrictions. That is recorded rather than smoothed over, and it is the honest version of a circular build inside a venue that dictates its own flooring rules.
On an overseas show the split between what travels and what is made locally sets the freight bill, the build window and the footprint all at once. Here the answer was to travel almost nothing: the reception, the graphics and the furniture were all already in the United States from earlier CBRE booths, and the remainder was produced locally. That is why 4,420kg is the number. A booth of this size built from scratch and shipped would not be close to it.
Total event carbon of 4,420kg CO2e, on a scope covering embodied carbon of newly created materials, all logistics movements and production facility energy use. Reception and graphics reused from previous CBRE booths. All furniture reused from previous CBRE booths. 100% of materials separable at end of life. Zero PVC. Zero production waste to landfill or incineration. All rented elements delivered from within Atlanta, and the booth stored locally after the show for reuse. Indicative, calculated in house, not independently audited.
FSC certified timber. Recyclable zero PVC fabric graphics. FSC MDF finished in low VOC water based paint. Reused reception counter, graphics and furniture. Locally sourced carpet, which the report notes was not responsibly sourced due to site restrictions.
NDI Worldwide: production, logistics, audio visual and on-site assembly, sustainability trained by Pie Factory and a signatory to the Sustainable Partner Code of Conduct. Onsite Audio Visual: AV.
Measurement and reporting by Simon Evans, CEnv ISEP, Sustainability Director. Design lead `[name]`. Project management `[name]`. Photography `[credit]`.