This year's Sustainability Days focused on promoting sustainable development in the areas of cities, regions, the environment and the economy. The two-day event ended successfully yesterday, bringing together some 100 partners, exhibitors and 120 speakers.
The Sustainability Days 2024 welcomed approximately 1,700 participants and provided a platform for exchange and knowledge transfer.
This year’s Sustainability Days, which took place on 10 and 11 April 2024 at the Congress Center Basel with the theme “Get things done”, presented current trends and concrete solutions in the form of innovative products and services. The focus was on seven key topics: Energy, Environment, Governance, Health, Infrastructure and Buildings, as well as Mobility. Julien Rousseau, Brand Director of Sustainability Days, was delighted with the event’s success: “We are so pleased with the incredible response to the Sustainability Days. Especially at a time when so many pressing sustainability challenges are being discussed, it’s crucial to promote a dialogue between players so that solutions can be talked about and progress can be achieved together. The fact that roughly 1,700 professionals came together during the two-day event at the Congress Center Basel underlines the need for such cross-industry networking platforms.”
Positive input from national and international experts
Possible strategies for a sustainable future played a major role at the CEO panel on Wednesday afternoon. CEOs Noah Heynen (Helion Energy AG), Roland Lötscher (Mobility Genossenschaft), Cédric Christmann (Primeo Energie) and Jörg Reichert (Energiedienst Holding AG) discussed the transformation of energy and mobility, and presented tangible solutions. The panel discussion on Thursday made it clear that sustainability can also be a fundamental key to strategic corporate management. Catrin Hinkel (Microsoft Schweiz), Andreas Müller (Georg Fischer AG), Gerd Scheller (Siemens Schweiz AG) and René Zierler (Hewlett Packard Enterprise Switzerland) discussed bureaucracy in the context of sustainability and the considerable effort required to provide the necessary data on sustainability and supply chains. In further keynotes, various national and international experts shared valuable ideas and exclusive insights from different perspectives. The speakers Lan Marie Nguyen Berg (member of the Green Party from Norway) and Anna König Jerlmyr (former mayor of Stockholm) provided insights and perspectives on sustainability from the fields of government, politics and consulting, as well as sustainable urban transformation. Pierre de Meuron (founding partner of Herzog & de Meuron) and Daniel Wiener (President of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation) discussed the overall digital logistics system Cargo sous terrain (CST), which will bring together major Swiss freight transport centres from 2031. The final takeaway from both days of the event was that sustainable development cannot take place without innovation and digitisation.
Plenty of inspiration and expertise at the Networking Dinner Party
A further highlight of the Sustainability Days 2024 was the Networking Dinner Party on Wednesday evening. In a relaxed atmosphere with a stand-up dinner, participants came together to engage in cross-industry discussions and exchange ideas. The evening kicked off with a presentation by Raphaël Domjan (Swiss solar energy pioneer), who has already sailed around the globe with his Tûranor PlanetSolar catamaran and has also been preparing for a solar flight into the stratosphere for a few years. The presentation by the renowned environmental scientist and Co-President of the Club of Rome Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker was also particularly noteworthy. He recounted the past and took the audience on an impressive journey towards a sustainable future. The audience showed their appreciation with a warm round of applause.
Part of a strong network
Main Partners for the 2024 Sustainability Days included the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the Swiss Association of Cities, Innosuisse, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Boston Consulting Group.
You can find this and other press releases including image material in the media area at www.sustainability-days.ch
MCH Group
The MCH Group has its headquarters in Basel and is an internationally operating experience marketing company with a comprehensive service network and an international range of experience marketing solutions.
The Exhibitions & Events division organises some 170 guest events every year as well as 25 of its own events and trade fairs in Switzerland, including leading domestic platforms such as Swissbau, Igeho, and Giardina. With Messe Basel, the Congress Center Basel, and Messe Zürich, MCH also operates Switzerland’s largest multifunctional event infrastructures in terms of surface area. The company employs over 800 permanent staff, roughly half of whom are based in Switzerland and the USA. For more information, please visit: www.mch-group.com
Media contact
Julien Rousseau | Brand Director Sustainability Days
T +41 58 206 25 84 | julien.rousseau@messe.ch
Dominique Farner | Marketing & Communications Manager
T +41 58 206 21 99 | dominique.farner@messe.ch
Sustainability Days 2024 | www.sustainability-days.ch
MCH Messe Schweiz (Basel) AG | CH-4005 Basel
Media release as PDF
