Event Sustainability Today

Why Sustainability?

Meetings and Events Face Pressing IssuesMore than ever before, the meeting and event industry has a role to play in addressing global and local sustainability challenges. Responsibility for action is two-fold:

Reduce negative impacts resulting from meetings and events.

Create successful, resilient events that achieve objectives and withstand risks.

The following section summarizes the variety of sustainability issues that relate to meetings and events.Climate ChangeA conference participant generates 176 kilograms of carbon emissions per day. That is equal to 1,233 barrels of oil consumed for a 1,000 person, three day meeting.⁵Climate change effects meeting and event professionals in two ways. Firstly, organisers may need to create contingency plans for extreme weather events, made more likely as a result of climate change. Secondly, sustainability also demands the industry be proactive to measure and prevent greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce its contribution to climate change.Although each event is different, the top five sources of greenhouse gas emissions at events are:

Transportation: Participant travel to and from the event, freight, onsite shuttles.

Venue energy use: Electricity, natural gas and fuels used to power venues.

Hotel energy use: Electricity and natural gas used to power accommodations.

Catering: Energy used to grow, harvest, transport, process, prepare and dispose of food and beverages.

Embodied energy: Energy used to manufacture and ship products used at meetings and events, including promotional products, signs and office supplies.

Destination selection plays a big role in determining onsite carbon footprint. Carbon impacts will be higher if the host destination relies on fossil fuel energy, rather than cleaner sources, such as hydroelectric, wind and solar power.

^{5 McKinley, 2018.

6 Vaughan, 2018.

7 Grover, 2018.}

Learn more: The carbon footprint of events will decrease as more renewable energy is used to supplement the power grid. The EU has increased its binding renewable energy target to 32% by 2030, up from 27%.⁶

Renewables produced a record 30% of UK electricity in 2017, up from 19% three years prior⁷. To find out how different destinations perform in terms of renewable energy visit the European Commission on Renewable Energy.

Water Conservation and QualityMeetings and events impact water in two ways: by using it, and contributing to water pollution. Direct water use at meetings and events is primarily controlled by venue and hotel managers. And while operators can use water-conserving technology, such as low-flow plumbing fixtures, they are also vulnerable to regional water shortages. This risk was dramatically illustrated during Cape Town, South Africa’s 2018 water shortage, when it was feared the city would run out of water. During the peak of the crisis, 18 of the top hotels in the city reported forward bookings were down 30%-50%. The same group of hotels reported a 10%-15% loss of revenue year-on-year equating to R90m (€6.1m)⁹. Other MICE cities at severe risk of water scarcity according to the International Tourism Partnership include Bali, Mumbai, Bangkok, Beijing, Dubai and Manila.¹⁰The products meeting and event professionals use also take water to manufacture. For example, it takes 1.32 L of water to create one litre of disposable bottled water.¹¹ Harmful chemicals that contribute to water pollution can also be found in many items used at events: paper, name badges, graphics, promotional products, tote bags, T-shirt, cleaners and even food. Certain chemicals can affect human health where workers, such as housekeeping staff, experience on-going or significant exposures.Solid WasteA typical conference participant generates 1.9 kilograms of waste per day. That translates into 5,670 kilograms of waste, or roughly the weight of four compact cars, for a 1,000 person, three day meeting.¹²Meeting and event waste is a big problem. Large quantities of disposable products can be used and it is often difficult to keep material out of landfills. And the assumption that venue recycling will automatically solve the problem is often false, for three reasons:

Many event materials, like polystyrene foam, vinyl, carpet and mixed material products, are not easily recycled in many cities.

Markets that have traditionally received recyclable paper and plastic, such as China, are restricting what they will take.

Recoverable waste is often contaminated with non-recyclable or non-compostable materials, resulting in landfill if special sorting is not provided.

This often means that venues recycle less than 20% of their waste with a basic recycling programme. Meetings and events achieving waste recovery rates of 50% or higher are typically investing in supplemental composting, specialised recycling and food donation.All of this makes efforts to reduce waste at source more important than ever. The Waste Resources and Action Programme (WRAP) has been successful in advancing individual consumer and targeted business campaigns to reduce food and plastic waste in the UK. These campaigns have been so successful they have expanded to other countries, including Canada and New Zealand.Since 2007 WRAP has provided resources to help caterers and hotels take practical steps to cut food waste. Implementation of these strategies has demonstrated a strong business case13 for meeting and events to “love food, hate waste”:

Caterers save $6 for every $1 invested in reducing food waste.

