• Jury acknowledges high priority of sustainability
• NürnbergMesse forms new Corporate Liaison & Sustainability team in management

A happy day at NürnbergMesse: in recognition of its years of dedication to sustainability, the international trade fair company has been nominated for the 2023 German Sustainability Award. The award jury thus acknowledges the many different initiatives NürnbergMesse has brought together in its sustainability strategy since 2021, and that it has now made public in its second sustainability report. NürnbergMesse has also emphasised this priority by creating a new Corporate Liaison & Sustainability department headed by Executive Director Tanja Rätsch. “Sustainability is going to be the yardstick for the future viability of many different sectors. That’s why we’re making a point of the topic not just within NürnbergMesse itself, but at more and more trade fairs here in Nuremberg and around the world”, said Rätsch. “We’re especially pleased that two more exhibition companies, Messe Frankfurt and Landesmesse Stuttgart, have also been nominated. That’s an acknowledgement of the entire industry’s commitment”, added CEO Peter Ottmann, who is also First Deputy Chairman of AUMA – the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry.  

Besides carrying out and further developing the company’s sustainability strategy, the new Corporate Liaison & Sustainability department will also be in charge of compliance with new regulatory requirements like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), as well as any related matters of concern to management, the company’s shareholders, and the Supervisory Board. Tanja Rätsch holds a degree in business, and has been with NürnbergMesse since 2005, including as a unit controller in Facility Management. Reporting personally to CEO Peter Ottmann, she played a leading role in developing NürnbergMesse’s sustainability strategy. 

From an energy campaign to a sustainability strategy
In 2014, as part of its “Energy Campaign”, NürnbergMesse took its first steps toward conserving energy and raw materials in its operations. Further initiatives focussed on NürnbergMesse’s social and economic responsibility as an important employer in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region, for instance in equal opportunity and high-quality occupational training. Then, in 2021, NürnbergMesse first pooled its various sustainability efforts in a comprehensive sustainability strategy under the erudite guidance of sustainability expert Prof Matthias Fifka from the University of Nuremberg-Erlangen. Fifka and Rätsch were also the initiators this year of the Sustainability Round Table in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region. Two more companies from that group, DATEV and UVEX, have also been nominated for the German Sustainability Award. You can find out more about NürnbergMesse’s commitment to sustainability here: www.nuernbergmesse.de/nachhaltigkeit