DIS 2026 is committed to walking the talk. The conference theme asks us to attend to systemic and planetary entanglements, so we have made deliberate choices about how we gather, eat, and build, to minimise our footprint and extend our thinking into practice.
Catering: Planet-Forward by Default
The primary catering partner at DIS 2026 is Grain, a Singapore-based, award-winning food company recognised under Singapore’s Farm-to-Table Recognition Programme.
Every menu offers rich vegetarian and plant-based options across breakfast, lunch, and breaks. Where animal products are used, sourcing follows farm-to-table principles. Packaging is plastic-free by design, cutlery is birchwood or cornstarch-based and 100% biodegradable, and napkins are FSC-certified.
Grain actively tracks and minimises food waste across its operations, using shared ingredient systems and data-driven logistics. Surplus meals are donated to food rescue organisations. At the conference dinner, drinks are served by Shake Affinity exclusively in glassware, no single-use cups.
No Goodie Bags
We have made a conscious decision not to hand out tote bags, notebooks, branded merchandise, or any of the standard conference giveaways that typically end up unused. The only physical material to be given to conference delegates is a lanyard for accessibility control. All the conference and SIGCHI-related information will be available digitally and easily accessible.
Event Build: Rented, Not Single-Use
Conference furniture, exhibition fixtures, and key setup elements are sourced through rental rather than purchased for single use. This is the most direct lever we have against the waste typical of conference builds. We are working to eliminate disposable structures from the event footprint.
Venue: A Campus Committed to Net Zero
DIS 2026 is hosted at University Town (UTown), NUS, at the heart of one of Asia’s most sustainable university campuses.NUS is targeting net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by around 2045, with a 30% reduction milestone by 2030. The campus has completed a 9.2 MWp rooftop solar installation supplying around 11 GWh of renewable energy annually, and UTown is itself an active zero-waste precinct with on-site food waste composting and segregated recycling infrastructure.
The organising body, the Division of Industrial Design, is based at SDE4, Singapore’s first purpose-built net-zero energy building, which generates more energy from rooftop solar than it consumes. It holds Green Mark Platinum Positive Energy certification and an Energy Use Intensity well below the national benchmark.
Find out more here: NUS Sustainability
While You’re in Singapore
Singapore is compact, walkable, and well-served by public transport; the MRT and buses connect the city reliably and cheaply. You do not need to take a taxi or ride-hail to get around. If you have time beyond the conference, the city oIers a surprising amount of green space: the Southern Ridges, MacRitchie Reservoir, and the Gardens by the Bay are all accessible by foot or transit. The Visit Singapore sustainable travel guide is a useful starting point for low-impact ways to explore the city.
We know that air travel is the single largest contributor to a conference’s carbon footprint, and we do not claim to have resolved that contradiction. At the same time, we believe there is enduring value in gathering face-to-face. Many of the collaborations, friendships, and ideas that shape our field emerge through shared experiences that are difficult to reproduce online. Our responsibility, therefore, is not only to reduce the environmental impact of the event wherever possible, but also to ensure that the time spent together generates knowledge, relationships, and actions that contribute meaningfully to a more sustainable future.