Growing engagement through sustainable events
By Caroline Medcalf, Sharon Bannister and Dana Moore at Agiito
Sustainability is an integral part of most organisations business strategy today, whilst each is on a different journey, some are further ahead than others. With the ever-increasing emphasis on reducing an organisations environmental impact from business activity, our role is to support our customers on their journey to net zero by 2050.
Sustainable events are steadily becoming a key focus for our customers, with over half of customers having already implemented a carbon reduction plan as part of their wider ESG strategy.
A recent survey from the BTA revealed only 9% of organisations have specific targets for company-hosted meetings and events[1]. After two years without face-to-face meetings, meetings planners,
event suppliers and event professionals can find themselves in uncharted waters.
We’re passionate about helping customers to plan and deliver events more responsibly and to understand the environmental carbon footprint of meetings and events. Here’s how we do it.
Making progress?
Since the pandemic, companies are more committed than ever to reducing scope 3 business travel emissions (that’s the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organisation), which shows awareness is growing in the global business community around climate change realities as customers want to travel and meet more sustainably.
A recent survey revealed 63% of travel managers cited a challenge around the lack of transparent [2]sustainability data. We understand the importance of providing emissions data to customers. Afterall, you can’t manage and reduce emissions if you’re not tracking your impact.
The reality is that connecting with people produces carbon. In 2019, UK meetings and events were estimated to emit 1.2bn kg of CO2[3], with the average conference attendee producing over 170 kilograms of CO2 emissions per day. A three-day conference for 1,000 delegates would create 5,670kg of waste, over half of which went directly to landfill.[4]
Even virtual events have an environmental impact. One hour of videoconferencing emits the equivalent of burning 4 litres of petrol.[5]
Measuring event-related emissions
Despite a myriad of CO2 calculators with different metrics for meeting and event emissions, none is specifically accredited, and many lack credibility.
That’s because CO2 emissions from venue spaces carry many variables: like the number of delegates travelling to the venue, their points of origin and travel mode, the duration of the event and the size of the meeting rooms used – not to mention what they eat, how much is wasted, whether the stage set is made from recyclable materials, or what kind of bulbs are used to light it.
One of our customers recently selected London over Dubai for their annual conference because of the CO2 emissions from Dubai’s air conditioning. Flying people into one place from all over the world is a complex measurement, let alone factoring in everything they consume during the event.
Despite having both financial and emission targets, and a mandate to report progress in cutting related emissions from meetings and events, nobody really knows how to do it. That’s why our event experts help customers to select venues with lower emissions and green credentials.
What does a sustainable event look like?
By choosing the materials for event collateral carefully, and creating a comprehensive waste management system, your event’s environmental footprint could be reduced by at least 10%.[6] The fundamentals of reducing event-related waste and emissions include the basics, like replacing single-use plastics, paper, and biscuits in packaging with water butts, reusable cups, and ensuring event collateral is either recyclable or reusable.
But event planners are also finding alternatives to conventional wisdom, like replacing plastic lanyards and printed name badges with seeded paper that can be planted afterwards, or scrapping name badges altogether and using scannable technology to facilitate delegate engagement.
Or flip convention on its head entirely and instead of spending money on giveaways, donate that budget to local charities.
Food waste
56% of organisers spend between 30% – 40% of the event budget on food.[7] Special dietary requests are expected to double from 20% in 2021 to 40% by 2030, especially for plant-based, plant-first, vegan, or vegetarian menus.
Buffets are being designed to avoid food waste, whilst some vendors track the mileage food travels to an event property within the Lime Venues portfolio have championed the issue of food waste and actively promote that a buffet does not have to be kept fully stocked until the last delegate has eaten.
To run multiple customer events at COP26 in 2021, we had electric vehicle charging points installed at venues where there were none, and by collaborating with caterers, our team managed F&B inventory to avoid waste.
We’ve also had to think outside the box for cancelled events. In Manchester, a Christmas party for 300 people was cancelled at 48 hours’ notice due to Omicron. Our events team contacted several food banks in the city to repurpose food already brought in.
Good practice doesn’t cost more
Although there is no evidence that sustainable events cost more, many companies are prioritising ‘doing the right thing’ over budget. 72% of event organisers say they will pay more sustainable food options, with 48% willing to pay up to 10% and 19% willing to pay up to 20% extra.[1]
A public sector Agiito customer mounting an event for 700 delegates plans to have 100% plant based menus. Whilst prepared to pay more, they are not paying a premium. There’s also some way to go before demand for 100% plant-based menus become the norm, though the growing appetite of meat-free menus means venues are catering for new diet choices.
As event experts it is our role to make sure we are advising both organisers and delegates what their options are, and the impact of those choices.
Sustainability starts at home
As a business, we practice what we preach. In 2021, we partnered with Trees4Travel to offer our customers the option to support reforestation and renewable energy projects through compensating the carbon footprint of their purposeful business travel activities.
So far, we‘ve helped customers to reduce over 10K t CO2e of carbon emissions and planted over 64,000 trees.
We’re aiming to achieve accreditation to the ISO20121 Sustainable Events Management Standard, which deals with how to improve event planning and delivery by mitigating negative environmental impacts. In the meantime, we’re collaborating with partners and approved vendors who are developing their own certifications and qualifications of sustainability standards.
By instilling a sustainable event culture by reducing, removing, re-using, and recycling, we encourage organisers to mitigate the negative impacts of events on the environment.
Conclusion
Only time will enable the incremental value of sustainability in events on employee engagement. But, as delegate demographics come to be dominated by the climate conscious, sustainability will become a given within business travel and events. And, as best practice is shared between organisers, best practice may look very different over the next 3-5 years. And we’ll be right at the centre of it.
References:
[1] GBTA/Cvent – The Journey Towards Sustainable Corporate Travel and Meetings Management Programs
[2] [2] GBTA/Cvent – The Journey Towards Sustainable Corporate Travel and Meetings Management Programs
[3] https://www.conference-news.co.uk/news/uk-events-industry-emits-12bn-kg-co2e-every-year-says-report
[4] https://www.limevenueportfolio.com/content-hub/beyond-food-reports/food-wastage-and-the-fear-of-running-out
[5] https://energy.mit.edu/news/how-can-you-reduce-the-environmental-impact-of-your-next-virtual-meeting/
[6] https://meetgreen.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/eventfoot.pdf
[7] https://www.limevenueportfolio.com/content-hub/the-big-food-survey/
[8] Lime Venues research
