Sustainable events are a fast-emerging trend for the industry in 2024 and event planners are looking for real action that busts through greenwashing.
- Considering the wider impact of your event planning
- Moving beyond eco-friendly
- The future of sustainable events
As we look around us at the start of 2024, sustainability is taking priority in almost every area of life from climate change and global warming, to rising costs of food and transportation. When looking at planning and managing an event, it is no surprise that ESG (environment, social and governance) and sustainability is becoming one of the top priorities in terms of the success of events and the reputation of the companies hosting them.
Considering the wider impact of event planning
When planning an event, increasingly agencies and events teams are having to look at an expanding range of potential environmental and social impacts that their event will have.
For in-person events, travel, food sourcing, energy, waste and even water depending on the venue, all play a part. Some planners are starting to look for ways to offset the environmental impact of their events so they can move towards being carbon neutral.
Moving beyond just eco-friendly to real impact
Avoiding greenwashing is now key as there is increasing focus being put on the eco-friendly claims being made by event suppliers and the companies running them.
Partnering with credible sustainability organisations like Planet Mark & ISLA and A Greener Future will help events teams in demonstrating they have a credible strategy to delivery positive environmental impact.
In addition to the basics like removing single use plastics, recycling properly and sourcing energy from renewable providers, forward thinking planners are also looking at other aspects of their events such as attendee experience and education. Personalisation of the attendee experience through the AI assisted pre-registration, registration and in event gamification, all give event planners an opportunity to educate their attendees on sustainability topics.
This means that if done right, events can be truly environmentally friendly!
The future of sustainable events
Sustainable events are a topic that will not go away given the current global social and environmental situation we find ourselves in. Climate change and global warming will continue to affect the kinds of locations being chosen to host larger events and some forward-thinking companies are looking at coupling the event experience with eco-tourism and social impact projects to enhance the attendee journey.
Planners must go beyond just sourcing ‘eco-friendly’ suppliers and find the companies and agencies who are taking real action to have a positive and demonstrable impact.
Conclusion
Here at Noodle sustainability is something we place at the centre of our business and consider in everything we do. Our Sustainability Manifesto, sets out our ESG commitments and gives us a pathway towards innovating in this space with the partners and clients we work with. Why not reach out and talk to us to find out how we can support you in designing, delivering, and measuring truly sustainable events in 2024 and beyond?