As the events industry continues its recovery post-pandemic, we’re having many conversations around environmental sustainability. In some ways, Covid-19 may have resulted in the industry taking a few steps back. Health and safety concerns have led to the reintroduction of single-use items at events, a practice that appears to be lingering on. Concerns over travel and its carbon footprint contribution, and the growth of virtual events are prompting businesses to think carefully about whether they need to travel to an event in the first place.
The power of live experiences and bringing people together cannot be understated, but we need to take a long hard look at where we are now and change the narrative around events and sustainability. All too often, sustainability is only considered during the event process, rather than being embedded from the start. Agencies need to work with their clients to make sustainability a strategic part of an event - perhaps even the reason they are hosting an experience in the first place. Rather than saying ‘here is my event, what can I add or do to make it sustainable’, we need to turn this legacy impact on its head by looking at who this event could impact and how it can advance sustainability goals.
We need to think about sustainable options rather than ‘green’ ones - sustainability isn’t just about the environment but about making an impact socially, economically and culturally too. We keep falling back on the environment and ‘being green’ or ‘eco-friendly’ but as an industry, it’s an area we can’t win in as events will always have a negative impact on the environment.
I must stress here that as a group we don’t solely look at sustainability from an environmental standpoint, we also consider our social, cultural and economic impacts as a business. We have working groups focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, business practice & ethics, health & wellbeing and community alongside our group dedicated to environmental sustainability. Inclusive societies and ensuring quality of life for everyone is a key part of being sustainable.
Focusing in again on environmental sustainability, our strategy is built around making a difference as individuals and as a business, and in the way we work with our supply chain and engage with our clients. This might lead to some uncomfortable conversations further down the line - we may get to the point where we have to choose one supplier over another, depending on their approach. But often, change can only happen when you are at your most uncomfortable. By breaking a habit and trying something new or different, we can make more of an impact and, ultimately, that all-important difference. We are committed to being a carbon neutral business and following sustainability principles such as the zero waste hierarchy.
One question we should be asking is whether, as an industry, we’ve got the necessary leadership and profile to be listened to by global governments, for them to acknowledge the crucial role that events play within environmental sustainability. This is where a non-profit organisation such as isla can make a difference. Founded by event professionals and industry leaders (WRG is a founding member), isla is focusing on achieving a sustainable future for events by standardising measurement, meeting new demands from clients and consumers and accelerating the pace of change.
isla has also developed TRACE, a real-time carbon impact reporting tool that quantifies the carbon impact of experiences, providing suggestions for reduction and offset. We are one of the first adopters of this tool, which is being embedded throughout our processes and we’re excited to see the difference this will make.
Knowing the impact of events is the first step towards making a change. To create lasting impact around environmental sustainability however, we need to embed this knowledge from the start, and work in collaboration with all our stakeholders, from employees and suppliers to clients and partners.