Sustainable Meetings in San Diego

San Diego lives and breathes green — the city regularly appears atop lists of the greenest places in the nation, and sustainability is simply a way of life here. So when you’re planning a meeting or convention in San Diego, you can feel confident you’ll have access to numerous great options for a sustainable gathering. Here’s a look at just some of the venues and businesses here that focus on sustainability.

San Diego’s beautiful waterfront convention center, located at the doorstep to Downtown’s historic Gaslamp Quarter and just minutes from the airport, embeds green approaches into all areas of its operations. The center has a particular focus on energy resiliency, sustainable sourcing, food waste reduction and plastic reduction. The center’s culinary operations source produce from a 150-mile radius (as seasons permit) and participate in local composting programs. The center also has boosted its proportion of renewable energy use by almost 20% through a green energy provider.

In addition, the Convention Center has its own dedicated San Diego Trolley (light rail) stop, making it easy to get around the San Diego region via clean transportation. And the center’s location makes it highly walkable to Downtown hotels, restaurants and more.

A pioneer in sustainability, San Diego International Airport’s achieved a major milestone when its expanded Terminal 2 became the world’s first LEED Platinum certified terminal in 2014. The airport also reached the highest Airport Carbon Accreditation level in 2022. And the airport's completely re-envisioned and rebuilt Terminal 1 includes numerous elements focused on sustainability. The airport also offers a green concessions guide, and has a detailed Sustainability Management Plan covering such key areas as water stewardship, carbon neutrality and zero waste. In addition, the airport is located just minutes from Downtown San Diego, making for energy-efficient access to hotels and more. A great sustainable option for connecting to San Diego’s transit system is the all-electric San Diego Flyer shuttle, which serves both airport terminals.

Many hotels around San Diego have made sustainability a key focus. Some prime examples:

Hilton San Diego Bayfront 

This waterfront hotel next to the San Diego Convention Center focuses strongly on sustainable practices through its Blue Energy Committee. San Diego Gas & Electric has honored the hotel with an Energy Champion Award for its conservation efforts, and the property also has received a top ranking in Hilton’s LightStay program.

The Westgate Hotel 

Downtown’s Westgate Hotel was the 2025 recipient of the San Diego County Lodging Association’s Good Earthkeeping Award, which honors a hotel that implements innovative and effective environmental management practices, focusing on energy conservation, waste reduction and sustainable operations. The Westgate was recognized for energy-efficient technologies that include 95% LED lighting, a state-of-the-art heat-exchange program and energy-efficient laundry systems. The hotel’s waste reduction initiatives also have diverted more than 75% of on-site waste from landfills.

Fairmont Grand Del Mar

The luxury North Coastal resort — home to the multiple Michelin-starred restaurant Addison — has an agronomy team that sorts and recycles green waste. The Fairmont Grand also irrigates its Grand Golf Club course with reclaimed water; maintains a “bee hotel” on the course’s fourth hole that has rescued more than 120,000 bees; and has installed new shower heads to save 2.85 million gallons of water a year.

Rancho Bernardo Inn

"A Greener Inn" is a comprehensive program at the Rancho Bernardo Inn aimed at minimizing the property's impact on the environment through resource conservation and best practices. The hotel’s Project Care allows guests to opt for reuse of their towels and linens rather than having them laundered. The inn also eliminated single-use plastic bottles for bath amenities and includes a recycling container in every guest room. Used cooking oil is donated to a local vendor for conversion into biodiesel.

Sheraton San Diego Resort

At the bayfront Sheraton San Diego Resort on Harbor Island, two hydrogen fuel cells provide 75% of the hotel’s electricity. The hotel’s Eco Warriors sustainability committee develops actionable plans for 20% waste diversion. Energy-efficient icemakers with built-in water bottle filling stations reduce resource use, and the hotel has EV airport shuttles and five on-site EV charging stations.

Paradise Point Resort & Spa

This resort on Mission Bay specializes in green meetings, including such features as linen-less meeting rooms to help conserve water and laundry chemical use, and a recycling and composting program that earned the property the city’s “Recycler of the Year award for diverting 1,020 tons of waste (75%) from landfills.