80% of caterers can keep their total investment in food waste reduction to below $10,000.

64% of caterers recoup their investment within just one year.

Hotels saved $7 for every $1 invested in reducing food waste.

90% of hotels can keep their total investment below $20,000.

70% of hotels recoup their investment within just one year.

^{8 McIlwraith, McKinley and Zavada, 2015.

9 Birns, 2018.

10 International Tourism Partnership, 2018.

11 Antea Group, 2015.

12 McKinley, 2018. WRAP, 2018}

The water footprint of a conference programme, tote bag and two cups of coffee for 750 meeting participants is equal to one Olympic swimming pool.⁸

WRAP has launched the UK Plastics Pact with the ambition of making 100% of plastic packaging in the UK reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. The Association of Independent Festivals has been the first event industry body to get on board with the campaign.

Learn more: Waste recovery rates throughout Europe can vary greatly and have increased on average by 13% since 2004. For more information on how well countries are doing visit the European Environmental Agency, or host city government websites.

BUSINESS MEETINGSOURCES OF CARBON IMPACTSBuilding power, participant travelSOURCE OF WATER IMPACTSCatering, hotel and venue water useSOURCES OF WASTE IMPACTSFood, paper, packaging

INTERNATIONAL TRADESHOWSOURCES OF CARBON IMPACTSExhibit freight, participant air travel, building powerSOURCE OF WATER IMPACTSCatering, hotel and venue water use, embodied water in exhibit materialsSOURCES OF WASTE IMPACTSCarpet, shrink wrap, exhibit booths, promotional items

MUSIC FESTIVALSSOURCES OF CARBON IMPACTSParticipant car travel, audio visual, portable generatorsSOURCE OF WATER IMPACTSCatering and venue water useSOURCES OF WASTE IMPACTSFood, tents, camping equipmentHuman RightsAccording to PCMA Convene’s Annual Salary survey of business event professionals, women earned 22% less than male respondents.¹⁵

Equal and just treatment of labour is a critical way to demonstrate organisational values

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights lists fundamental protections that all people are entitled to, including equal treatment and freedom from slavery and torture. And while it is easy to assume meetings and events respect human rights, there are particular areas professionals must be vigilant about:

Fairness: Principles of fairness permeate human resource management and product purchasing in the meeting and event industry. Whether through fairly traded products, or a fairly treated workforce, equal and just treatment of labour is a critical way to demonstrate organisational values.

Harassment: Business events can create an environment ripe for abuse, particularly at after-hours networking functions where alcohol is served. PCMA reports 80% of meeting and event professionals have been harassed on the job. Only one-quarter of respondents reported the behaviour for a variety of reasons, including fear of retribution.16

Human trafficking: Exploitative labour practices and sexual slavery are an issue of concern in the travel and hospitality industry, especially at hotels, restaurants and airports where trafficking can occur. Meeting and event professionals can help victims by recognising warning signs and knowing how to report incidents.

Inclusion: While diversity in speaker panels is a common complaint at conferences, inclusion is about more than minority representation at the podium. It involves supporting welcoming destinations and creating venue and event experiences that provide equal and dignified access for everyone: regardless of race, gender identity, ability, age, and religion.

Privacy: GDPR-compliance has provided an important reminder of the need to protect participant data that may be held in registration or exhibitor databases. And organiser’s obligation to provide the public with the ability to control how their data is used.

^{15 Russell, April 2018.

16 Russell, January 2018.}

Health and SafetyAccommodation and food service workers face the fourth highest risk of workplace injury in the UK, following agriculture, forestry and food, construction and transportation.17Attention to health and safety through participant first aid, workplace safety procedures and emergency response has been hard-wired into planning for many years. However it is only recently that health and safety has been integrated with event sustainability as the list of planning issues lengthens and becomes more complicated. Today’s meeting and event participants expect that event organisers will act on their social responsibility to address new health and safety risks such as:

Acts of terrorism: Approximately 40% of event professionals perceive terrorism as the top risk to create a negative impact on their event.¹⁸

Severe weather: Organisers and venues need to anticipate severe weather exacerbated by climate change, such as increased risk of flooding, wildfires and heat waves that can impact participant willingness to travel.

