The Refinishing Touch Blog

With the first week of the United Nations Climate Change Conference coming to a close, we thought we’d take a look at Copenhagen, the conference’s host city, and the environmental initiatives taking place there. As it turns out, Copenhagen is full of green ideas and ambitions, such as making the city carbon neutral by 2050, having one in every five products sold in shops organic by 2015 and increasing the number of bicycle lanes in the city (currently there are roughly 185 miles) by at least 50 percent by 2015. The city is also known for its smaller, but just as important, initiatives. These include using biodegradable plastic bags and providing hundreds of bikes free of charge to use in lieu of cars. As a result, it is estimated that 36 percent of the city bikes to work or school every day.

Copenhagen’s hotel industry is also known for setting the bar high in environmental sustainability. Many of the city’s hotels strive to be sustainable by using low-energy light bulbs and motion-triggered lights, taking part in extensive recycling programs, providing organic toiletries in refillable bottles, waiting three days before washing towels, and – our favorite – using furniture made with sustainable materials such as bamboo. Hotels in other countries should look towards the city as an excellent example of what sustainability can look like.

The city of Copenhagen embraces all things green, making it the perfect choice for the climate conference. We hope that this sustainable atmosphere will have a positive effect on the delegates who have been tasked with determining how to preserve the future of our environment.