A positive impact : you host , we plant
Gavin Newman , CEO at iVent discusses the company ’ s green initiatives to make both virtual and hybrid events events carbon neutral , and in many cases carbon negative
The year 2020 was an eye-opener in many ways , highlighting among other things , the impact our pre-pandemic daily lives have had on the natural world up until now . Worldwide lockdowns and greatly reduced global travel have given nature some much needed respite .
The events industry also embraced some huge changes last year , shifting to virtual and dramatically reducing the ecological impact the sector once had in its traditional form .
Since Ivent hosted its first virtual event back in 2010 , we have set out on a mission to shift the industry to host more sustainable events . That doesn ’ t mean a move away from in-person events completely of course , but a balanced approach to the future of events is required .
The enduring pandemic has shown that virtual events can be hugely successful and the world has now changed forever – particularly as people are once again focusing on sustainability and the effects of climate change , in terms of how they manage business .
In-person events are slowly creeping back . However , the issues of sustainability , carbon neutral and even carbon negativity in the events sector have a strong voice once again .
There will also be forthcoming legislation soon to ensure the carbon emission targets are met across a number of countries so this is no longer a ‘ nice to have ’ for organisations trumpeting their green credentials but a legal requirement to do so .
We do still very much support in-person events and understand their value especially with the 2020-2021 virtual fatigue experienced by people globally as a result of “ over-zooming ”. However , these events will need to be smaller in the coming years , with a greater emphasis on hybrid to ensure that audience numbers are achieved to generate genuine value .
We conducted research recently , which showed , among other things :
• By hosting a three-day virtual event you could save up to 455 tonnes of CO2 emitted at a traditional event .
• The CO2 emitted by a worker at a PC for eight hours a day , five days a week across the year can be offset with the planting of two large trees .
The figures show some interesting discoveries and what is required to offset our individual carbon footprints
We have now taken this a step further and announced our initiative to plant trees for every new event that we host on our platform . We are making our events carbon neutral and in many cases carbon negative .
We have also partnered
“ THE ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY , CARBON NEUTRAL AND EVEN CARBON NEGATIVITY IN THE EVENTS SECTOR HAVE A STRONG VOICE ONCE AGAIN .”
up with our friends at Tree Nation to start growing our own iVent forest . The more events we host , the more trees will be planted and over their lifetime offset even more CO2 .
We have seen many other platforms take initiatives in supporting carbon negative events .
It is a real positive for the events sector that innovative new formats are being developed across all virtual event platforms to deliver a more hybrid model .
Also , many of the platforms have listened to the feedback after the surge in virtual events and added the “ missing ” elements the hosts and delegates cried out for . So with platforms that now drive real engagement and support the green agenda , there is finally a winning formula out there .
See our impact : www . tree-nation . com / profile / ivent