Keeping Miami Green

To ensure that the city is as environmentally conscious as possible, Miami has a wealth of green initiatives that stretch from the Everglades to Miami Beach. Miami is a “progressive, pragmatic city,” and our leaders are enforcing green building codes and beach laws, our city chefs are making their restaurants more sustainable and creating recipes from local produce and seafood, and, citywide, our facilities are doing their part to make a positive impact on the environment

Miami Beach Convention Center

First built in 1957, the Miami Beach Convention Center is one of Miami’s largest venues for large-scale productions: from business, trade and civic events, to hosting the official Art Basel exhibition during Art Basel Miami Beach. Following a $620 million expansion, the MBCC now boasts 1.4 million square feet and just shy of 500,000 square feet of exhibit space. The reimagined MBCC was also designed with sustainability and safety in mind, and received a Silver LEED® certification as well as a Global Biorisk Advisory Council® (GBAC) STAR™ Facility Accreditation for health and safety.

To make it entirely sustainable, the new convention center facilitates rain harvesting for cooling towers, has water fixtures that reduce water use, has sun shading, uses high-efficiency LED lighting and daylight to keep the interior areas well-lit, and saved 200 existing trees from the original facility which are now supplemented with groves of new canopy trees. All of these initiatives have dramatically reduced energy consumption (by as much as 20 percent).

LEED®-Certified Hotels and Florida Green Lodging in Miami

Greater Miami & Miami Beach is proud to have hotels throughout the destination that have been built according to LEED® standards. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is the international standard, monitored by the U.S. Green Building Council, for energy efficiency in building, design and construction. Under this recognition, LEED® buildings are entirely sustainable. They are favored for using less water and non-renewable energy sources, giving individuals healthy settings in which to work and live, lowering costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, many major hotel brands are members of the Florida Green Lodging Program, including: Best Western, Courtyard by Marriott, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Hyatt, JW Marriott, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton and Westin. The Florida Green Lodging Program, a voluntary initiative that designates and recognizes lodging facilities committed to conserving and protecting Florida’s natural resources, was created by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in 2004. To make sure they meet certain standards of sustainability, Florida Green Lodging hotels are evaluated according to five areas: Communication & Education, Waste Reduction, Reuse & Recycling, Water Conservation, and Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality.

More information about these and other eco-friendly hotels in Miami.

Empower Your Attendees to Keep Miami Green

Greater Miami & Miami Beach makes it easy for all visitors to be a part of our ongoing sustainability and ecology efforts by keeping carbon footprints low. Adjacent to both our Downtown and Miami Beach Convention Centers, and for that matter throughout Greater Miami & Miami Beach, there are scores of Citibike stations and facilities that make it easy to do little human-powered travel. Many areas also are piloting E-Scooter programs, making it easy to find a quick and fun way to get around town with minimal environmental impact. Added to a score of great public transportation, like free trolleys to and from Coral Gables as well as other neighborhoods, the Miami Mover free Monorail in Downtown, and much more - there are lots of ways for visitors to get out, explore, and feel great about keeping Miami green.