W hen even the US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) gets worried about ‘ AI-washing ’, we should be careful about the expectations created by companies worldwide , heralding AI as the ‘ next big thing ’. Taking the changing delegate expectations as a starting point , the technology does , however , offer opportunities which could result in a better delegate experience and new revenue sources .

While the IMF predicts a global growth of GDP by 3.2 % for this year , the economic realities per country are very divergent and overall momentum is slowing down . At the same time , global inflation rates are still high , impacting the cost structure of venues on all levels . In addition , some costs – such as food and energy – are becoming increasingly volatile due to climate change and geopolitics . Making venues more sustainable helps to address some of these financial challenges .

It is the nightmare of any chief financial officer : cost volatility . But it has become a reality for key elements of convention centre cost structure , such as energy and food . In Europe , energy cost doubled between December 2020 and December 2021 and went up another 50 % by July 2022 before going down by 15 % by 2023 . There are various reasons for this volatility , but invariably they are not under control of the energy users . As a result , organisations lose control of margin . While this has always been the case to some extent , the level of volatility witnessed over the last years is unprecedented .

As a result , venues are increasing their investment in solar and other non-fossil sources of energy . The Bella Center in Copenhagen , for example , has completed its 16,000sqm roof integrated solar panel park in 2023 . This drastically reduced their carbon footprint and helped make energy cost predictable .

However , generating energy is only one part of the story . In addition , the Bella Group puts a lot of energy – no pun intended – in trying to reduce overall energy consumption . This is being done via investments in less energy intensive lighting , ventilation and temperature control . As a result , the energy consumption per event guest

Above : Sven Bossu

reduced by 26 % from 2019 – their baseline year – to 2023 . For 2024 , the ambition is to reduce overall energy consumption at the group level with another 5 % compared to 2022 .

Next to energy , food is an important part of delegate experience and another key cost factor . Similar to energy , food prices have not only gone up but are also becoming more volatile as a result of climate change impacting agriculture production worldwide . One of my favourite drinks – Arabica coffee – saw its price go up from $ 2.88 per kilo in 2019 to $ 5.63 per kilo in 2022 before going down to $ 4.4 per kilo in 2024 .

To a certain level , venues are doing the same as they do for energy , especially with regards to fruits and vegetables . Great examples are the roof garden of the Javits Center in New York or the 14,000sqm vegetable garden of VIParis . Combined with waste reduction , this reduces both the carbon footprint and gives venues increased control over their cost .

A key element with all the above is to demonstrate the results achieved is the ability to measure . This is an investment area on its own , whereby venues need to move from one energy meter for the entire facility to a fine-mazed monitoring system .

However , the business case is definitely there and , in addition , it will allow venues to comply with the increasing need for reporting , both to customers and regulators .

As a result of the investments made , the Bella Center is now able to give a report at event level , covering energy and water consumption , waste , purchased goods and food and beverage consumption .

As a strategic move , they decided to provide this report for free to their clients , demonstrating transparency and the ambition to become real partners in achieving sustainability goals at the level of the organiser and – consequently – of the entire event industry . n

ISSUE 131 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 11

Conference & Meetings World 131 | Page 11

AIPC

Building the sustainability business case