Sustainability spotlight: Green events roundup

It was a week of sustainability updates and a major associations’ event kicking off. 

Here’s a quick summary:

👉 European festivals and events got a new roadmap for sustainable actions till 2030

👉 EIN’s upcoming sustainability event found a new partner in isla

👉 Informa won this year’s sustainable award from UFI

👉 Association professionals gathered in Florence for the 2023 Associations World Congress

Read on for your full Week in Events new roundup ⤵️

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European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 announced 🛣️

A sustainability scheme has been published offering European events a new path to cut their environmental impact.

The European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 – a set of guidelines to pave the way for sustainable transformation by 2030 – was released by The European Festival Association YOUROPE.

It is based on the EU Green Deal to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and industry requirements.

The roadmap been developed by a collaboration of YOUROPE’s GO Group think tank, A Greener Future and Greener Events Norway.

Image source: Yourope.org

Holger Jan Schmidt, general secretary of YOUROPE said: “Improving our festivals and increasing sustainability throughout the industry is an ongoing topic for YOUROPE and also for me personally.

That’s why it’s a particular pleasure to present the European Green Festival Roadmap as the icing on the cake of tools we recently published – all are open source, accessible to everyone and transferable to other cultural areas.”

“We believe that the Roadmap is a big step in the only right direction. Also, it serves as an excellent basis for further exciting and helpful projects.”

The roadmap been developed by a collaboration of YOUROPE’s GO Group think tank, A Greener Future and Greener Events Norway.

Claire O’Neill, CEO of A Greener Future said: “The roadmap helps prioritize and simplify the actions individual festivals need to take, and shines a light on areas for collective effort by the industry and beyond.”

Linnéa Vargen-Svensson of Greener Events Norway and co-founder of GO Group added: “It is time to act now – and this roadmap will guide you to get started or even to get more advanced. If you haven’t already, just start by starting!”

isla supports launch of Event Sustainability Live 🌏

Sustainable events firm isla has partnered with Event Sustainability Live (ESL) for its debut in November this year.

ESL is a sustainability initiative by Event Industry News aimed at helping organisers set and achieve their sustainability goals.

🥁 🥁 🥁 We are SO excited to announce our latest partnership and this one is a BIG one … @weareisla_uk are supporting the launch edition of Event Sustainability Live!https://t.co/hgn0WZUKOc#eventprofs #eventsustainability#ESLLondon23 pic.twitter.com/F039h4bB7n

— Event Sustainability Live (@ESLiveExpo) July 6, 2023

Toni Griggs, growth lead at isla, said: “We’re delighted to work with organiser Event Industry News (EIN) on the inaugural edition of Event Sustainability Live. EIN and isla have a shared mission to drive forward sustainability messaging in a way that is accessible and actionable across the whole events value chain.

The above mission will be weaved into the full ESL education programme and we can’t wait to welcome agencies, suppliers, venues and more to the stage and to the audience.”

“Held just two weeks before the start of COP28 we hope that ESL will provide the inspiration and impetus needed to keep the goal of event decarbonisation within reach.”

The event will be held at ExCeL, London on November 15 and 16 2023 and host a number of sessions, workshops and roundtables over a two-day period.

Adam Parry, co-founder of Event Sustainability Live, said: “Watching isla come together in and around lockdowns, the experience and innovation involved was inspiring and I’m so pleased to be working on ESL with such a dynamic partner.

“The show is about content, about creating a platform for the industry to learn from, and isla’s input is a real asset.”

Informa wins UFI Sustainable Development award 🍃

Informa has strengthened its green credentials by winning the UFI Sustainable Development award for 2023.

The award recognises and awards creative strategies and initiatives that drive and support sustainable development in the exhibition industry.

This year’s topic was ‘Best engagement programme for stakeholders’.

UFI jury member Christian Druart said: “Congratulations to Informa for sharing their internal “Fundamentals Programme” and their Informa Markets Brazil Case Study; built to allow for the diversity of needs across 40 countries, it is very comprehensive and successfully addresses the challenge of changing stakeholders’ behaviours.”

Informa Markets CEO Patrick Martell said: “Sustainability is part of the fabric of our culture at Informa Markets, and something we are honoured to be a leading industry voice on.

“In addition to reducing our own carbon footprint and being an ever more sustainable, positive impact business, we are proud of our role in driving sustainable prosperity for the communities we serve, helping our customers seize opportunities to be more sustainable themselves, and inspiring a more productive and sustainable future for all.”

Informa will present their entry at the UFI Global Congress later this year in November.

Other finalists recognised for their submissions were Fiera Milano (Italy), Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from the US, RX (UK) and Taitra from Taipei.

Associations World Congress 2023 kicks off 🚀

The 2023 edition of the Associations World Congress (AWC) is underway in Florence, Italy.  

Organised by the Association of Association Executives (AAE), the congress brings together association professionals from the world to network, learn and share best practices in association management.

The three-day event kicked off on July 9 and will conclude on July 11.

ExpoPlatform is the official event tech partner for AWC 2023 – learn how you can level up your events with our smart platform.

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