State of Sustainability Report 2023

event:decision launches an annual report on the state of sustainability in events.

At event:decision we’re now mid-way through our second year in business measuring the carbon impact of the event industry through our sustainability tool track. With unparalleled access to a wealth of hugely useful data from across the industry, the launch of an annual State of Sustainability report releases for the first time findings from the hundreds of events and planners that are using track to deliver more sustainable and efficient events.

SOS ’23 Findings

Data runs from April 2022 to May 2023 and shows an average event carbon footprint of 117 tCO₂e. This is broken down into the key event components as follows:

78% of the overall footprint from travel
7% from accommodation
6% from materials
4% from food and beverage

Of events reported on within this time period, 54% are UK events, and 46% elsewhere globally. 89% are in-person events, with 6% hybrid and 5% fully virtual.

NB Removing global events (with high flight emissions profiles) does not typically significantly alter the proportions of flights, accommodation, F&B, energy, materials, freight and waste.

Perhaps the most striking finding from the data however, comes in the comparison between pre and post event carbon footprints. Using track at the planning stage has empowered hundreds of event planners to make decisions which have resulted in a significant reduction in the climate impact of their event. As event:decision founder Matt Grey explains

“Our data shows that reductions in carbon footprints, through pre-event planning, range from 4% to 44% across agency portfolios. And the largest single-event mitigation was an impressive 95%”.

Matt Grey, Founder event:decision

What areas have the greatest impact?

Unsurprisingly, the data shows that there is a significant impact on emissions associated with getting to and from events, with travel accounting for an average of 78% of all events’ carbon footprints (we measure a large number of events with significant flight profiles). There are relatively small proportions associated with materials, freight and waste, however, which may come as a surprise to event planners.

Matt comments that the data highlights that event planners may be focusing their current sustainability efforts in the wrong places;

“It’s very easy to devote a lot of time and effort on factors that are visible at an event (badges, lanyards, menus etc) which, of course, we still need to do. It’s much harder though to devote significant effort to the mitigation of invisible factors, such as travel and accommodation, which affect the meeting format as a whole. But these are the areas which desperately need our industry focus.”

Matt Grey, Founder event:decision

Progress in sustainability is being made

It’s important to emphasise that huge progress is being made in sustainability for events. Only four years ago, just prior to Covid, no event specific carbon footprint measurement tools were available. Sustainability was a small section, if included at all, within brand event briefs, while very few venues were accredited to sustainability standards – in fact, few standards existed. Into this environment event:decision was founded in Mar 2021 with Net Zero Carbon Events following in Aug 2021. Matt comments

“A fundamental shift has started. Whether due to concern for climate change or fear of the brand risk associated with conspicuous consumption – change is happening. The next trick, is how to make it meaningful?”

Matt Grey Founder event:decision

So, armed with the knowledge from this data, what do event planners need to do? We suggest our seven point action plan, which starts and ends with measurement.

A Sustainability Action Plan for event planners

Measure – create a projected carbon footprint.
Select destinations carefully (think ‘access’) – plan with travel in mind, event:decision can accurately predict travel footprints for specific venues and destinations and compare them.
Select venues carefully (think ‘power’) – using renewable venue power makes a significant difference.
Consider F&B – move away from meat where you can (especially beef), it makes a difference to the F&B element, if not a hugely significant one to the event as a whole.
Use local supply for kit & crew (not just for transport mitigation, but crew accommodation and subsistence also).
Build stands locally – using local materials and labour.
Measure – post event, measure the projected carbon footprint to demonstrate your savings.

This is the first of our State of Sustainability reports and we will be using these annually to track how we are performing as an industry. The timing is significant as just on the horizon is the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), an EU directive requiring large and listed companies to publish regular reports on the social and environmental risks they face, and on how their activities impact people and the environment. It is EU legislation but will affect all companies of a significant size operating in the UK. Measurement will become even more important in order to accurately report progress in sustainability.

“There is no way to tell how well you are doing unless you measure!”

Matt Grey, Founder event:decision

If you’re interested in finding out more about sustainable event planning, you can use the carbon footprint calculator track – used by the event planners in our report – to calculate your own event’s projected and actual carbon footprint. Please get in touch, we can give you a demo and show you some more sample reports to illustrate just what it could do for you.