The PCMA Convening EMEA Sustainability Journey

Our Commitment

At PCMA we believe sustainability plays a central role in driving social and economic progress through business events. We are committed to leading our global community forward through the creation of platforms and environments that will:

  • Drive sustainability leadership: sustainability thinking and strategic partnerships
  • Advocate for and showcase the importance of a Sustainability by Design approach: decision-making and design integration
  • Rethink our industry’s production, operations and revenue models: deliver new and innovative solutions

Our goal is to strongly influence the growing business case for investments in sustainability, building trust and confidence to shape a future where every event is a catalyst for sustainability progress and inspiration.

PCMA Convening EMEA sustainability journey is experiential, moving beyond individual achievement, and is presenting collective solutions through value-based partners.

Together we hold several solutions to the current sustainability challenges we face. PCMA Convening EMEA invites you to uncover them to ensure the business of human connections is delivering meaningful growth.

How you can contribute

Be a part of this journey with the Sustainability Pledge and Survey​.​

Attendees:
Help us to assess our actions and personally contribute to advance sustainability. ​

We ask you to contribute to our sustainability efforts onsite at the event and we encourage you to embrace at least two to take home and adopt in your events, offices, lives. Be part of the journey with us. We will ask you in our post-event survey which sustainability in event design practices you are committing to adopt so we can follow your sustainability journey.

Exhibitor & Partners:
As part of our Exhibitors and Partners journey we encourage you to engage with solutions to reduce the environmental impact of events. We encourage you to adopt these not only at our events but at all the events you support. We will ask you in our post-event survey which sustainability in event design practices you are committing to adopt so we can follow your sustainability journey.

The Choices We Made

The Convening EMEA 2024 sustainability efforts are a direct result from the review of the 2023 edition. We want to see yearly continuous improvement to be able to monitor our progress.

See more details in our 2023 report.

At Convening EMEA 2024, Sustainability by Design is our decision-making guiding principle, always adopting “Ask – Consider – Decide” to intentionally consider sustainability in all areas of our event.

How we deliver:

  • A product is never sustainable: consciously consider the need, production, availability of other solutions, and added value of elements to eliminate or substitute gradually.
  • Reduction-first: Recycling and donations necessary but are not solutions, we review production by targeting reduction.
  • Sustainability is by Design and Transversal: our goal is to elevate the dialogue, stimulate debates, and demonstrate that sustainability isn’t just a business choice, but an integral part of how we do business, investigating approaches and co-creation with our partners.

Sustainability in the Programme

Sustainability Re-Design as focus in the education programme

It will take collective and interdisciplinary action and strategies to build trust and confidence to re-shape sustainability in events.

It’s less about designing strategies and roadmaps but creatively accelerating Sustainability by Design adoption (via Sustainability Leadership) in every single area of your business, using the available tools to make impactful decisions.

Explore sustainability-led sessions that place their focus on sustainability such as data driven strategies to make intelligent decisions or hands on behind the scenes sustainability tours. Additionally, we are featuring sustainability transversally across sessions to re-shape our way of thinking across business units.

Explore the full programme here.

Sustainability in the Event Design

The event design incorporates a set of approaches developed to advance Sustainability Thinking year by year, guiding how to consider, define and deliver sustainability across teams and event areas. Together with our partners, we mapped and defined the sustainability initiatives and commitments, reviewing what we produce by targeting reduction of resources and material use and optimize waste management.

Learn more about our sustainability initiatives and commitments for Convening EMEA 2024.

Sustainability Partners

We cannot make progress without the support of our partners like BCB, CCIB and Hilton Diagonal Mar and other suppliers who are working closely with PCMA to make Convening EMEA 24 a sustainable by design event.

To make that happen, we engaged with our partners as early as possible and communicating regularly, to foster collaboration, commonalities and enhancing sustainability initiatives collectively.

Destination
In selecting Barcelona as a Host Destination for Convening EMEA 2024 one of the key deciding factors was the destination commitment to Sustainable Tourism. The city of Barcelona and its surrounding area make up a destination committed to sustainable tourism and this is a model based on responsible practices at environmental, economic and socio-cultural levels.

Read about each Host Partners and Host Venues commitment in action below;

Barcelona Convention Bureau
Sustainable Tourism is a priority for Barcelona Convention Bureau and they lead the way in ensuring that every stakeholder has a contribution to offer in the creation and management of a sustainable event in Barcelona. BCB has created a Barcelona Sustainable Events Guide to assist Event Organisers offering practical tips and a comprehensive checklist to design a sustainable event and in the development of long-term sustainable event management practices.

Barcelona Provincial Council, Barcelona City Council, Turisme de Barcelona and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce have joined forces to make Barcelona and its counties a single destination committed to sustainable tourism.

Click here for more information about the Sustainable Barcelona programme.

In 2011, Barcelona was the first city in the world to be awarded Biosphere Certification as a responsible tourism destination.

CCIB
The origins of the CCIB are based on environmental management and a corporate responsibility model that aims to respond to the sustainable development of our activity, with economic transparency, conservation of the environment and improvement of the social environment. Currently, the CCIB is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sets clear objectives to achieve commitments. View the 2023 ESG report here. CCIB suggests organisers should establish sustainability criteria throughout the event planning process.

The CCIB collects and delivers datasets of the event free of charge, enabling event organisers to assess their usage and create their continuous improvement framework.

The CCIB holds the certifications:
ISO 20121 for Sustainable Events Management
ISO 22000 for Health & Safety in Food & Beverages

Hilton Diagonal Mar
At Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona, the team prioritizes sustainability through practices such as energy reduction, sustainable sourcing, and community support. The team at Hiton Diagonal Mar applies and promotes sustainable practices amongst team members, guests and partners through training courses, impactful actions, and innovative tools and processes in order to actively contribute to a more sustainable and eco-conscious future.

Read the full Hilton Diagonal Mar Environmental Social and Governance document here for the details of the full commitment.

Examples of what the team at Hilton Diagonal Mar have implemented;

Efforts to reduce food waste:
Hilton partner with Winnow, a food waste reduction technology which leverages AI to help our kitchen accurately pinpoint food waste streams, cut costs and tailor purchasing based on data. I800 meals are saved annually from the breakfast buffet.

Efforts to Sourcing local and to offer vegetarian or vegan menus options:
Hilton Diagonal Mar supports local businesses using fresh seasonal products from nearby suppliers and is a member of the global Slow Food movement. Hilton Diagonal Mar partners with suppliers dedicated to environmental responsibility and integration of sustainable practices such as the recycling project by Nespresso or the organic and biodynamic agriculture philosophy from Parés Baltà winery.

Efforts to improve energy, waste and water performance:
Hilton Diagonal Mar can calculate C02 emissions, offset emissions through various projects and organizations, and produce an event impact estimate.
Total energy use; Annual Goal to reduce energy use by 2%
Total Waste Generated; Annual Goal to reduce waste by 3%

The Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona holds the certifications:

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