The guide acknowledges that the cost of sustainable solutions alongside event travel and shipping, food waste and organisational politics are barriers to making meetings more sustainable.
The importance of communicating sustainable changes and continuing to deliver a great customer experience figure as challenges for organising a lower footprint event.
Highlighting that carbon emissions from aviation can account for up to 75 per cent of event emissions should also put event planners from Australia and New Zealand on alert, given the higher reliance on aviation for speakers, delegates and event materials in our part of the world.
The guide also recognises that a major barrier is getting started on sustainability improvements.
“You just need to start doing something,” said BCD Meetings and Events senior director and global program lead, Ben Hoeksma.
“Taking any action, no matter how small, is a positive step forward.”
The guide flags the important initial steps including making a commitment to sustainability, tracking and data collection, education, goal setting and partner research.
BCD already uses a venue scorecard to evaluate potential event venues’ sustainability credentials according to client priorities, with a choice of more than 40 different metrics.
The guide also highlights regulatory change that is likely to impact events on the sustainability front, with the European Union bringing in compulsory sustainability reporting for large corporations and small and medium sized businesses listed on a stock exchange. Fifty thousand businesses are expected to be required to comply – meaning these businesses will have to report on the carbon footprints of the events they run and events they attend.
BCD’s guide includes actionable steps to increase the sustainability of an event across multiple areas – from venues to food and beverage and diversity, equity and inclusion.
BCD have also included their own sustainability achievements and goal, which is to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 35 per cent across scopes 1 and 2 by 2030, from 2016 levels.
“There is an obvious and on-going need to go further in implementing sustainability practices within the meetings and events industry, driven by the global focus on climate change and tightening regulations on carbon emissions,” said BCD Meetings and Events’ global president, Bruce Morgan.
“The scale of this challenge can, at times, be overwhelming. By thinking forward and embracing the myriad of best practices available to our industry, we not only mitigate risks but also unlock significant opportunities for positive change.
Read the sustainability guide here.
