The State of Sustainability in the Event Sector: A Responsible Perspective
Exploring the current state of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in the event sector.
Being delivered live at the Sustainable Event Show Friday, 7th November 2025, London.For a graphic-only version, click here. White paper and video versions will be published shortly.
The event sector is a highly diverse & transactional yet creative sector. We include sporting events, cultural, community, conferences, experiential, corporate and brand activity within our remit. We deliver tens of thousands of experiences, every single day. Yet each event is different and individual. This poses both opportunities and challenges in sustainable product and delivery, unlike any other sector.
Despite initial and continued enthusiasm, and whilst the appetite for sustainable solutions is undiminished, financial realism and logistical pragmatism are driving many decisions in event planning.
event:decision’s “State of Sustainability in the Event Sector” offers a snapshot of how the sector is performing across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions — and what must come next.
Confidence and Sentiment
Across the UK, EU, and US, planners’ confidence in sustainable practice varies but shares a cautious optimism. While European professionals express stronger conviction in ESG progress, UK media reports uncertainty and financial pressure on planners. Across 2025 sector media continues to show sustainability as a top priority, over other factors such as Experience and Connection, AI && Tech, Financial concerns and Inclusivity.
Planners in the US show a reduction in appetite for sustainable solutions from 7/10 to 5/10, the only region to do so.
These findings reveal a sector in motion: sustainability is clearly valued, yet implementation lags behind ambition.
What You Want: The Priorities of Event Professionals
Data from the AMEX GBT M&E 2026 Forecast, based on insights from over 600 meeting professionals, identifies where event planners are focusing their attention.
- Destinations and venues unsurprisingly continue to dominate decision-making
- However, AMEX data suggests a tension between aspiration and practicality — most professionals want to host greener events but struggle to translate desire into measurable outcomes. Sustainability is not yet the new normal.
Despite planner optimism, sustainability still competes for attention against more traditional pressures. Of course it does. According to the AmexGBT report:
– Only 25% of event professionals currently track emissions. That means 3 in 4 do not.
– Just 28% plan to prioritise improvements to sustainability metrics in 2026. That means 2 in 3 do not.
– And while 38% have sustainability written into policy, 28% still classify it as a “pending initiative,” trailing behind cost reduction and attendee engagement in priority.
This measurement gap is critical. Without reliable data, it’s impossible to quantify progress, justify budget spend, or demonstrate ROI — all of which are essential for making the business case for sustainability.
In ‘The Value of Values”, Daniel Aronson quotes a global CFO as saying “only two department come into my office and ask for money with no numbers – HR and sustainability”.
In other words, we’re all still stuck at the stage of good intentions without consistent proof. The will exists, but the pathway remains fragmented. Eventprofs must keep sustainability in mind across the planning process; there are very few decisions needing to be made, in which sustainable options are not available.
What The Sector Does: Headlines
Agency Performance
Based on the Power 30 Most Sustainable Agencies campaign in conjunction with micebook 2024-5.
Geography: UK only
- 94% of agencies have a defined sustainability lead within the business.
- 50% hold an Ecovadis accreditation, and 50% of these hold at Silver level
- Almost half (47%) hold ISO14001 accreditation for their own businesses.
- Half of this number (22%) hold ISO 20121 for their event planning processes
- Only 1 in 5 of the most sustainable agencies hold a B Corp certification.
You can see this and additional related information in the Power 30 Most Sustainable Agencies 2024-5 output.
Event Performance
Based on event:decision’s Impact: Responsible Event Review data, which is based on over 5,500 data points from:
Event date range: Jan 2024 – Oct 2025
Geographies: US, EMEA, APAC
Event types: Conferences, sporting tournaments, exhibitions, experiential, incentives, meetings & stand-builds
Sectors: aviation, education, energy, tourism, events & hospitality, finance, banking, insurance, government.
Reviewers are invited to detail their adoption of factors within E, S & G. Here we highlight those factor adopted most and least, by the industry.
Users are able to benchmark their event performance against global, regional, type and sector performance.
Here we evaluate how the event sector performs in three pillars, highlighting the three most and three least actioned factors within each of ESG channels:
Environmental Factors
- Strengths: Reported growing adoption of event carbon reporting, and increased attention to venue certifications and responsible food and beverage sourcing.
- Opportunities: Limited action on pushing venues towards energy efficiency and the collection of delegate travel data — two of the most significant contributors to an event’s carbon footprint.
