How to organize green events

Environmental protection is an increasingly important issue, especially in light of the urgency of climate change and the warnings given by scientists. 

Governments and organizations tend to take measures to protect the planet, but the efforts must come from everyone, including the events sector. 

Even if its impact seems small because they are one-off events, there were around 380,000 business and institutional events in France in 2018, hosting around 52 million participants. 

That many people travel and have to be accommodated and fed. These events require an enormous amount of resources and produce just as many negative effects. 

In this context, an increasing number of alternative solutions are being developed to enable the events sector to become more eco-responsible.  

Transform your events:

Do you want to organize an event in an eco-friendly way? Here are some solutions to make it more ecological. 

As far as travel is concerned, choose a central location, the more people there are on-site or nearby, the less travel is required.

Also, choose a location that is easy to get to and well-served by public transport. Encourage visitors to use public transport or to carpool in order to limit the carbon footprint due to travel.

Travelling to and from the event accounts for approximately 70-90% of the greenhouse gas emissions of the event. One participant represents an average of 180 kg of CO2 released into the air.

As far as catering is concerned, try to use local and seasonal products rather than products that have had to travel hundreds of kilometres to end up on your plate.

Also, use tap water instead of bottled water to avoid delivery and the waste that plastic bottles represent.

Use reusable or recyclable dishes rather than disposable ones. If you need decorations, hire them or buy them second-hand and sell them later, you probably won't need them anymore, why make extra waste? 

Regarding waste, set up a waste separation system to encourage participants to sort their waste so that it can be recycled. 

Do you have leftovers in terms of the quantities of food you plan to eat? Offer them on apps such as Too Good To Go or Eqosphere.

Instead of throwing them away, your leftovers can be recuperated by individuals or charities. 

Instead of printing flyers and invitations, advertise digitally through social networks or by emailing participants directly.

For the venues, you can choose establishments built to the latest ecological and sustainable standards, for example with energy-saving lighting, using renewable energy and made from environmentally friendly materials. 

Some venues are already equipped, so you won't need to have all the materials delivered.

Regarding goodies, stay within the eco-responsible theme and avoid any product made of non-recyclable plastic.

You can also try to combine your events into one to avoid duplicating the organization and its environmental consequences.

The alternative of virtual events:

You are probably thinking that the pandemic is behind us and that it is time to go back to in-person events and forget the virtual. 

Actually, virtual and hybrid events should not be left aside. They are the ideal solution to avoid having all the participants travel and to limit the impact on the environment. 

Hybrid events enable only those participants who really want or can afford to attend to come to the event.

A totally virtual event allows everyone to avoid travelling, whether it concerns the participants, the speakers or even the organizers. 

This solution is not only ideal for the environment, but it will also save you money on the organization: no rental for the venues, accommodation and catering, decorations, equipment and no transport costs. 

With the solutions offered by OUispeak, for example, you can reduce your carbon footprint by 2.1 tons thanks to our solutions.

Measure your impact on the environment:

If you want to know the environmental impact of your event, here are some calculation tools:

• ADERE (Environmental self-diagnosis for event managers). This tool helps you organize your event and enables you to carry out a self-diagnosis of its environmental impact of it. You will be provided with suggestions on how to make your event more eco-responsible. 
• The GoodPlanet Foundation's carbon calculators, allow companies, but also individuals and event organizers, to calculate their carbon footprint and make a contribution to help fight the greenhouse effect.
• Climat Mundi also offers a CO2 emission calculator and advice on how to reduce the impact of your event.

Conclusion :

The commitment of the industry to environmental protection should not be overlooked.

Constant efforts are needed to protect the world around us and everyone has a duty to contribute.

Do you want to get involved in eco-responsible events?

Come and discover what OUispeak can do for you to reduce your carbon footprint and benefit from our Green Events label.

To contact the OUispeak team, send us an e-mail. 

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