Sustainability initiatives at the ERS Congress 2025

The European Respiratory Society (ERS) is committed to contributing to a more sustainable future. The ERS Congress is the Society’s most important event and an ideal platform to: share the latest science relating to clean air and respiratory health; inspire our community to make sustainable choices; and facilitate contributions to climate protection projects.

Our contributions to climate protection projects

We are proud to be contributing to climate protection projects around the world for a third consecutive year. Working in partnership with myclimate, ERS makes an annual contribution to this fund – supporting projects which can help communities to make important changes, positively impact environmental sustainability and improve access to clean air.

Help us to give more

We have added an optional donation to the congress registration form – encouraging attendees of our event to contribute either €5 or an amount based on air travel carbon emissions (this calculation is available within the form). ERS pledges to make an additional contribution of €5 for every €5+ donation made by a congress attendee.

Examples of the types of projects this money supports:

Choose greener travel options

We encourage all participants of the ERS Congress to choose greener travel options wherever possible. One of the easiest/most practical ways to do this is to opt for train travel versus air travel. Two initiatives in 2025 to encourage greener travel:

Are you planning a sustainable journey to Congress that is even more adventurous?

We have heard talk of cycling to Congress! A feat not achievable for most, but we’d love to hear from anyone planning an adventurous and sustainable journey this year. Contact us so that we can celebrate your efforts.

Measuring our environmental impact

We are working towards a more sustainable future – considering the ways in which our organisation positively contributes to society through our work, and our emissions and environmental impact as a company.

We are collecting details of travel and accommodation of all congress delegates/staff/faculty to capture an accurate picture of the emissions associated with the ERS Congress. The data collected will guide future decisions and provide an important point of measurement to improve upon.

Help us make an accurate calculation

We have included a short section on sustainability as part of the congress registration form. By completing this, attendees support us to capture an accurate overall figure of carbon emissions associated with the event.

Data collection is GDPR compliant and is used for internal purposes only. Individual delegate details are not presented as part of internal reporting – only an overall carbon emission figure.

Join us for a special session on Wednesday