Our role in events as demonstrators of sustainability in action along with the powerful opportunity events have to encourage changing behaviors, can leave marvelous enduring legacies. We have developed the following list of things we think all events should aspire to leave as legacies to enhancing sustainable development.
1. Sustainable Food
Use your event to showcase and promote the consumption of local, seasonal, chemical-free, sustainably harvested, organic, fair-trade food.
Partner: with local farmers markets, farm to plate programs, food cooperatives or other local and sustainable sourcing programs.
Legacy: Attendees are inspired to source local, seasonal, sustainable food in their everyday lives.
2. Energy Conservation
Use your event to demonstrate how being energy efficient in planning, use, and equipment choice are possible.
Partner: with energy conservation education programs or with energy-efficient product companies. Offer an outlet at your event to promote their programs and products.
Legacy: Inspire attendees to look at their energy consumption habits. Bridge the gap between energy demand and consumption, with energy use.
3. Renewable Energy
Use your event to promote alternatives to reliance on fossil fuel-based energy supply. Use solar, bio fuelled generators, wind, pedal, kinetic, hydrogen fuel cell, micro-hydro, or grid-based renewable energy tariffs.
Partner: with renewable energy mains retailers, or offer a forum for renewable energy innovations and technologies to be showcased at your event.
Legacy: Inspire event attendees to switch to renewable energy tariff/supply at home and at work, and to offer their support to programs and innovations through their voting and political choices.
4. Public Transport/Walk/Cycle
Use your event to encourage the uptake of sustainable transport options. Incentivize event attendees to get out of cars and taxis and onto public transport.
Partner: with local transport initiatives and offer a platform at your event For these programs to promote themselves.
Legacy: Inspire attendees to sustainable transport options in their everyday lives.
5. Flight GHG Offsetting
If your event requires participants to travel by air to attend, put offsetting in place. Offset production air travel (talent, speakers, crew), or ‘go halves’ with talent at least. Encourage event attendees to travel by air to your event to offset their GHG emissions. Consider bundling it with ticket purchase.
Partner: Choose offsetting projects to channel your funds to and promote the benefits of the project outcomes to event participants.
Legacy: Have event attendees take responsibility for their air travel choices and GHG impacts by continuing to offset all their air travel. Positive social and environmental benefits achieved through funding for offset projects.
6. Waterwise
Practice responsible water habits and ensure conservative water use and protection of waterways.
Partner: with waterwise programs and campaigns to promote water conservation and waterwise protection. Offer the event as a platform for the promotion of their messages.
Legacy: Inspire attendees to consider their own water use habits and for them to be waterwise in their everyday lives.
7. Waste Avoidance
Use your event to demonstrate how it is possible to reduce waste creation to minimal levels by planning-in waste avoidance strategies. Promote per person waste figures for the event.
Partner: with waste avoidance campaigns locally them a space at your event or through a partnership with your event waste activities.
Legacy: Inspire your event attendees to consider the choices they make which create avoidable waste.
8. Waste Diversion
Demonstrate diversion from landfill and incineration by having at-event waste segregation that includes attendee participation.
Partner: with recycling, composting, salvage and re-use programs or organizations using the event to showcase their messages in action.
Legacy: Use the event to showcase excellence in recycling, composting and salvage and inspire event attendees to do the same in their everyday lives.
9. Water Bottle Free
Reduce resource consumption, energy, waste and water impacts through providing water refill stations or glasses and jugs of water, rather than selling or providing packaged bottled water.
Partner: with ‘take back the tap’ style campaigns or create your own.
Legacy: inspire event attendees to always use refillable water bottles rather than buying packaged water.
10. Sustainable Sourcing
Scrutinize all your procurement and choose the most sustainable options. Choose eco-labeled, non-toxic, fair labor, fair trade, local, sustainably manufactured, cruelty-free, sustainable materials, low carbon footprint, low water footprint products. Support the community nor destination that hosts your event through the inclusion of local suppliers, contractors, crew, volunteers, businesses and community groups. Promote the proportion of event budget that is spent locally, the proportion of event workforce that is local, and the proportion of traders/exhibitors/talent that are local.
Partner: with sustainable products both to use to produce the event as well as offering exposure at your event to attendees. Partner with community programs and groups inviting their participation in your event and as recipients of positive legacies.
Legacy: Through your great procurement choices, expose attendees to these products and relevant options for their everyday lives. Leave a lasting legacy with the community as a result of your event activities such as economic support, physical resources, or new knowledge, skills or ongoing business opportunities.
11. Sustainable Sponsors
Demonstrate your commitment to sustainability through the alignments and partnership choices you make. Create a corporate screening policy and ensure those companies you either accept money from or allow exposure through your event are responsible corporate citizens.
Partner: only with sponsors and funding partners which enhance and support the event’s sustainability performance.
Legacy: expose event attendees to positive and responsible organizations.
12. Campaigns and Programs
Offer your event as a vehicle to promote relevant and aligned sustainable development campaigns, initiatives, organizations or programs. Seek those local to the event destination or aligned with your event’s content or attendees.
Partner: with charities, local campaigns, or other organizations and offer exposure for their messages as well as enhancing your reputation.
Legacy: Inspire participation in campaigns and organizations by event attendees, improve the success of these programs.
Article credit: GreenBook.com
