Sustainability is business as usual. Measurement is the gap.
Sustainability is business as usual. Measurement is the gap.
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Amex GBT’s 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast describes sustainability as “baked-in” and “business-as-usual” for a modern meetings programme.
We think that raises a hard question: if everyone is doing it, can anyone prove it?
The forecast surveyed 500 meeting professionals in eleven countries. Its message on sustainability is clear. Attendees expect to see it, planners have it on the agenda, and the gap is increasingly about evidence rather than intent.
What the forecast says
Sustainability metrics are a stated priority (page 7). When asked about priorities for the year ahead, respondents included “improving/incorporating sustainability initiatives and metrics” in their top six. Note the word metrics. It sits next to initiatives, not behind them.
Attendees are watching (page 30). The report notes that sustainability has anecdotally “fallen down the agenda”, but says its data does not show that. Meeting professionals told YouGov that attendees expect to see visible sustainability measures, and that this is the number one way attendee expectations have changed in the last two years.
The priorities are practical (page 30). The top sustainability, accessibility and inclusion priorities for 2027 are:
- Accessibility, such as accessible transport and wheelchair-friendly venues (47%)
- Inclusion and culture, such as gender-neutral bathrooms and dietary requirements (40%)
- Sustainable food and beverage: local, seasonal, plant-based
- Catering that complies with different diets and restrictions
- Minimising disposables and prioritising sustainable materials and production
Two things stand out. Sustainability and social value now sit in the same conversation as accessibility and inclusion. And the sustainability actions on the list are visible ones: what is on the plate, what is in the bin, what the stage is built from. Visible is not the same as measured.
Scope 3 is moving from spend to consumption
Many global corporations are changing how they account for Scope 3 emissions from events, meetings and business travel. The direction of travel is from spend-based methods to consumption-based ones.
| Spend-based | Consumption-based | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Money spent on the event | What was actually used: kWh, litres, kg, km, meals, room nights |
| Method | Spend × a generic emission factor for the category | Quantity × a specific emission factor |
| What it shows | A rough, top-down estimate | A bottom-up footprint tied to real decisions |
| Effect of a better choice | Often none. A plant-based menu costs the same, so the number barely moves | Visible. The change shows up in the result |
| Effect of paying more | Emissions rise, even if the supplier is greener | Emissions reflect what was bought, not what it cost |
Spend-based accounting is a sensible starting point when nothing else is available. Its weakness is that it cannot reward good practice, because price is a poor proxy for impact. As corporate targets tighten and reporting is scrutinised, that weakness becomes harder to defend.
What this means for venues. A client who needs consumption data will ask the venue for it. That means metered energy for the event days, waste by stream, water, and the carbon intensity of the food served. Venues that can supply this become easier to select. Venues that can’t become a gap in the client’s inventory.
What this means for agencies. Agencies hold much of the activity data: delegate travel, accommodation, freight, production materials, catering volumes. If that data is collected at the end of the event, from invoices, it arrives as spend. If it is planned for at the start, it arrives as consumption. The agency that sets up measurement at briefing stage is the one that can hand clients a defensible number.
The measurement gap
Put the two threads together. The forecast shows planners prioritising sustainability metrics and attendees expecting visible action. Corporate Scope 3 methods are shifting towards data that only venues and agencies can supply. The people being asked for that data are, in many cases, not yet set up to give it.
The Latin America findings on page 34 show the pattern at regional scale. Sustainability leads as a deciding factor in destination choice there more than in any other region, yet meeting professionals are the least likely to measure emissions. Intent is high; instrumentation is low. We suspect that gap is not unique to one region.
What good looks like:
- Measurement planned at briefing, not reconstructed at close. Agree what will be captured, from whom, and in what units before the event is booked.
- Venue data in the contract. Energy, waste, water and food data for the event days, requested in the RFP and written into the agreement.
- Activity data over invoices. Delegate travel by mode and distance, room nights, meals by type, freight and materials by weight.
- A footprint that responds to decisions. If switching to a local, plant-based menu or a shorter supply chain does not change the number, the method is not measuring what you control.
- Social value alongside carbon. The accessibility and inclusion priorities on page 30 are part of the same story. They deserve evidence too, not only emissions.
What to do now
If you buy events, ask your agency and venues how they will report consumption data, not only spend, and put it in the brief.
If you deliver events, find out which of your suppliers can already give you metered, itemised data and which cannot. The 2027 forecast tells us sustainability is staying on the agenda. The next competitive edge is being able to show the numbers behind it.
At event:decision, measurement is what we do. We can help you build consumption-based data capture into your next event from the brief onwards. Get in touch to talk it through.
Source: American Express Global Business Travel, 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast (YouGov survey of 500 meeting professionals in eleven countries, fieldwork August 2026), pages 7, 27, 30 and 34.