Social Factors
- Strengths: A reported focus on delegate wellbeing and promoting events for all.
- Opportunities: Persistent gaps in auditing supplie living wage policies, event legacy planning, and collaboration with social enterprises to deliver impact.
Governance Factors
- Strengths: Solid foundations in contractor insurance, sector codes of practice, and risk assessments (RAMS).
- Opportunities: Rarely is ROI linked to sustainability KPIs, few events appoint an event-ESG lead, and certification of internal (agency)ESG systems remains underdeveloped.
In short, while the frameworks are forming, most organisations are still at an early stage of integrating ESG rigour into everyday decision-making.
What about carbon emissions reporting?
Whilst reporting of Social and Governance factors is somewhat scarce, without doubt, emissions reporting of events is the most commonly actioned reporting tactic. Yet carbon impact remains one of the sector’s most pressing issues.
We believe that even combining the data of all popular event carbon calculation platforms & services, the sector is barely scratching the surface of rigorous, audit-worthy measurement and reporting at any significant scale.
Questions for the industry:
- Travel. Whilst Greenhouse Gas Protocol states that if emissions are created due to an event, they should be calculated and reported – there appears a reticence within the event sector to include travel-related emissions within reporting.
- As hotel, conference & convention centre product is potentially less variable than the events they deliver, greater progress has been made on certifications and accreditations. Both agency and in-house teams should reward venues which have invested in these standards by actively considering them in their decision making, moreso than is seen in current sector reporting.
- Food & Beverage. Whilst public sentiment and (literal) tastes are changing, it is apparent that longer events (1 days+) still encounter some challenge in offering solely plant-based menus.
- Materials & Freight: whilst ideally re-used / re-purposed materials and local supply is ideal, rarely is the infrastructure in place to deliver. In a live event scenario, confidence in supply often outweighs sustainability considerations, especially in the technical environment.
- There is still demand for swag. Usually mass-produced some distance from the event site and airfreighted. The event sector needs to work harder in convincing clients that there are more viable and valuable alternatives. Should multi-$m corporations needs cheap swag to entice prospects to engage on exhibition stands?
Track Reports from event:decision are the #1 global event-focussed carbon reporting service, providing planners with:Event carbon footprint | Industry benchmark | Travel Capture tool | Specific mitigations | Offset values.
The School Report: How Events Compare
When benchmarked against other industries, the event sector earns a mixed grade. There are signs of life — strong momentum in awareness and engagement — but progress is uneven. Environmental measurement is advancing, whilst social sustainability trails behind.
Sectors such as aviation, automotive, pharmaceuticals, energy and finance are more highly regulated, financed and deliver greater supply chain integration. As such, it can be argued that progress towards a more sustainable product is more advanced.
The message to #Eventprofs is clear: intent is no longer enough. The next chapter must focus on execution and evidence.
What’s Next: A Call to Action
The closing elements of the report outline seven crucial lessons — each a call to action for planners, agencies, and brands:
- Destination & venue choice is critical – sustainability begins with where and how you host. Travel accessibility, especially by public transport / mass transit is the largest factor.
- Ownership matters – it’s up to you to drive responsible practice. Step up and take the credit, if you’re delivering sustainable value. event:decision can provide you with simple metrics to demonstrate.
- Optics count – it matters what things look like, even if the emissions effect is relatively small, communicate sustainable choices transparently and authentically.
- Easy wins exist everywhere – small steps (local sourcing, digital materials) add up fast.
- The social benefits of events are under-used; relative to environmental tactics. Integrate local supply, social enterprise supply (there are more of these than you think), align with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (they are hard to argue against) and legacy into your event DNA.
- Responsible options are abundant – from certified venues to low-impact catering, digital swag, swag-swap tables, local & sustainable suppliers; more sustainable choices are accessible. Impact: Responsible Event Reviews will point you directly at conscious supply-chain.
- Set an objective and take the first step — progress begins with measurement. Every small tactic delivers a more responsible event.
Conclusion
The 2025 landscape for event sustainability is one of potential meeting accountability. The event sector has never been more aware of its responsibilities – yet has never needed clearer leadership to translate intent into impact.
If the sector can embed sustainable thinking and practice into more decisions – from destination selection to delegate travel, supply chain integrity to ROI, the events of tomorrow will not only bring people together, but do so responsibly.
