Meeting attendees stand and stroll on a balcony at Moscone Center South in San Francisco.

Sustainable
Meetings & Conventions in San Francisco

Where Green Business Events Come Standard

San Francisco leads with conviction. Sustainability is not an add‑on here; it is how the city is engineered. Designated a Biophilic City, San Francisco consistently rates among the greenest North American cities, reinforcing what meeting planners already feel on the ground: policy, infrastructure, and everyday behaviors align to make greener choices the default. That means business events can achieve measurable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes without extra complexity or cost.

The city is the only destination in the world to have the most advanced LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification for its convention center and airport. The Moscone Center sets a global benchmark for performance, including the lowest carbon emissions per delegate among major North American centers. Its central location—with more than 19,000 hotel rooms within a few minutes’ walk—keeps logistics tight and transit emissions low.

Did You Know? San Francisco is ranked No. 1 overall in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) 2024 City Clean Energy Scorecard.

Green Venues: Where Low Carbon Comes with High Impact

The Moscone Center: A Global Benchmark for Sustainable Convention Centers

A world-class hub for innovation, with over 1 million total square feet of space, The Moscone Center is one of the most sustainable large meeting facilities in the world.

All three buildings on the convention campus are LEED Platinum certified—the highest level developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Moscone North and South have the highest-scoring LEED certification for any convention center in the world.
Lowest carbon emissions per delegate of any major convention center in North America, thanks in part to 2,600 rooftop photovoltaic modules (solar panels) that generate nearly one-fifth of the campus’s power.
Runs entirely on zero-emission electricity and leverages daylight harvesting to reduce lighting demands.
Net-positive on water, with 15 million gallons of water recovered annually via an on-site water treatment plant for reuse in landscaping, street cleaning, and toilet flushing.
Facility-wide recycling and composting that helped raise the bar for convention centers nationwide and aligns with San Francisco’s citywide zero-waste policies.
25,000 square feet of secure outdoor terraces, providing built-in options for fresh-air sessions, wellness breaks, receptions, and micro-events without additional venue moves.

View Moscone Green Guide

Unique Venues with Strong Green Ties

In addition to The Moscone Center, San Francisco’s unique venues add depth and dimension to off-sites without sacrificing sustainability initiatives. Take the 40,000-square-foot California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It’s the world’s first LEED Double Platinum museum and largest LEED Double Platinum building, with reception space for up to 3,500 attendees. Golden Gate Park is just one of the city’s 233 distinct parks, which can be used as event venues.

Sustainable Hotels for Citywide and Self-Contained Meetings

Planners can choose from more than 250 hotels, with over 60 properties offering meeting spaces. Many are LEED Gold- or Silver-certified and implement energy-efficiency upgrades, composting and recycling, water reduction, and responsible sourcing as standard practice.

Several flagship properties demonstrate credible performance. The San Francisco Marriott Marquis is recognized as the City’s Largest Green Business and supports measurement and reporting via the MESH program. Hilton San Francisco Union Square is Superior Energy Performance certified by the U.S. Department of Energy, signaling verified energy management.

Planner Tip: To optimize outcomes, align sustainability criteria and reporting needs in your RFP. The San Francisco Travel Association can help shortlist properties near The Moscone Center that meet your ESG thresholds and keep your program walkable, reducing ground-transport emissions and simplifying logistics.

Eco-Friendly Transportation: Getting to and Around San Francisco

SFO: The Gateway to Our Green City

Sustainability begins at arrival. LEED Platinum-certified San Francisco International Airport (SFO) aims to be the world’s first airport to achieve triple zero: zero waste to landfill, zero net energy facilities, and zero net carbon operations. Strong airlift—with nonstop services to more than 130 destinations worldwide, including 80 across the U.S.—reduces the need for connections, lowering carbon emissions and making travel more efficient for attendees.

A Walkable, Transit-First Destination

Once on the ground, the city’s compact footprint—just 49 square miles—does the heavy lifting. San Francisco has a Walk Score of 89—the highest in the nation. Many hotels are a short walk from The Moscone Center, cutting shuttle miles to near zero for citywides. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and San Francisco Municipal Transit (Muni) provide reliable transit across the area and are now both tap-to-pay systems, allowing visitors to use their touchless payment of choice.

Future-Facility Options to Get Around San Francisco

Emerging mobility choices keep options flexible and low‑carbon. Waymo—an all-electric, autonomous ride-hailing service available 24/7—has expanded access to encompass the entire Peninsula and south of the city to Silicon Valley hot spots. E‑bikes and e‑scooters expand micromobility for short hops between hotels, venues, and off‑sites. Together, these transportation tools make it straightforward to move thousands with a smaller footprint.

City Policies and Programs That Simplify Green Meetings

San Francisco turns sustainability into everyday practice through clear, enforceable policies. City ordinances require recycling and composting across venues, hotels, and food service—so your event inherits the infrastructure for high diversion rates without reinventing operations. Large venues are required to reclaim edible surplus food, channeling it to local partners and reducing disposal emissions. This helps you by simplifying your zero‑waste pathway, expanding community benefit, and giving you more bandwidth to focus on attendee experience.

The San Francisco Environment Department’s Climate Action Plan provides a roadmap to net‑zero emissions, clean energy, and resilient communities. For meetings, this translates into cleaner grids, greener fleets, and better waste systems that simplify planning and improve reporting credibility. It is easier to tell a data‑driven ESG story when the destination’s systems support you.

The Sustainable City initiative, led by San Francisco Planning, advances climate‑smart development near transit, jobs, and cultural anchors. As these projects come online, planners gain even more options for low‑carbon venues, hospitality, and walkable districts—future‑proofing your program and attendee experience.

For associations and corporate stakeholders, these policies make it easier to demonstrate that your destination choice reflects your organization’s values around climate action, equity, and long-term resiliency—particularly important for sectors like life sciences and tech, where ESG and innovation narratives are closely intertwined.

How San Francisco Makes It Effortless to Plan

Activate sustainability with local expertise. The SF Travel Association can align your venue, hotel, food and beverage, transportation, vendors, and reporting to match ESG targets. Here, you don’t just book a city; you gain an extension of your team, grounded in the latest destination data and industry trends. The SF Travel team can help you:

Source green venues that match your specs, budget, and sustainability priorities—from LEED-certified hotels to unique cultural spaces and national park sites.
Map walkable, low-carbon citywide footprints, clustering hotels, off-sites, and dine-arounds to minimize transfers and emissions.
Integrate sustainability into your RFPs and contracts, including food recovery, waste diversion standards, and sustainability-reporting expectations.
Curate local partners—from minority-owned suppliers to environmental nonprofits—for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activations and legacy projects that resonate with your attendees.
Tell the story with pre- and post-event communications that highlight your sustainability choices and connect them to the broader San Francisco narrative of innovation, resilience, and inclusion.