What Does It Take for the Events Industry to Be Sustainable?

Convene 4 Climate attendees participate in a challenge workshop designed to come up with actionable tactics to accelerate the business events industry’s shift to sustainability.

The program for the inaugural PCMA Convene 4 Climate, held Oct. 2-3 in Barcelona, Spain, in collaboration with the Strategic Alliance of the National Convention Bureaux of Europe, was designed in a way that recognized that we no longer have the luxury of time when it comes to global warming. That reality was underscored by conference moderator Felix Rundel, cofounder of strategy and creative agency futurehain: “We have a limited window of time to effect the profound change in our landscape that is needed for the sustainable future of business events,” he told the audience at the start of the event.

In other words, the message was: Let’s get down to business.

“We have a limited window of time to effect the profound change in our landscape that is needed for the sustainable future of business events,” said Felix Rundel, C4C moderator.

For the opening Main Stage session, four speakers each gave TED-style presentations — short, punchy, and to the point — about what it will take to transform the events industry for a sustainable future. For the remainder of the day, participants split up into four separate workshops, rolling up their sleeves to answer that same question — how to guarantee a sustainable future for the business events industry — by developing concrete tactics in these categories: technology, data, and measurement; skills, people, and mindset; business models, risks, and growth; and innovation and collaboration to drive change.

At each group table, participants were asked to explore tangible ways and measures to accelerate the shift to sustainability with the caveat that those tactics — in the form of initiatives, projects, or joint activities — were clear, actionable, and feasible.

In the second round of discussions, participants focused on the tactics from the previous round that seemed most promising and had the greatest potential to deliver impact.

At the end of the day, a representative from each workshop group presented an overview of the tactics their table had come up with. Here’s a snapshot of the outcomes presented:

Technology, Data, and Measurement

• Incentivize event attendees to reduce emissions via a mobile app with a gamification element, providing points or recognition to attendees who are making more sustainable choices for their participation.
• An industry-wide accepted dashboard and benchmark tool that collects data from planners and suppliers to produce a benchmark and enable informed decision-making and more sustainable events.
• A Better Events Catering (BEC) tool giving organizers the ability to make more sustainable decisions around catering choices — harnessing technology to minimize food waste, carbon emissions, and aid in responsible sourcing.

Skills, People, and Mindset

• A Convene 4 Climate mentorship program to inspire and help people act through a mentor and awards program aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Engage stakeholders with a program that closes the gap between caring and acting.
• Adopt an industry-wide wellbeing economy — designed to serve people and the planet first — approach. Rather than treating economic growth as an end in and of itself and pursuing it at all costs, a wellbeing economy puts our human and planetary needs at the center of activities.

Business Models, Risks, and Growth

• Incentive food consumption and sponsorship aligned with waste reduction and the creation of a “logical menu” to meet various goals.
• Encourage the circular approach to event production materials via a connected sharing platform designed to revolutionize the way hotels and convention centers and other events venues manage their resources.
• A technology tool, called the Sustainable Traveler Impact Companion System, or STICS, to evaluate the positive economic, social, and intellectual impact of an event attendee weighed against the carbon impact of that traveler attending the meeting. This is important as a means of preparing for when travel movements between countries are controlled or restricted due to environmental impact, as it will serve to demonstrate why business event travelers should be prioritized.

Innovation and Collaboration Drive Change

• A cross-industry program to catalyze a systemic shift in how attendees use rail travel to attend events.
• Create an online and offline platform for collaboration of all stakeholders to identify gaps leading to joint solutions and actions commitments in order to increase sustainable practices and shape policies.
• Global standards empowered by regional differences — a framework to inspire positive change that will benefit suppliers, buyers, and attendees.

Next Steps

Convene 4 Climate’s event findings and resources will be compiled into a report that will be made accessible to the conference participants and the industry at large in 2025, said Jaimé Bennett, PCMA’s managing director, EMEA. “We are grateful to our foundational partners — Destination Canada, Failte Ireland and Meet in Ireland, Marina Bay Sands, and United Airlines — for their support of Convene 4 Climate, which enabled our inaugural event to be so successful.”

At PCMA Convening Leaders, Jan. 12-15, in Houston, Texas, a group of attendees will participate in a workshop that will introduce Convene 4 Climate, a new global platform that builds on the inaugural conference, Bennett said. “Participants will help map out how this platform can be built to fast-track sustainable development in the business events community,” she said. “The session is designed to be collaborative and deliver an impact, ensuring that participant voices directly shape the Convene 4 Climate platform to better support their sustainability journey.”

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.