'15th edition will be most sustainable ever'

Why a green InfraTech?
InfraTech is the place for the entire chain to have accessible meetings and open discussions. These meetings are crucial for collaborations with which the necessary changes in the infrastructure sector can be realized.

One of those necessary changes is sustainability. Sustainability is alive and well in the infrastructure sector, but it is also a transition throughout the economy. We are lagging behind the goals of the Climate Accord (49% fewer emissions by 2030), the energy and raw materials markets are severely disrupted, and infra and construction projects are under pressure. InfraTech takes this seriously and wants to make a substantial contribution to a circular infrastructure sector, emission reduction and the energy transition.

After all, if there is one sector that can and should provide solutions to the challenges we face anno 2023, it is the infrastructure sector.

The four focal points for InfraTech 2023:

Social cohesion

• Driving circularity and sustainable trade show participation among our exhibitors and visitors

Circular fair together with all suppliers

• Sustainability inventory at our suppliers
• Reduction of waste streams and CO2 footprint

Mobility

• Environmentally friendly transportation options from suppliers
• Catering and suppliers from the area
• Incentive OV + PR

Sustainable location - Rotterdam Ahoy

• Heat Cold Storage (CHP)
• Roof full of solar panels
• Catering (purchasing, materials, waste)

What do we do ourselves?

InfraTech 2023 - together with home base Rotterdam Ahoy and hosts Rijkswaterstaat and the Municipality of Rotterdam - is also taking up the gauntlet: the 15th edition of InfraTech will be the most sustainable in its 27-year history! We are buying in as sustainably as possible and recycling a lot of waste.

Moreover, Ahoy's roof is full of solar panels, the climate system is completely gas-free and the thermal grid, which connects Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Centre and the exhibition halls of InfraTech with the rest of Hart van Zuid, makes the building a source of energy, energy storage and energy hub for a good part of the city.

Rotterdam Ahoy will also host the congresses again this year Ruggedized and Recharge Earth where several European cities, business, policy makers, innovators, grid operators, energy experts and governments are working together to build a sustainable and circular future.

Need

The Dutch economy - and thus also the infrastructure sector - must be fully circular by 2050. Rijkswaterstaat has set the bar even higher: it wants to be fully climate-neutral and circular by 2030. And provinces, municipalities and water boards also have far-reaching ambitions that will forever change not only the face but also the working methods of the Dutch infrastructure sector.

Rarely has the need for chain-wide renewal, innovation and ensuring the right scale for those changes been as great as it is today. Rarely has the need for collaboration between clients and the market, between public and private, been so emphatic.

Our long-term goal and multi-year plan

Striving for a sustainable fair means that at InfraTech 2031:

• As much energy is sustainably generated as used (location)
• CO2 emissions around the fair are neutral
• InfraTech's entire ecosystem works circularly