GETTING STARTED
60 seconds with Aspect'sAccreditations and Sustainability Manager, Amandine Kornhauser
1. What can event agencies do to move the sustainability debate on within the industry?
The event industry contributes significantly to GHG emissions through travel and transport, accommodation, production and food waste. As an events agency, we recognise the role we play in putting sustainability on our clients’ agendas and providing guidance on something that can feel overwhelming. We help them put achievable, measurable steps in place and make us all accountable. Importantly, we help them realise that prioritising sustainability and the planet will not jeopardise their business objectives.
It’s not a hard sell into our clients from a moral or ethical standpoint. But the time and dedication required is another matter. So it’s our job to help our clients get the balance right between commercial objectives, audience expectations and sustainability goals – the holy trinity.
2. How important is the collaboration between agencies, suppliers, and clients in reaching industry sustainability objectives and how well is that working at the moment?
It’s vital. There’s a lot of collaboration between agencies and suppliers in the shape of events, discussion forums, lunch & learn sessions, etc. What’s refreshing is that there’s a lot of honesty about the situation – nobody’s hiding from the issue and everyone wants to make progress. As a sector there’s no sense that we’re competing with each other – the opposite is true, we’re all facing the same challenges and working towards the same goals.
Sustainability isn’t about calling people out. It doesn’t matter where you are on the journey – it matters that you’re on it. It’s about inspiring the whole value chain so we can walk the walk hand in hand towards a common and very noble goal.
The only positive aspect of the fight against climate change is that it’s unifying. We’re all in the same boat.
3. What do you consider to be the most significant barriers to the industry making progress in sustainability?
The first one is the idea that we need to solve these problems overnight. That’s not possible so those expectations are unrealistic. Yes, the pressure is on, and time is of the essence but don’t strive for perfection straight away and don’t be put off if it takes a while to get things right.
Even if an organisation wants to shoot for the stars, their suppliers might not be in a position to support those goals yet – so it’s being aware of those limitations, but also helping each other reach baby steps, and recognising measurable efforts to reduce GHG emissions.
The second one is that there’s no point looking at sustainability in isolation. As a strategic imperative, organisations need to bring their partners, customers and suppliers on the journey with them. Departments need to be less siloed in their approach to sustainability.
And everyone needs to buy into the process – a lone sustainability warrior should be a thing of the past.
4. What do you see as the most effective measure organisations can put in place right now to help them achieve their sustainability objectives?
Just get started. Put it on the agenda for your project meetings as standard, add it to your project plan template and discuss it alongside any other commercial objective.
Include sustainability goals at the pre-planning stage when you’re deciding on format and venue, transport logistics and food & beverage options. Make venue choices based on their green credentials and on the location and travel options of your delegates - then, once your event is live, track, measure and compare its carbon emissions. This will help to monitor your progress towards Net Zero and support your planning for future events.
None of this needs to jeopardise the commercial objectives for your event programme, and you can still increase attendees at your next event while making more sustainable choices – the right location will decrease your emissions in most of the key areas such as travel, accommodation, and production. Either way, your event won’t end up costing the earth.
