Face-to-face interactions are still one of the most valuable assets for any organisation or initiative to have an impact on the audience it’s trying to reach. But, in today’s environmental and social climates, sustainability is crucial if we want to future-proof the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) industry and the human connection it provides.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw that the most sustainable event is an event that doesn’t happen,” the Event Greening Forum (EGF)’s Chairman John Arvanitakis said during an Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) and EGF-sponsored interactive webinar on 14 November. “There was a noticeable difference in the environment during that time.”
But obviously, that’s not economically or socially viable. He explained that, in order for the South African industry to move towards greener events, associations, organisers and other event-related companies need to bring their clients on board.
“Recycling has been part of life in Germany for the past 30 years,” said Benjamin Low, founder·of Sustainable Trade Event Partnerships (STEP). “You can’t go to an event where we don’t have recycling.”
While Europe’s clients are pushing the MICE industry due to increasing regulatory pressures, South Africa’s event organisers and companies are still pulling their clients on the journey, however, John pointed out.
However, he warned that with increasing international exhibitors coming to the country, the local MICE industry will be encouraged to embrace more environmentally conscious practices, because it could affect the exhibitors’ scores back home. “I heard that you can’t even open a bank account anymore in some countries without having some sort of sustainability report, that’s how serious it’s getting,” John added.
According to AAXO board member and VP of South Africa at DMG Events, Joshua Low, this trend has already started realising for many South African venues, who are getting more queries from international organisers regarding their waste management and water consumption, for example.
“One of the biggest challenges the local venues have when it comes to managing their carbon emissions is the waste generated by events and attendees on their premises,” John said. “I was at a trade show recently where one of the hotels had a lot of delegates, exhibitors and buyers staying over and the manager called me to look at their trash after the event. They had filled more than two skips full of material from one exhibition – and that was just the one hotel.”
In Germany, the market is uniquely set up where organisers are also venue operators, with buildings and infrastructure that they’re managing on top of the normal event procedures. Some are also owned by the state, which means there is usually a political element and various stakeholders involved. “The European Union will soon pass a regulation that will see these organisations start reporting on their ESG criteria too,” explained Ben.
DMG Sustainability Manager, Sophie Thesiger, acknowledged that while the exhibition industry is still very much going through the behavioural change and culture-build phase of its journey, she is prioritising educating the industry. “This means providing training and support for the suppliers and venues that need help understanding the sustainability expectations and regulations out there,” she added. “It also means supporting clients in meeting their sustainability goals and facilitating more open dialogues between people to start sharing information so we can continually develop as an industry.”
To move beyond this “awkward” phase, the leaders of the event industry need to step up and prioritise sustainability, even when facing competing priorities that affect the bottom line, the panellists agreed. “If it doesn’t come from management, especially the CEO, it’s very unlikely that things are going to change – at least not at the pace we want it to. That’s why we talk so much about top-down strategies in the business realm,” Ben said.
“At DMG Events, we’ve integrated sustainability KPIs into our senior management level as a way of incentivising the transition,” Joshua shared.
Once the leadership team has bought into the strategy, sustainability leaders have to start incorporating the rest of the teams and clearly define the direction the organisation is going in. “When we look at studies, it’s clear that companies that have been successful are able to build this sense of ownership over the sustainability strategy,” Sophie explained.
Organisations should also bring sustainability criteria into their supplier agreements. “So it’s important to bring everyone on board,” she highlighted. “Something I’ve seen during my short time at DMG Events so far is a development in stakeholder relationships because of a more collaborative and informed supply chain. We meet regularly to discuss how we can support each other on our NZCE journey.”
Replace fear with transparent reporting
Joshua noted that there is still a lot of resistance due to a lack of awareness and uncertainty in the industry. “There’s a lot of terminology that’s being thrown around (like net-zero and carbon neutral) and you have to be very careful of what words you use to promote something, or you might end up in the hot water for greenwashing,” he explained. “Europe has a law that bars you from using certain terms without backing them up with certification or an audit. This can all be very overwhelming.”
Ben echoed this, saying there’s a lot of angst around being wrong in the European MICE market. As a result, a lot of communication is held back. He added that there’s also a lot of grey area around who’s responsible for which emissions between event organisers and exhibitors. “When renting out spaces at a trade show, for example, does the organiser take responsibility for the collective footprint of the event, or does each exhibitor take responsibility for the footprint of the space they are renting.”
“Net-zero is a terrifying concept that’s hard to wrap your head around,” admitted Sophie. “But you have to commit, educate yourself, and then start building a roadmap towards achieving it.”
She pointed out that this fear factor mainly centres around potentially not being able to achieve what we’ve committed to. “That’s why transparent reporting is such a key part of this process, so you can at least honestly say that you are trying and can demonstrate that you’ve done your best.”
One of the things that’s helping the industry be transparent by helping us measure and report our carbon emissions accurately was referenced at a COP29 session that had also taken place earlier that day, announcing the integration of the Net-Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) methodology into the United Nation’s reference tool for the measurement of events emissions, the Green Events Tool (GET). To test the model’s accuracy, the tool was used to measure the emissions of multiple big events globally, including the ATP Tour (an annual tennis tournament in the Middle East) and other protocols like the Global Circularity Protocol (GCP).
