The exhibition year is ending, and it is time to pause, rest and recharge before we kick off a new year full of exciting projects. This year we have supported our customers multiple times on trade fairs in cities across Germany, as well as in Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, China, Japan and Thailand – and, of course, in our home market of Finland.
We have delivered both smaller and larger stands, as well as numerous country pavilions. Our typical customers are small and medium-sized enterprises looking for hassle-free trade fair participation and a stylish exhibition stand designed to reflect their brand identity. Thanks to our turnkey service, our customers benefit from a low‑friction, low‑risk experience as our specialists take full ownership of their exhibition stand projects.
What all our exhibition construction projects have in common is carbon neutrality. Since 2020, every exhibition stand we deliver has been verified as carbon neutral by an external expert in line with the ISO 14068 carbon neutrality standard. We calculate the carbon footprint of every exhibition stand, systematically reduce the emissions from our stands, and reliably and additionally offset the residual emissions that we cannot reduce ourselves.
Automated emissions calculation improves accuracy
In 2025 we have further tightened and refined our emissions calculation. We have implemented the OpenCO2 API interface, and emissions are now calculated automatically by linking up‑to‑date emission factors, via the API, directly to the material quantities generated from our design software.
Today, Messeforum’s exhibition stand design is based on advanced BIM tools, which enable us to generate granular data on every material and component in our exhibition stands. The materials are known in even greater detail than before, and to the material data we can easily add all transport, travel and accommodation related to the implementation of our exhibition stands. All this design data and the emission factors now converge in an efficient, high‑precision, fully automated emissions calculation process.
“OpenCO2net provides and updates the emission factors for Messeforum. We have reviewed the operating principles and calculation formulas of Messeforum’s automated emissions calculator, and the calculation follows the ISO 14067 standard for product carbon footprint calculation. With automation, Messeforum’s emissions calculations have become even more accurate and the possibility of human error has in practice been eliminated,” says Sari Siitonen, CEO of OpenCO2net, Messeforum’s long-standing climate partner and one of Finland’s leading experts in emissions calculation.
“We want to do things differently and stay ahead of the curve. We see our pioneering role in emissions calculation for exhibition construction and in delivering the carbon neutral exhibition stand as an obligation to keep pushing our capabilities further. Implementing automated emissions calculation has been a major investment for us, but the outcome now streamlines and simplifies our own work and makes the calculations even more accurate,” says Arto Varanki, CEO of Messeforum.
He underlines that the enhanced granularity of the material data and calculations also makes it easier to ramp up emission reduction actions and target them precisely where the biggest sources of emissions lie.
Messeforum has also set a science-based climate target (Science Based Targets initiative, SBTi). This provides a strategic framework and a clear incentive to reduce climate emissions across all levels of Messeforum’s operations.
“It is clear that sooner or later the entire exhibition construction industry will have to align much more concretely with the EU’s climate objectives and with emissions regulation relating to construction. At Messeforum we are proud that our operations are already genuinely aligned with sustainable development. By partnering with Messeforum, our customers are also several steps ahead of the market on the journey towards more climate‑friendly exhibition activities,” Varanki emphasizes.
You can find out more about Messeforum’s carbon neutral exhibition stand and our exhibition construction services on our websites messeforum.eu and carbonneutralstand.eu
Would you like the climate impact of your company’s exhibition stands to be calculated and minimized as well? Get in touch with Messeforum. We deliver carbon neutral exhibition stands for your company around the world.