Why San Francisco Is the OG Sustainable Destination

 

San Francisco was sustainable before sustainable was cool, so maybe it’s time to take a step back and recognize the City by the Bay for being an early adopter when it comes to destination sustainability efforts.

While many of its competitors have recently began touting their green bona fides, San Francisco has long been a trendsetter in areas such as public greenspaces and convention center sustainability. Sustainability is such a foundational part of its character that, in some ways, it’s old news.

But sometimes, people need to be reminded, and a great person to do that is Nicole Rogers, executive vice president and chief sales officer for San Francisco Travel, who has worked in the city’s hospitality community for more than 30 years.

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“I was here when the city started focusing on sustainability decades ago. This became important to our convention center customers. Eventually, it became so well-established that we got away from talking about it,” Rogers said. “We kind of said, ‘We’ve done that. We’re there.’

“When Moscone [convention center] came along, even when we first opened it, it was a great convention center that put a lot of thought into being sustainable,” she continued. “When Moscone North and South opened in 2019, they achieved LEED Platinum certification. By 2023, the entire convention center had become LEED Platinum with Moscone West certification. This really became a selling point.”

The city and its convention center, in fact, just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the installation 2,600 photovoltaic modules on the roof of the George R. Moscone  Convention Center complex, which has helped lead it to having a lower carbon emissions per visitor than any other major North American convention center, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

With Moscone achieving this highest level of LEED certification, along with San Francisco’s ever-expanding advantage of city parks and greenspace gems, meetings and conventions that truly value sustainability have a home in the biophilic City by the Bay.
One global technology giant, Salesforce, is among the citywide convention whales that puts sustainability front and center in the site selection process for its 45,000-strong Dreamforce event, which just re-upped its contract with San Francisco for an additional three years following a successful 2024 edition.

According to San Francisco Travel, the city is the only in the world to have the most advanced LEED Platinum certification for both its convention center and airport, and also ranked No. 1 overall on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s Clean Energy Survey.

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Moscone and San Francisco Travel also do a great job of combating food waste from conventions and events.

“I was in a meeting last year and a CEO asked about what we do with all of the waste that comes from the convention center, and what kind of programs do we have available,” Rogers said. “We have a one-page sheet that we give our meeting clients that tells them all the things they can do and what Moscone Center itself offers. They’ve got a lot of programs that are in place and can donate any of the food to certain programs. They can also set up programs where they can be involved [in benefiting] some of our homeless and lower-income family projects and programs.”

Biophilic City

San Francisco is one of 32 (and growing) Biophilic Cities, a designation granted by a global network of cities, scholars and advocates that values “the importance of daily contact with nature as an element of a meaningful urban life, as well as the ethical responsibility that cities have to conserve global nature as shared habitat for non-human life and people.” 

The concept is based on the idea that humans have an innate love for and desire and necessity to connect with nature.

A big reason San Francisco was included in the Biophilic Cities network is due to its proliferation of greenspaces and public parks.

“We were one of the first cities in the country—one of the first cities in the world—to be able to say we’ve got a park within 10 minutes’ walk of every single one of our residences,” Rogers said, adding that San Francisco has a Climate Action Plan that pledges to gut greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade and a half. “We’re all about the carbon footprint. We’re all about wanting to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.”

Specific information about San Francisco’s Biophilic Cities credentials can be found at www.biophiliccities.org/san-francisco.

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Public Park Event Options

San Francisco recently opened two new city parks, including a 5.5-acre shoreline promenade between the San Francisco Bay and Chase Center that can be a prime events option. Another public greenspace turning heads is Tunnel Top Park, a 14-acre stunner that boasts panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline. The park’s East Meadow and expansive Western Lawn—located next to the Walt Disney Family Museum—can be rented from March through mid-November.

“I think we have about 233 parks,” Rogers estimated. “We use our parks as venues. I don’t know how many convention centers can say you can walk out of the doors and you can hear music right there in an urban garden. And you also can walk just down to the Embarcadero and go to a Giants game, or you can use the two parks that are there. Or you walk about two blocks up to Salesforce Park, which is unbelievable and has about 13 different ecosystems located within the park.”

[Related: 8 Hottest Offsite Events Options in San Francisco’s Mission Bay]

For the many accolades that the city she represents has notched for sustainability, one rather fragile success story is one that resonates most with Rogers.

“One of my favorite stories is what [the California Academy of Sciences] did with the extinct Xerces Blue butterfly,” Rogers said. “They found a small relative that was very similar, and they took some DNA of that, found some DNA from an old Xerces, and they began a project of trying to redevelop this butterfly that was native to the Golden Gate Park area. And they were able to successfully reintroduce it back into the city and back into the park area.

“Just because something is so obviously a city, like San Francisco, doesn’t mean that it can’t also coexist with nature,” Rogers continued. “You’re re-establishing—putting things back that should be here. We’re giving back to the community for all of us.”  

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Latest + Greatest: San Jose/Napa

San Jose

San Jose Marriott (www.sanjosemarriott.com) completed a $17 million renovation of its 513 guest rooms, fitness center and meeting spaces. In addition, the hotel’s new restaurant extension space, Coastal Manor Greatroom, now offers new recreational activities such as a pool table and arcade games.

Hotel De Anza (www.hyatt.com), a 93-year-old, 100-room downtown property known for its Art Deco architecture, was purchased in late October for $11.5 million by a group of investors led by Dhaval Panchal, who owns a number of small hotels on the California coast.

DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose (www.sanjose.doubletree.com), located minutes from San Jose Mineta International Airport, has embarked on a new steakhouse concept but has yet to release details such as a name and other features.

Napa County

Silverado Resort (www.silveradoresort.com) wrapped a $1.5 million renovation to 17,000 square feet of its meetings and event space that made major improvements to its ballroom, conference and meeting rooms and prefunction space. The design aesthetic was inspired by the surrounding Napa Valley landscape. The 5,160-square-foot Silverado Ballroom features plush Axminster carpeting, neutral-hued millwork and crystal chandeliers. The 345-room resort is set on 1,200 acres and contains more than 70,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. 

Domaine Chandon (www.chandon.com), located in Yountville, celebrated its 50th anniversary with the completion of a major renovation in October 2023. The first complete renovation of the winery since it opened its doors in 1977, a highlight was the opening of Chandon Home, a completely redesigned wine tasting destination that planners can utilize for F&B events such as lawn picnics, masterclasses and evening wine tastings under the stars.

Read more meetings and events news in California.

This article was produced in partnership with Visit California.