Anyone who’s ever been involved in organising a significant event knows how complex it can be. There are dozens of moving parts that must be coordinated with to-the-minute accuracy to ensure everything goes off without a hitch. Environmental sustainability is increasingly important to all those moving parts and the overall success of an event.
As the effects of the climate emergency become more clear, that demand will only grow too. March was already the hottest month in the Earth’s recorded history. The recent Dubai floods, which saw the emirate receive more than a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, provide further evidence of how devastating climate change already is. If there’s to be any hope of changing the planet’s current trajectory, everyone has to play their part, including event planners. For a long-haul destination like South Africa which is trying to attract international business tourists, that’s an especially large challenge.
But it’s a challenge that they’re going to have to meet. Increasingly strict EU laws require all large and listed companies (of the kind that put on big events) to disclose any environmental risks associated with their activities. South African companies aren’t immune from sustainability considerations either. Laws like the one requiring all large buildings to display an energy performance certificate (EPC) by 2025 will sharpen corporate minds and help ensure they bring sustainability considerations to all of their activities.
It’s also something that the events industry shouldn’t compete on. Given the urgency of meeting sustainability standards, everyone should share their best practices and learn from one another.
- Choose a venue that understands sustainability
By selecting an event venue that understands, and is committed to, sustainability half the battle is already won. As Gary Koetser, CEO of Century City Conference Centre and Hotels points out, however, that commitment to sustainability must run like a thread through everything it does.
“We could have implemented a few simple initiatives and claimed that we had excellent green credentials,” Koetser says. “But that’s not real sustainability. It’s greenwashing.”
For its part, the conferencing and hospitality group uses recycled water in its ablution facilities, sorts its waste for reuse, recycling, and composting, and uses a rooftop solar PV array for some of its energy needs, among other initiatives. Its sustainability strategy is paying off too. The group recently took home a Silver for Positive Climate Impact, at this year’s WTM Responsible Tourism Award.
- Promote public transport
The more time delegates spend in cars getting to and from your event, the less environmentally friendly it is. You can, however, make things significantly more sustainable by ensuring that a wide array of amenities (but particularly hotels and restaurants) are within walking distance of your event venue and by ensuring that it’s close to reliable public transport nodes.
- Eliminate single-use plastic wherever possible
Left unchecked, big events can generate tonnes of single-use plastic. From name badge holders to bottled water, and brochure covers, each individual item seems innocuous. But when your event has hundreds or even thousands of attendees, it all adds up.
So, audit the areas you know traditionally come with a lot of single-use plastic and see if you can simply eliminate it. Do you, for example, really need a plastic name-badge holder, especially if the event lasts a single day? And where elimination isn’t possible, look for more sustainable alternatives.
- Cater environmentally
It’s easy to forget that food systems are responsible for more than a quarter of global emissions. But by choosing the right catering options, event organisers can play their part in bringing down that number. Ideally, the event location team should be able to help here.
“All food procurement and menu preparations are done responsibly, adhering
to sustainable practices and initiatives,” says Koetser. “For us, that includes providing planet-friendly food options that are sourced from suppliers with high sustainability standards of their own.”
As Koetser points out, it’s also important to ensure that food waste doesn’t end up in landfill.
“All of our compostable waste, leftover food and waste from our kitchen gets vermicomposted and turned into nutrient-rich compost – reducing waste to landfills by up to 40%,” Koetser says.
- Go paperless
On its own, paper is a pretty environmentally-friendly resource. The trouble is, much of the “paper” we associate with conferences, including printed schedules, brochures, and research publications aren’t pure paper. Instead, much of it has a plastic coating, making it all but impossible to recycle. It’s also almost completely unnecessary, especially if all of that information can be uploaded to a website instead.
- Use sustainable swag
How many conferences have you attended where you’re given a welcome pack that includes what can only be described as cheap, branded tat? Rather than giving away pens that’ll only be used once and water bottles that leak the moment you fill them, you’re better off giving away fewer, but more useful things. If nothing else, you’ll reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills as a result of your event.
- Recruit guests and exhibitors to your green agenda
If you’ve found a venue that’s serious about sustainability and you’ve taken all the steps you can to make the event sustainable, your next step is to bring exhibitors and attendees on board. Explain why environmental sustainability is so important to the event and, for exhibitors especially, set simple standards that they can follow.
- Don’t compromise on quality
No one should come out of an event saying that it was great despite its environmental focus. Instead, acting in an environmentally sustainable manner should add to the event experience. A good venue and site team will go a long way to helping you achieve this.
“Because we’ve ingrained environmental sustainability seamlessly into our operations, as well as our culture and DNA, we’re well-placed to help event organisers do the same,” says Koetser. “If a venue or suppliers don’t show that same level of commitment, then they aren’t serious about sustainability. Even in a space like the canteen, staff should know how to separate the waste in their personal spaces. Then it becomes second nature.”
Embrace the future now
Ultimately, ensuring the collective future of the planet is something we’re all responsible for. The events and hospitality sectors certainly aren’t immune from that. In fact, with their ability to connect people in profoundly influential ways, they may end up having an outsized role to play in driving sustainability-driven change.
steven
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