ABPCO
8
March 2019
The road to
a more sustainable future
Through a close working partnership with Positive Impact, ABPCO is taking
a leading role in the conference industry’s battle to become more sustainable
ustainability is a very broad topic
with all manner of definitions,
opinions and potential solutions.
This in turn means that although
the principal of sustainability is considered a
good thing by the majority of people, it also
means it can be quite a decisive topic. Any
gathering of individuals will have opinions
on what should be the top priority and how
each issue should be solved. Some will want
to start with the financial elements believing
there is no point working on others until we
can afford them. Some will want to sort the
education elements ensuring there is global
understanding of sustainability, without which
change cannot occur. And some will have a
single issue that they see as the silver bullet,
an issue that needs resolving this week if we
have any chance of long-term survival on this
planet.
ABPCO’s work with Positive Impact has
been looking at these issues, working together
as a membership-based organisation to see
where we can create genuine change for the
good of all. Our executive team have attended
major educational events such as the United
Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
workshop in Paris, where attendees focused
on @Leveraging Sustainable Procurement
Practices to Transform Tourism Value Chains.”
We have sought advice and knowledge from
the likes of Positive Impact and we have done
our own research. Most importantly though
we adhered to our core values of belonging,
excellence and learning, we brought our
members together and debated issues to create
priorities and a sustainability road map for our
industry.
The first and most important concept
that came from our work on the subject of
sustainability was our industry’s potential
impact and ability to reach wider audiences.
We can make changes to our own practices
and attitudes – such changes will not
happen overnight but making our events
more sustainable is in effect a process. It
requires us to look closely at each element
of what we do, consider it in terms of the
wider sustainability needs of the event itself,
the organisers, the industry and ultimately
the planet. However, our work cannot and
should not stop there. An event is one of
the most powerful learning and educational
opportunities available to us. Therefore, we
shouldn’t just do the sustainability work in the
background. Instead we need to shout about
it, let our delegates understand what we are
doing but most importantly educate them as to
the reasons why. Every event that works with
sustainability in mind should inject a session,
discussion, round table debate or presentation
on sustainability to create a legacy and wider
understanding of the issues at play.
Through our own activity and our ability
to create change amongst others we believe
our industry can and should make significant
changes in the following three areas. It is
worth noting that these are just three of a
much wider list of goals identified by the UN.
However, these are three where changes can
happen fast and effectively whilst maximising
our strengths:
Responsible production and consumption
– from travel and accommodation to food, av,
lanyards and exhibition stands events consume
a disproportionately large amount of resources.
As organisers we need to question everything
we consume, identify whether it is needed in
the first place, whether it can be sourced more