Banning single-use plastics , plus incentives to deposit and return empty containers , were other practical solutions that the report recommends for organisers . To sum up : the events industry has some catching up to do to minimise its waste and impact on the planet , and the side-effect of working with more sustainable supply chains is uplifting smaller companies and broadening the success of the industry as a whole .
Gemma Bassett highlights three trends :
We are seeing a number of changes due to increased consideration of carbon emissions from travelling to meetings and events .
Change one : A reduction of small meeting room bookings . These have been replaced by Zoom and it ’ s driven by the slow return to the office . Increased working from home is certainly having a positive impact on reducing carbon emissions , and we know this is really important to employees . Our 2022 Event Trends Report discovered that one in three ( 32 %) like that virtual events reduce their carbon footprint from travelling , and this rises to 44 % of Gen Z .
Change two : The flip side of this is the increase in ‘ engagement ’ events . The cost savings of reduced travel and fewer small meetings is being partly used for a higher number of engagement events for employees . However , sustainability needs to be top of mind for in-person events too . Out of the 2,000 UK adults surveyed for our report , almost a quarter ( 24 %) said that they would like to see more environmentally friendly in-person events .
Change three : One of our blue-chip clients has explained that their global travel , meetings and events budgets have been reduced in replace of national events , supplemented where necessary with additional hybrid facilities such as recorded content that can then be shared more widely . www . conference-news . co . uk