Tech
One giant leap
for exhibitions
EN Editor Saul Leese talks to the team
at Informa - head of sustainability, Ben
Wielgus and sustainability manager, Lucille
Ryan - about their 12-point plan to make the
company greener
Define what you mean by
sustainability?
The essence of events and
exhibitions is to provide
a highly efficient way for
individuals, companies and
markets to meet in person,
share knowledge and ideas,
launch products, establish
new contacts and trade.
In itself, this helps
companies to do business
more efficiently and in a
more sustainable manner. As
a major organiser of events
and exhibitions, we believe
we have the opportunity and
the responsibility to help
drive continual improvement
in the sustainable delivery of
such events by the industry.
Our attendees, investors
and colleagues certainly
agree, telling us that
sustainability – both in
economic and environmental
terms - is something that
is not a ‘nice to have’ but
a necessary part of our
success.
We also have the potential
to go further than a
responsibility to deliver
our events sustainably:
we can design our events,
in partnership with our
customers, to inspire the
sustainable development
of the markets we serve.
Through this, we have the
potential to help foster
the connections needed to
deliver a sustainable future
across a much wider reach.
In 2019, to inspire and
enable all of our events
to build on the good work
they are already doing
and further enhance their
sustainability, we launched
the Informa Sustainable
Events Management System
(ISEMS). This was based
on our experience of taking
dozens of events through the
ISO20121 sustainable event
certification.
Through this, we outlined
what we mean by a
sustainable event, our key
areas of focus, as well as a
framework which allows
each of our events to identify
how they are currently
performing and what they
can focus on to improve.
What are the 12 Fundamentals?
We have developed four
different levels through
which our events can engage
with sustainability. This
starts at the Fundamentals, a
12-point checklist, and runs
through to our events being
recognised as Sustainable
Leaders, which happens
when we see new ground
really being broken.
The Fundamentals are a
12-point checklist of the key
sustainability aspects that
we believe all of our events
should be implementing.
They have been designed
to be specific enough to
give clear guidance but
at the same time provide
enough freedom for each
event to deliver them in a
way suitable for them, their
markets and their local
community - from a large
exhibition in the USA to a
small conference in Bahrain.
Each event team assesses
itself against each of the 12
criteria, marking themselves
as Achieved, In Progress or
Not Achieved for each one.
Using this and our library
of resources, templates and
guidance, the event team
identifies their plan of what
to focus on improving for the
next event.
After the event, they
capture their results and
rescore themselves, getting
ready to continue the cycle of
continual improvement.
What’s the aim of the
framework?
It is designed so every
Informa event team can
access and engage with it
easily, enabling us to raise
the bar of all of our events
and set strong standards we
can continue to ratchet up
over time.
The 12 Fundamentals
Purpose
1. Sustainability
included in the
content for every
event
2. The event should
have a purposeful
partnership with a
not for profit
Stakeholder engagement
3. There should be
six sustainability
communications
4. The event team
must be engaged
with sustainability
and be part of event
decisions
Carbon and waste
5. All lighting specified
by Informa to be
LEDs and for venue
lighting and air
conditioning to be
used efficiently
6. For the event to
have minimal to no
waste and carpet
to be reused or
recycled
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