AIHA Connect strives to be an environmentally friendly and responsible conference. Here are some of the green, sustainable, and safety initiatives AIHA continues to implement in New Orleans:

• Digital Advance Program and Final Program with reduced page counts referencing online session descriptions, exhibitor information, and background details. We encourage you to think before you print: save paper, save trees.  
• Ticketless registration
• Digital signage outside meeting rooms and for directions
• Badges made from recycled materials, which can also be recycled
• Signs made of eco-board
• Recycle stations for paper, cans and bottles, and other items
• Recycle stations for badges post-Connect
• Water refill stations allowing attendees to refill personal water bottles

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is an award-winning leader in practicing green initiatives, including:

• The Convention Center has been awarded a Gold-level LEED certification, making it the largest LEED-certified project in Louisiana and the first convention center in the world to be awarded initial certification under LEED v4.1 O+M.
• The Convention Center expanded its recycling programs — diverting 378.4 tons of waste from landfills in 2024 — and reduced energy use by 11% and water use by 16% since 2019, following major equipment and lighting upgrades and other improvements.  It also boasts recycling for attendees in the front of the house and dedicated collection areas for cardboard, metal, pallets, and plastic.
• The Convention Center replaced 1.9 million square feet of traditional roofing with a new, energy-efficient “cool roof” system to help divert heat away from the building and neighborhood.

• The Convention Center, in partnership with food service provider Centerplate/Sodexo, regularly donates food to local organizations, including substance abuse treatment facility, Bethel Colony. They also assist exhibitors in donating thousands of pounds of food to Second Harvest Food Bank each year.

• In April 2025, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality presented the Convention Center with an Environmental Leadership Program Award.
• The 87 water bottle filling stations the Convention Center installed have already saved the equivalent of more than 300,000 plastic water bottles from landfills.

Here are a few tips you can do to go green while attending AIHA Connect 2026:

• Consider donating to a carbon offset program of your choice (or your company's) to balance your Connect carbon footprint
• Use public transportation or ride share
• Go wireless (rather than print)! Carry your mobile device and use our free Wi-Fi to note your "favorites" (sessions, speakers, attendees, and exhibitors) and take notes in the Connect mobile app.
• Recycle your paper, plastic, and glass in the receptacles provided throughout the convention center
• Bring a reusable water bottle to refill at the touchless water stations throughout the convention center
• Create a digital business card to share contact information with attendees, exhibitors, and others