Arena                 2024

At Arena 2022 in Crete, we carried out an extensive event audit to understand our emissions and establish a baseline for future events. Using those insights, we created our Conscious Event Guidelines, an open-source document that outlines the elements to consider in order to create a more sustainable event. In sharing this information freely and publicly, we hope to empower those in our community and beyond to push the movement forward together.

Location & Accessibility—As we learned in our event audits in 2022 and 2023, more than 95% of emissions from Arena come from flights. As we are a global community, there is unfortunately no location that does not require air travel for some of our guests. We appreciate that Mallorca offers direct flights from many cities in Europe as well as New York, as flying non-stop reduces overall fuel consumption.

Location & Accessibility—60% of our speakers and contributors and 100% of our entertainers are based on the island. 

Waste—We’ve worked with local partners to ensure that as many production materials as possible are sourced from Mallorca and stay on Mallorca after the event. To create the stage, we worked with “As Found,” a circular project by architectural and design practice Isla and furniture studio Resmes that gives new life to components found across Mallorca’s recycling facilities. All elements are designed to be easily dismantled and reused, fostering a local circular economy.

Energy & Water—Guests are encouraged to drink filtered tap water during the main conference day and evening.

Would you like to connect with our Director of Sustainability & Culture, Elin Kann? Please reach out via email at [email protected] or by phone at +49 17618004420 and she will set up a time to talk at Arena.

Want to learn more about our sustainability offerings for our member hotels? Conscious Collaborations is a sustainability resource center and community exclusively for Design Hotels members. Through roundtable discussions, workshops, and action sessions—each hosted by expert partners, experienced hoteliers, and/or us at Design Hotels—we are fostering an environment where we share wisdom and push the movement forward together.

Instead of offsetting flights this year, we have chosen to donate funds to the non-profit Vellmari Association for planting Posidonia in the Mediterranean Sea around the Balearic Islands. Posidonia meadows store more carbon dioxide than forests and create a habitat for sea life. You can learn more about the project in the video above.

We want to encourage everyone to be a good traveler. This manifesto outlines our ten guiding tenets.

Recently, locals on Mallorca have been speaking out against overtourism on their island. One way to be a good traveler is to support local creators and businesses. You can read about some of them here. If you need to fly to access Mallorca, we encourage you to offset the emissions of your flight.