Sustainability
Next steps towards Net Zero
CATIE OWEN FINDS OUT MORE ABOUT THE NEW GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS RELEASED BY THE NET ZERO CARBON EVENTS INITIATIVE
O n 11 December 2023 at ExCeL London , the Net Zero Carbon Events ( NZCE ) initiative published seven best practice guidance documents for the events industry . Launched in 2021 following COP26 , one of the initiative ’ s goals is to provide resources that aid the international events industry in developing and implementing their net zero plans .
The documents were developed by dedicated ‘ workstream ’ teams who focused on specific action areas , as identified by NZCE ’ s Roadmap – launched in 2022 . The priority areas included venue energy ; smart production and waste management ; logistics ; travel and accommodation ; food and food waste ; offsetting and measurement . During his presentation of the new documents , Alexander Alles , executive director of the Joint Meetings Industry Council ( JMIC ), which is driving the NZCE initiative , explained that the workstream teams included international authorities of the highest level such as senior operations and sustainability experts from event organisers , venues , and service suppliers .
“ Each workstream has been organised independently ,” Alles added . “ We coordinated everything so that it ’ s in line with the overall strategy of NZCE , but left room for the workstreams to work independently . In some cases , we also opened the consultation to the public and stakeholders .”
The seven new NZCE documents contain detailed guidance to help organisations progress on the decarbonisation journey . For example , the measurement methodology serves as a comprehensive guide for understanding and quantifying event-level emissions . It covers nine emission source categories , measurement tiers , event-level metrics , extrapolation , and baseline setting .
The Smart Production and Waste Management workstream has launched a Materials Library with a comprehensive list of materials used in events and their specific emissions factors . Logistics not only provides advice on On-Site and Last Mile Logistics but also on Traffic Management and Smart Cities . All of the documents are fluid , meaning that their guidance will be updated over time as research and best practice is furthered . Alles additionally noted that the documents were designed to aid small organisations as well as large : “ We ’ re trying to achieve a lot with these
“ Going forward , NZCE will focus on supporting and guiding NZCE supporters and pledgees with their implementation of the guidelines and emerging standards .”
documents , but we ’ ve made sure to write them in easy and accessible language . If you ’ re a small organiser , paying your staff ’ s wages might be the main concern taking your full focus – trumping sustainability . Therefore , when tackling sustainability organisations need to access the guidance in the easiest format – find the easiest way to implement the guidance into their organisations .”
Where we ’ ve come from As phase three of the roadmap draws to a close , the launch at ExCeL also dived into the future of the NZCE initiative . Kai Hattendorf , managing director and CEO of UFI , the global association of the
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