Log In
A new events industry collaboration announced last week at COP29 at in Baku, Azerbaijan, will help event organizers more easily measure and report the climate impact of events. (Courtesy COP29)
The announcement of a collaboration between the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD) and the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) marks “a significant step forward” to promote the adoption of sustainable event practices, said JMIC President James Rees during a Nov. 14 session at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The collaboration will focus on the Green Events Tool (GET), a web-based tool developed in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, managed by GORD. GET allows event organizers to measure and report the environmental impact of their events, focusing on such key areas as energy consumption, transportation, and waste management.
The organizations hope to drive the widespread adoption of GET within the business events industry and support the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative, hosted by JMIC and calling for the industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. It is the largest initiative on environmental sustainability within the business events industry with more than 700 stakeholders from 60 countries.
“Since its inception at COP26 in Glasgow, the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative has made remarkable progress in advancing sustainability practices within the business events industry,” Rees said. “Thanks to the collective efforts of our community, we have achieved significant clarity on environmental aspects relevant to our sector, clearing the way towards a more sustainable future.”
This latest development follows NZCE’s adoption of an Industry Roadmap at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and the2023 launch of the Measurement Methodology.
The organizations hope the integration of the NZCE’s measurement methodology into the Green Events Tool will enhance GET’s capabilities and align them with the event industry’s specific needs, Rees and other panelists at the session said.
In addition to Rees, other session panelists speaking either in Baku or virtually included Suriya Mues, Program Officer, UNFCCC Secretariat; Asa Elisabeth Tynell, Project Manager, United Nations Environment Programme; Alexander Alles, Executive Director, JMIC; Joseph Prakash, Director, GORD; Kai Hattendorf, CEO, UFI; Senthil Gopinath, Ph.D., CEO, ICCA.