Civil unrest: While peaceful protests can be safely managed, unpredictable or violent demonstrations are more difficult to plan for and can lead to reduced attendance and worse: meeting and event cancellations.

^{17 Health and Safety Executive, 2017.

18 Grassroots, 2018.}

Important Idea: What Are Sustainability Non-Negotiables?

Sustainability often requires trade-offs. In situations where negotiation is necessary, it is important to identify specific things that might be deal-breakers. Here is a list of common sustainability non- negotiables, or minimums:

Verified sustainable seafood must be used
Fairly traded coffee always provided
No endangered species to be served
No polystyrene products used
No PVC vinyl products used
No single use, disposable plastic bottles or cups
No forced labour

Meetings and Events Have Immense OpportunityEvent sustainability is not just about doing less harm and ensuring resilience against risks. It is also about demonstrating the value of human connections that meetings and events facilitate. And the power that the industry has to make a difference.

Share KnowledgeMeetings and events advance human capacity to address challenges and solve problems.This can happen in obvious ways. For example, medical meetings focussed on certain illnesses can help advance collaboration and research that improves understanding, diagnosis and treatment. Trade shows related to sustainable buildings or green living can help catalyse the green economy which in turn promotes greener consumption and reduced environmental impacts.In addition to these deliberate outcomes by participants at events, organisers also mobilise behind the scenes, to share knowledge and solve problems related to event sustainability.For example, meeting and event industry associations have recently sought to increase awareness of and act to combat human trafficking. More meeting and event professionals are expressing concern about
it as a result, and individual hotels and global brands are becoming empowered to act by participating in solution-oriented programmes.Promote InnovationEvents create connections and tools that break through barriers and improve efficiency and convenience. As an example, hack-a- thons and innovation labs involve employees, external experts and students in identifying solutions to organisational or societal challenges. These types of events can be used by businesses and associations to fulfil company or member needs by designing new products and services. Hack-a-thons may also be sponsored by business with the express aim of connecting non-profits with technology-based solutions. Such events may reward a prize purse to develop the best idea. These event programmes achieve win-wins when they create business opportunities for organisers and application developers in a way that also addresses an important cause, like food waste reduction or improving access to social services.

Strengthen RelationshipsMeetings and events bring people together on the basis of shared purpose. Corporate marketing activities that have a sustainability focus allow businesses, their employees and customers to explore and act on shared interests and values. These activities can build brand loyalty and improve employee and customer satisfaction while also contributing to causes businesses, employees and customers care about. Methods for doing this are wide-ranging and include:

Direct community action, such as volunteer programmes.

Corporate sponsorship of events, such as charity drives, pledge runs or fitness challenges.

Social media campaigns that invite people to share their love of brands in return for a community contribution by the brand.

Key Term: Social Enterprise

Social enterprises apply business strategies to improve well- being in innovative ways. They may be non-profit or for-profit organisations. Event organisers benefit from a variety of social enterprises, including promotional product providers that use waste materials to manufacture tote bags. Catering companies and hotels may also operate as social enterprises where they provide jobs to people who experience barriers to employment.

Important Idea: Five Questions to Build the Business Case

Sustainability matters to today’s successful organisations. And events are no different. The 2016 UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study includes responses from more than 1,000 CEOs, in 108 countries and across 26 industries. They found at that nearly all (97 percent) believe that sustainability is important to the future success of their business.¹⁹
So why are requests for sustainable events often met with:

This is going to cost more money.
No one has the time to do it.
Guests and participants won’t like it.
The client won’t be happy.
Anticipate common arguments against sustainable events by asking these questions to build the business case:
Can sustainability improve employee, client and customer relationships?
Does sustainability provide brand value or competitive advantage?
Can sustainability reduce costs by increasing efficiency and supporting innovation?
Does sustainability provide opportunities for new sources of revenue, such as sponsorship or new products and services?
Can sustainability reduce business and event risks and their associated costs?

^{19 Accenture, 2016.}

Learn more: Event professionals can learn about and get involved in preventing human trafficking through organisations such as ECPAT and The Code.