San Diego Mission Bay Resort

This waterfront property on Mission Bay’s eastern shores has implemented a suite of green practices, including the elimination of paper menus and plastic mini-bottles of bath products; sourcing of organic produce from local farms when possible; water conservation efforts (including a synthetic “forever lawn”); and bimonthly beach cleanups. 

Hotel del Coronado

Considered the grande dame of Southern California beach hotels, the beautiful beachfront Hotel del Coronado was the first historic hotel to achieve a Silver Green Seal certification for making significant progress against climate change.

Omni San Diego Hotel

At the Omni, situated next to Petco Park in the Gaslamp Quarter, the dining and catering operations use local seasonal sourcing and sustainable ingredients, incorporating partnerships with Southern California farms, fisheries and other suppliers.

Kona Kai San Diego

The Kona Kai on San Diego Bay’s Shelter Island is among numerous local hotels that offer a green meetings package, centered around making all aspects of meetings sustainable and eco-friendly.

Hotel Indigo

This pioneering hotel in Downtown San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter is a LEED certified and Platinum Level GreenLeader. 

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

The San Diego Symphony’s stunning bayside Rady Shell boasts environmentally sustainable landscaping and trees. The sand-based synthetic turf in the main seating area and pre-event spaces also reduces water consumption and is more environmentally friendly. The venue’s flexible layout makes it ideal for a variety of events, from galas to private concerts and more.

Petco Park

The home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres – as well as numerous inviting and flexible event spaces – Petco Park is powered by 100% renewable energy, and was the first National League ballpark to achieve that distinction. The Padres also built a state-of-the-art composting facility and have tested all products used by Petco Park vendors to ensure they are compostable or recyclable in local facilities. For those and other efforts, the Padres received the 2025 Major League Baseball Green Glove Award. 

UC San Diego Park & Market

Park & Market, a downtown hub for meetings and events, has its own San Diego Trolley stop, making car-free access easy. The venue also hosts EV charging stations, water fill stations and other eco-friendly features.

San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, SeaWorld San Diego

Not only are these world-class attractions fantastic places to host meetings and events, but partnering with them also helps support numerous important conservation efforts, from SeaWorld’s marine-animal rescue programs to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park’s many wildlife protection initiatives. 

Tenfold Style

San Diego-based Tenfold Style specializes in event production and design as well as floral creations, and focuses on sustainable design practices. The company also leads sustainable community activities for corporate teams.

Feast on this Culinary and Event Production

Feast on This focuses on corporate catering with sustainable, high-quality food. The company uses naturally decomposable paper products and practices recycling and composting when possible.

Abbey Catering and Events

This local catering company was named San Diego’s first Four Star Certified Green Caterer. The company works to minimize food waste, reduce energy and water usage during prep and cleanup, and cut down on packaging materials.

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System

San Diego boasts a robust public-transit system that includes the San Diego Trolley light-rail system. The trolley makes for easy and eco-friendly travel between the Convention Center and Mission Valley’s many hotels and meeting spaces, as well as access to the biotech and retail sectors of La Jolla via the UC San Diego Blue Line.

The San Diego Tourism Authority operates a pioneering Tourism Accelerator program that provides a valuable suite of marketing services to tourism-related businesses owned by women, veterans, people of color, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Here are a few Accelerator members that focus on sustainability:

BluLite Bonfires

BluLite Bonfires curates bonfire experiences in San Diego's beautiful beach areas. Instead of using wood to fuel the company’s events, the company relies on cleaner-burning propane, with its signature blue flame (hence the company’s name), as well as embracing other eco-friendly practices.

Bloom & Rooted

This local company specializes in bespoke plant rentals, native floral displays and event decor that captures the Southern California landscape. Bloom & Rooted creates eco-conscious floral installations that, in the company’s words, “reflect San Diego’s commitment to sustainability and the environment.”

Access Trax

For visitors with disabilities, Access Trax makes access to San Diego’s beautiful beaches, parks and other outdoor spaces easy and efficient, thanks to the company’s custom-fitted, portable, reusable and weather-resistant mats.