“The ATP Tour sees almost 150 players compete over seven days, so we all thought international travel would be the biggest emission factor,” John said. “The tool’s report stated that the venue contributed 16% towards the event’s carbon footprint, local and ground transportation contributed 10%, and international travel was only 9%. Those are relevantly low in comparison to market expectations.”
Accommodation and supplies were very high, and so was material consumption, contributing 29%.
The social side of sustainability
Having just completed their 2024 financial year carbon emissions audit, Sophie explained that she has seen similar statistics in DMG Events’ carbon footprint. “We break it down into three scopes: scope one is what’s owned and controlled in the organisations, like a venue or car; scope two is the electricity, gas, steam, heating and cooling consumed; and scope three is the services and supplies purchased from third-parties,” she said.
Scope three is the most challenging and, for the events industry, the most significant emissions to manage. “When we look at DMG, for example, our scope one and two emissions account for less than 1% of our carbon footprint. Our scope three is 99% of our overall footprint,” Sophie noted.
However, she doesn’t believe that people should see it as a challenge. “Scope three is also the area that promotes the most collaboration. It’s somewhere you can start engaging and speaking with your event value chain to achieve your goals together,” she said.
Find out more here: EGF workshop reveals carbon footprint considerations for event companies
The panel emphasised that as well as environmental, there are also social considerations organisations have to make when it comes to sustainability. “If we start doing everything digitally, we will be excluding entire populations of attendees that don’t have smartphones, can’t afford them, or don’t know how to use them,” explained Ben. “How do we make sure everyone has a place.”
Given South Africa’s history, however, the social element is almost more important. Echoing Sophie’s earlier point, John emphasised this is a great opportunity for organisations to work together with the communities they host events in. “We work with local farmers and manufacturers to provide catering for our events, meaning our menus are both locally sourced and transported – keeping our carbon footprint to a minimal, and in turn, growing the local economies.”
Similarly, he added, organisations can source sustainable materials from the surrounding communities to eliminate transport and material emissions. South Africa is known for producing one of the most sustainable lightweight metals, Aluminium, perfect for exhibition stands and structures. “A bamboo farmer also approached me the other day, with plans to enter the exhibition space too. So there’s a lot of innovations out there you can use, you just have to be open-minded enough to make the shift,” he said.
A better impact is a business imperative
“I think everybody thinks that we’re expecting an overnight transformation, but it’s a slow and steady process that starts with trying to make proactive impactful changes,” Sophie said, adding that a good sustainability strategy can help organisations make this mind shift starts with understanding what your emissions are and what is under your organisation’s control, then developing mitigation methods, like reducing material consumption by moving from paper to QR codes and digital platforms, or developing reusable practices as opposed to everything being single-use. “Once you’ve extended that option, then start offsetting those areas, especially your scope three emissions,” she explained.
“Another approach you can try is linking and aligning your business strategy with the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Identify five that you are going to push forward within your organisation, as this will help you stay focused instead of trying to do a lot of less impactful things in a panic, at the last minute.”
Once you have laid out the roadmap for your NZCE journey, you have to communicate it internally and externally to create a culture change. “It’s a lot easier to drive an initiative if the individuals within your organisations understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind what you’re doing,” Sophie advised.
Ben encouraged beginners to look beyond the bureaucracy and focus on the ‘why’. “We are attacking people for planting trees and calling it greenwashing, but in reality, we’re only discouraging them from starting the process. We need to realise that not everyone is going to be perfect right away, but at least you can say you are proactively trying to do something rather than nothing.”
You can also build sustainability into your long-term budget and business plans. “Sustainability and efficiency also pair well together, so there are many cost-saving elements that come with it too,” Sophie said.
This is noteworthy because, at the moment, sustainability is still more expensive simply from an economic supply-and-demand point of view. “Not enough clients are pushing the green events agenda yet,” John reiterated. “Only once there’s a bigger demand will we see the price of sustainable initiatives and products come down and less sustainable elements of eventing will increase in price. That would make more economic sense than what’s going on currently.”
Ben agreed, saying: “If you’re looking at things like ESG reporting for an organisation, there is a cost tied to it – whether you’re hiring someone or expending internal resources, there’s no way around it.”
However, he explained that it can also be a competitive advantage, especially for companies in Europe. “We have an ageing workforce, so the fight for talent is extremely tough. If you want to be an attractive employer, you need to position yourself as a leader in sustainability, because the young people coming into the industry are really passionate about it. So there’s no way around it if you want to keep growing and expanding your operations.”
The webinar concluded that embracing sustainability is crucial for future-proofing the MICE industry, aligning with international expectations, and meeting the growing demands of clients and stakeholders. It is the social license to operate and grow in a competitive, evolving market. By committing to meaningful change, the MICE industry can safeguard its economic viability while leaving a positive legacy for the planet and the communities it serves.
