Event Organizers Double Down on Sustainability

According to our annual Meetings Market Survey, three out of five planners are including sustainability requirements in their RFPs, in addition to bolstering other efforts to check their events’ carbon footprint.

Author: Michelle Russell       

blurred people walking expo floor with greenery in the foreground

Compared to last year’s Meetings Market Survey, almost twice as many event organizer respondents to this year’s survey are including sustainability requirements in their RFPs.

There was a backlash against ESG investment and climate change regulation in the U.S. last year, “with similar examples of watering down or postponement of sustainability-related regulation in some parts of Europe,” according to the most recent issue of Arthur D. Little’s Prism magazine, which is devoted entirely to sustainability.

Despite this, Prism notes, evidence on the business side “suggests a continued, and indeed increased, commitment to sustainability as it becomes more central to business strategy.”

And so it seems with the business events industry, if the results of our 2024 Meetings Market Survey are any indication. While a number of industry studies indicate that sustainability efforts have been pushed down the list of priorities among organizers as they struggle with the more pressing demands of smaller staffs, rising costs, and flat budgets, event professionals who responded to our survey said otherwise.

Nearly double — 60 percent vs. 31 percent in last year’s survey — are including sustainability requirements in their RFPs. One could argue that planners are relegating environmental responsibility to their suppliers, but another data point shows that they also are holding themselves accountable for their footprint: 42 percent have increased sustainability reporting internally and/or to attendees vs. 27 percent last year. And 5 percent more planners have created an internal sustainability policy than last year — one third vs. 28 percent.

Below find a sneak peek at these and other sustainability practices event organizers said they have adopted over the last year.

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.

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