Net Zero at Congress Scale

For meeting planners and corporate travel buyers who now have to account for event and hotel emissions in their Scope 3 numbers, Radisson Hotel Group has put a third-party-verified net zero label on venues big enough to matter. On 30 September the company named four Radisson Blu hotels in Stockholm and Copenhagen as Verified Net Zero, including the hotel attached to the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre, which the company says can host events for up to 3,000 participants.

The announcement brings Radisson’s Verified Net Zero portfolio to nine hotels across the Nordics and the UK, following three launches in Norway. The group’s stated target is 100 Verified Net Zero hotels by 2030. It says the point of this phase is to show the program working at large, existing meetings and events properties rather than new builds or showcase pilots.

The four hotels

• Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel, Stockholm (414 rooms and suites), next to Stockholm Central Station and the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. The congress centre has 14,000 m² of event space across 24 meeting rooms. Radisson says it is LEED Gold certified, uses 1,040 m² of solar panels and cools the building with water from the nearby Klara Sjö. According to the hotel’s fact box, the hotel and congress centre have run on 100% renewable energy since opening in 2011.
• Radisson Blu Royal Viking Hotel, Stockholm (459 rooms and suites), also beside Central Station, with 15 meeting rooms; the largest holds 180. Room categories are now sold under “Net Zero” names.
• Radisson Blu Arlandia Hotel, Stockholm-Arlanda (342 rooms), about 2 km from the airport terminals, with 24 meeting rooms and total capacity of up to 771.
• Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel, Copenhagen (544 rooms), with 14 meeting rooms and capacity the company puts at over 2,000 guests, including a 25th-floor venue, The View, for up to 125.

What “net zero” covers here

Precision matters, because a client’s sustainability team will ask. According to the release, the program covers:

• Scopes 1 and 2 (energy use, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol), addressed through 100% renewable energy, either by electrifying the hotel or buying renewable energy for all functions: heating, cooling, hot water, cooking, and spa and pool.
• Scope 3 for the hotel’s operational and supply-chain footprint, with a focus on waste reduction, low-carbon menus, laundry and supplies such as amenities.

On food, Radisson worked with Swedish firm Klimato to rework in-room dining, meetings and events menus, and the breakfast buffet. Dishes carry carbon labels from A (lowest) to E (highest), and the company says the changes cut recipe footprints by up to 40%.

Two caveats belong in any proposal. First, Verified Net Zero is Radisson’s own program. What makes it more than a brand claim is that each hotel is independently verified by TÜV Rheinland against what the company calls an internationally recognized Net Zero Methodology for Hotels. Second, the release does not say how residual emissions are handled once reductions are made, or what verification period applies. Planners who need to report the numbers should ask for the methodology document and the hotel-level verification statement before contracting.

There is also detail worth checking hotel by hotel. The Copenhagen fact box describes the Scandinavia as supplied with “100% renewable electricity”, which is narrower wording than the program-level commitment covering all energy uses.

“Growth and sustainability cannot be two separate conversations,” Federico J. González, Radisson Hotel Group’s global CEO, said in a statement. Inge Huijbrechts, the group’s chief sustainability and security officer, said the program is now helping “corporate customers, meeting planners and guests reduce the footprint of travel and events without compromising on quality, flexibility or scale.”

Separately, the group says it is committed to Net Zero by 2050 in line with Science Based Targets, and offers carbon-compensated Radisson Meetings across its wider portfolio. Those are different products from Verified Net Zero and should not be presented to clients as the same thing.

Why it matters for the trade

Most large congress venues in Europe can describe green credentials. Fewer can put a verified net zero claim, covering supply chain as well as energy, on a 3,000-seat plenary with a 414-room hotel attached and a train station next door. For associations and corporates rotating events through northern Europe, that combination simplifies the emissions story they have to tell their own stakeholders.

For advisors

• Pitch to: association and corporate planners with emissions reporting duties, especially incentive and congress clients already considering Stockholm or Copenhagen. Arlanda gives a fly-in, fly-out option for shorter board meetings.
• Ask for paperwork: request the TÜV Rheinland verification for each specific hotel, the Net Zero Methodology for Hotels, and how residual emissions are treated. Don’t put “net zero event” in a client proposal until you have them.
• Use the menus: the A–E carbon labels on meetings and events menus give clients a simple way to show delegates their choices, and a data point for post-event reporting.
• Watch: the roll-out towards 100 hotels by 2030. Ask your Radisson sales contact which properties in your clients’ other host cities are next.

Sources

• Radisson Hotel Group, ‘Radisson Hotel Group accelerates ambition for 100 Verified Net Zero hotels by 2030 with four new hotels in Stockholm and Copenhagen’, press release, Brussels, 30 Sept 2026 (including hotel fact boxes)