Green with Envy?
Eventbiz Periscope by Rob Cotter Episode 1 – a case of EIBTM in Spain
In recent years Europe has taken significant strides in making the sustainability of its event industry the envy of the world. This year’s EIBTM in Barcelona is taking it to even greater and greener heights by setting sustainability as the main focus of one of Europe’s premier MICE events.
Since 2008 and the onset of the GFC, the grey clouds of economic uncertainty have been hovering over the European continent, casting a shadow over all walks of business life, the event industry not being spared. In adapting to the new economic climate of austerity and constrained budgetary management, the industry has at the same time been able to generate some clouds of a happier hue ? green ones, of the sustainable kind, whose shadow it is happy to cast over Europe and indeed farther afield. The skies of Barcelona will be tinged with these green clouds when EIBTM arrives in town on the 19th November, as sustainability is the focus of this major event on the global events calendar.
“Sustainability is one of the key elements of EIBTM and we are committed to continuing to make positive changes,” said Graeme Barnett, Reed Travel Exhibitions EIBTM Exhibition Director. “It is of key importance to us and we are continually looking for more ways to support our attendees. Since introducing our sustainability objectives in 2009 we have already reduced our waste by over 79%, which is great and allows us to increase our goal even further in coming years.”
For an event the scale of EIBTM to be able to shave 79% of its waste over a period of just four years and position itself for even greater sustainability goals, a number of key initiatives have had to be set in motion. Equally importantly, a strong channel of messaging to convey the benefits of being sustainable has been developed to reach the widest possible audience.
The first of the range of initiatives behind EIBTM’s success has been in producing a list of objectives to tackle a number of key issues relevant to their event, objectives that have focused on the following: contributing to environmental preservation through resource measurement and performance improvement; involving and educating stakeholders; identifying ways to deliver a positive impact on the local community; and sourcing sustainable suppliers and products. The issues these objectives set out to address cover people and travel, resources, knowledge transfer and legacy, support for local projects, and measuring the show’s impact on the city. Mixed together, the cocktail of objectives to issues has for the past three years helped EIBTM achieve BS9801 Sustainable Event standard certification and spurred it towards the final stages of securing ISO20121 certification, both benchmark achievements for any event.
Speeding up the journey of accreditation has been EIBTM’s partnership with Positive Impact, an NfP organisation who support the event in all aspects of sustainability. With their vision of ‘a sustainable event sector inspired to have a positive impact on its economic, environmental and social surroundings’, Positive Impact have established the ‘Sustainable Events Corner’ at EIBTM, where advice clinics are provided by industry experts and education is provided through seminars, webinars, blogs and Twitter chats.
“The sustainability corner is powered by us to provide all kinds of information on sustainability,” said Fiona Pelham of Positive Impact. “You can learn from people within the industry ? it’s a mix of sustainability experts and those who have learned from their sustainability journey.”
“The prominence of sustainability is definitely increasing and people are really keen to know what they should be doing and also share their best practice,” she added. “Sustainability can be a competitive advantage, but people are also aware that the more they share their experience and their journey, the more the rest of the industry will come on and learn from that.
Ensuring that the broader industry can learn about sustainability and that people do know what to do about it, further EIBTM initiatives have included targeting exhibitors, organisers and venues. This has been carried out through general messaging – such as a series of top tips for each industry player – as well as through active participation. This includes recognising exhibitors who take part in EIBTM’s “20 Sustainable Actions” initiative – an online questionnaire determining how sustainable an exhibitor really is – with a certificate of participation. In addition to this is the highly coveted annual EIBTM Sustainability Award for the best and most effective sustainable exhibitor.
“To receive the EIBTM Sustainability Award was a great recognition for us,” commented Barbra Steuri-Albrecht, Director of the Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau. “It has been, and still is a great motivation to continue our sustainability efforts at these different levels and to share best practice examples with our clients and other interested parties.”
Building on the sustainability profile and knowledge transfer nurtured through these major initiatives are a further number of sidebar initiatives that broaden the spectrum of coverage. One of these is through EIBTM staff being trained at different levels on sustainability, meaning they can integrate with delegates and offer word of mouth knowledge transfer and practical experience. Another in place since the 2012 EIBTM outing is the IBTM Sustainability Course offered at the event, a simple and accessible introduction for organisers to make their events more sustainable. Lastly, EIBTM take the message of the importance of sustainable events to an even wider audience by supporting international events, such as the Sustainable Events Summit held in London in early 2013.
Though endeavours such as these the European MICE industry has certainly been working hard to position itself as the world leader in event sustainability. “I have seen an increasing awareness of sustainability in general,” said Matthias Lehmann of Pacific World, DMC for EIBTM. “I think this is a great achievement, seeing people and companies now caring a lot more about the environment.”
It is an achievement bolstered by industry-leading initiatives setting the region apart, such as the ISO20121international standard resulting from the London 2012 Olympics, the ‘Roadmap to Zero Waste’ handbook recently published for the event industry by the UK’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), and premier events such as EIBTM showcasing sustainability, all of which are pivotal to the industry’s future success globally.
In the years ahead sustainability will become a major selling point for conscious association and corporate event decision makers. Whilst many of the initiatives outlined here are appropriate for larger events, the important message coming out is clear: don’t watch from afar and be green with envy at what is happening ? learn and adapt from these great initiatives and take the appropriate action to improve the global event industry’s sustainability by making sure your next event is an even greener one.