We attended the recent CN Sustainability Summit in London, which was a full day covering all aspects of sustainability within the events industry. Here are our key takes from the roundtable discussions, content sessions and one to one discussion had across the day.
Flights: Commonly seen as the real scapegoat issue within events. There is an element of truth to this of course. But we believe highlighting flights is an easy bandwagon to jump on.
Managing how frequent you fly and what type of standard you fly in can make a real impact. So an economy class flight has a 1 scale carbon rating, compared to first class that has 7! So changing your preference in how you fly will immediately make a positive impact on your sustainability. Yes, reducing your flights will also do this clearly. But for some travel and air travel in particular is a necessary part of the job and with Sustainable Air Fuel being more than a few years away to be honest. For those that have to use air travel, it's a way along with carbon offsetting flights to make a positive turn in this area.
Don't be fooled by the big bad of air travel though. Take a look into how your delegates travel to your events. Depending on cars used and distanced travelled. A long journey on your own in a middle to high range of car can sometime be worse if you have many taking this option opposed to some taking flights. Try where possible mix and match your travel options. Connect your delegates before you make the travel plans. Can any of them car share, flight /train share to cut the impact of travel? Are you able to extend those flying to make more from their travel, like attending other meetings or conferences? Or even add in leisure time to make the journey more worthwhile. No more flying in and out of destinations just for a conference or trade show. It will not only benefit sustainably to your events, but you may be surprised on the the budget benefits too!
Trains equally can have a more negative point than you may think. along with the logistic, time length and costs for trains. By not really looking into and managing how you use this method. It may not be as big of a sustainable save as you think?
Carbon Class Scales: Economy - 1; Premium - 3; Business - 5; First Class - 7;
F&B: It's an area in events that we are progressively getting better with in terms of sustainability. But we still fall down due to limitations with supply chain and a lack of real in depth data and reporting on food and beverage.
Simply deciding that Joe's Tomato Farm 2 miles away will be a more sustainable than importing from Spain, may not be the truth? What is Joe's farm is powered night and day by oil heaters and heat lamps? Is that going to be more sustainable that natural climate outside growth of Spain for example and just the import sustainable levy? All things we need to consider and yet due mainly to lack of data, we cannot get a real credible report to say that we have made the correct sustainable choice.
**More often than not we would recommend locally sourced produce. We needed to highlight that it's not all black and white in this area and worth really examining.
Simple changes like using apple juice (locally source and in demand) versus orange juice. seasonal foods on the menu rather than generic menus that require imported produce. Map your F&B to show a 60/40 Vegan or Vegetarian menu versus meat. Change beef and salmon - two of the biggest sustainable items to alternatives. Can you introduce an F&B roadmap where you can educate and inform those attending on the F&B story and what changes you have made to improve sustainability? Maybe ask the chef to come out and hold a talk pre meal to explain more on the choices made with the menu?
Are you ensuring that your venue of choice has a credible F&B plan. Are they working with local charities, food banks or staff to ensure that leftovers are being utilised and not wasted?
Swag/Merchandise/Deliverables: A key part of many event, the gift bag, corporate wear and branded item give away. Question if they are needed and if so, can they be reused rather than recycled?
Rather than brand recyclable cups, why not brand reusable water bottles? Instead of putting a date on the hat, t-shirt etc. Can you just have the logo and enable the person to wear again and again at other events?
Think about the waste in recycling. For example what if you ended up throwing away thousands of branded cups, napkins, boxes etc. They are all put into bags, yet over night they have been attacked by cats, dogs, foxes or even the weather. The huge branded contents of each bag - your name is now littered across a large area. Is that going to be the story you want told post event?
Governance / Regulations / Reporting: A key frustration and something why as an industry we are falling behind others is the lack of regulation and governance. There are guidelines and ideal principles when tackling sustainability. But there are currently very little rules, laws, governance and regulation. No doubt this will come, much like what has happened in recent years with Heath and Safety. but until we have definitive rules and laws in place to follow. We will lag behind many and it will make an impact on how our amazing industry and fantastic events are seen.
Likewise with reporting, data and analysis. Until we develop the apps and technology to deep dive into every detail of the sustainable journey. Much like we discussed in the F&B section, we will be only really taking our best guess on how sustainable our events are actually being. Do we report enough back post event to clients in order to really analyse the impact of the event. then allow us to make decision to improve each event? Are our clients wanting this level of data and detail at this stage? Do we have that discussion?
Many venues now make a big push for their in house sustainable plan. But how much as planners do we really check and utilise this. Are we putting the plan into RFPs, into our proposals back to the clients? Are we working with our venues throughout the planning stage to ensure that these goals and standards are being achieved? This of course has to work across all sides from planners, to client and then the venues and supply chain.
The Road to Net Zero: This is something we hear most about. Are we carbon neutral, can we get to net zero? Do we even know what net zero is in terms of events? Many will see this as a target aim, but have no real strategy behind it. But that is the key essence to becoming Net Zero - long term strategy. You can't just get to net zero without real strategies being in place. This will take time and will hopefully build event by event. But without a strategy, you will always fall short of sustainable goals and objectives. Ultimately your road to net zero will be a never ending journey.
Are you looking at making your events more sustainable? Would you like a discussion on plans and strategies to help your company build towards more sustainable events, carbon neutral and Net Zero?
Let's discuss your next event, get in touch. We’d be more than happy to talk through it.
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