Why eco-friendly decisions need to be at the heart of any organisation's plan
More than 1.3 million business events and conferences take place in the UK every
year, supporting more than 570,000 full-time jobs, and contributing more than £21 billion to the British economy.
Event planning can be a complicated affair. Between venue choice, catering provision, and travel management, there are a number of important factors for organizers to juggle. Though it is spoken about far less, sustainability should be considered just as centrally.
Scientific consensus states that we are perilously close to several tipping points in our climate. If these thresholds were to be crossed, then there is a significant chance that adverse weather patterns would become normal, and we could even witness the absolute collapse of some ecosystems.
Placing sustainability at the heart of your plans is starting to result in tangible business returns. Many attendees will now look for their conferences to be organized with a look toward the environment and doing so could help to broaden your event’s appeal. With many governments enacting legislation to reduce emissions, it could also help you become compliant and avoid sanctions. Finally, by becoming more efficient, you will be able to save costs on resources used.
It’s important that we all make changes to the way we live for the future of the planet, and this must be no different in the events sector. The average conference attendee emits approximately 145KG of CO2 a day but there are several, easy-to-implement steps that you can take to reduce this.
Reducing your paper usage
The average conference is rife with unnecessary usage of paper. Thousands of brochures, handouts, agendas and notepads will find their way into refuse at the conclusion of an event.
By creating a bespoke event app, or using tablets where paper would be used previously, you’ll be able to vastly reduce paper wastage. This also comes with the benefit providing you with useful data about your event.
Think about travel when deciding on a location
By far and large, the biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of an event is travel, which can make up almost 90% of carbon emissions.
To resolve this, why not set up a travel forum, where attendees will be able to explore rideshare options. Furthermore, by locating your event in a central location, delegates will be able to utilise public transport in attending.
Make use of technology
The most effective way of reducing travel emissions will be to prevent them from travelling at all.
By making using of innovative technologies such as 3D virtual worlds, users from across the world will be able to attend the conference in the same fashion without contributing to climate change.
If you’re interested in finding out more about sustainability and how 3D virtual worlds are allowing for a more sustainable event, then please join Jerry Tinianow, Chief Sustainability Officer of Denver, Colorado on the 23rd of January at our next Business Coffee Chat, where he’ll be giving out expert advice on how you can make your business more sustainable.
