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organisation and business .
“ There are standards led by government , that already exist and work really well . We just need to adopt them here in the UK ,” says Jandt . For example , the Austrian Ecolabel is a certification led by the Federal Ministry Republic of Austria – Climate Action , Environment , Energy , Mobility , Innovation and Technology . The certification is only awarded to events which are organised in a ‘ professionally ’ and ‘ environmentally sound ’ manner .
Jandt explains : “ It certifies the whole event that you are planning and it entails everything from delegate travel , what materials you are using , catering , the actual venue itself – all facets . It also takes into consideration that you can ’ t do everything . It scores certain elements higher than then others , but you can still get points through it . It also provides you with options to see what the potential changes would be next time .” Although it ’ s “ a lot of work ” and requires “ a lot of commitment ”, Jandt believes it ’ s something that could potentially be implemented through the whole events industry .
Jandt isn ’ t the only eventprof who believes the government has a role to play . “ In an ideal world , to help standardise sustainability , the government would offer financial incentives to the events industry ,” says Lim . This would encourage sustainability to become prioritised when planning events .
According to Lim , these incentives could take the form of tax reliefs for event companies submitting eligible ESG reports that meet the statistical benchmark outlined by the
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“ For any sort of standard to be adopted , it needs to cascade from government down .” – Warren Campbell |
government . She explains : “ This could then be used to benchmark how well your event is sustainably performing in line with the outlined benchmark and other event companies .”
“ For many organisations , profit is prioritised over sustainability , so without a financial incentive , benchmarking does not become a priority ,” adds Lim .
“ For any sort of standard to be adopted , it needs to cascade from government down ,” echoes Campbell . This is in the process of happening , and a prime example would be the ban of single-use plastics , effective from October 2023 . “ The government are forcing the hands of businesses to be compliant to an overarching ethos ,” he says .
Grey agrees and adds : “ New company emissions reporting regulations are being introduced at EU-level . These regulations will require large companies ( with over 250 employees and a £ 34m turnover ) to report emissions related to supply chain , which will include event activity . So , pressure will come on event planners to deliver more sustainability .”
“ If a governmental standard is introduced , the venues could jump on it and let the organisers and event agencies know that this is something that they have . Essentially , the clients won ’ t know about it until the agencies
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tell them , and the agencies won ’ t know about it until the venue ’ s tell them . But it needs to be communicated by the people who organise the events ,” says Jandt .
Filling in the gaps Before we get the government involved , we must make sense of our data . How can we move forwards and call for a standard , if we don ’ t know where we currently are ?
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