The new resource is meant to help meeting planners turn event-sustainability goals into action. Photo: ABF_MATEO for Adobe Stock
The Radisson Hotel Group and Global Destination Sustainability Movement have released a new guide designed to help association meeting professionals put event-sustainability goals into practice.
Radisson's new resource addresses a significant gap between sustainability goals and implementation across the meetings industry, noting that while 66 percent of associations consider sustainability highly important, fewer than 34 percent have incorporated it into their operations, and just 3 percent report having an advanced sustainability program.
Accelerating Sustainable & Regenerative Events: A Guide for Associations & PCOs provides tools, destination data and frameworks for incorporating sustainability into event planning, execution and reporting. The resource is specifically geared toward organizations managing multiple meetings across different destinations and suppliers, where establishing consistent sustainability practices can prove challenging.
According to Radisson and GDS-Movement, common barriers include perceived costs, limited access to sustainability data, fragmented supplier networks and a lack of practical frameworks for turning sustainability goals into action.
Five steps for more sustainable events
Rather than focusing on individual sustainability initiatives, the guide encourages planners to establish practices that can be measured and repeated across their event portfolios, even when destinations, venues and suppliers change from one event to the next.
It outlines five actions for associations meeting professionals:
- Engage destination partners earlier in the planning process.
- Prioritize certified suppliers and consider sustainability credentials when selecting partners.
- Build social impact and legacy initiatives into event design.
- Incorporate low-carbon transportation strategies for attendees and other stakeholders.
- Establish sustainability-related measurement, reporting and incentive frameworks.
“The industry does not have a sustainability awareness problem; it has an implementation challenge,” said Inge Huijbrechts, chief sustainability and security officer for Radisson. She added that the guide is intended to provide planners with practical tools and frameworks for moving sustainability efforts “from ambition to action.”
Destinations take a larger role
The guide also emphasizes the role destinations can play in helping event organizers meet sustainability goals, encouraging planners to bring destination partners into the fold earlier.
GDS-Movement's GDS-Index provides one tool for evaluating that performance. Participating destinations are assessed against 74 qualitative and quantitative indicators aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Destination Criteria. The benchmarking system provides planners with comparative sustainability data as they evaluate destinations and make planning decisions.
“Destinations play a pivotal role in accelerating the transition toward sustainable and regenerative events,” said Guy Bigwood, CEO and chief changemaker of GDS-Movement. Bigwood noted that destination-level sustainability data can help organizers make more informed decisions while encouraging improvements across the meetings supply chain.
The full guide is available here.