MEETYOO has a vision to decarbonize the events industry. Part of that mission includes educating event producers and helping them find ways to reduce the carbon footprint of individual events.
Did you know that the annual carbon footprint of the global events industry is responsible for more than 10% of global CO₂ emissions? As sustainability gains prominence around the world, it is essential that this figure is reduced.
Fortunately, there are ways that the event industry can prioritize emission reduction without compromising the quality of events. In fact, it’s possible to host net-zero events by making use of digital event platforms that compensate for all direct and indirect emissions for virtual events hosted on their platforms.
How to reduce carbon emission at your events
In the pursuit of genuinely net-zero events, many businesses are choosing to follow a “carbon management hierarchy” that evaluates the needs of their exhibitors and attendees, while meeting their sustainability ambitions.
In the events space, this carbon management hierarchy looks something like the below.
How can this apply to your event? Here are a few guidelines:
AVOID
The best route to a carbon-neutral event is by avoiding emissions in the first place.
By cooperating with a reliable emissions accounting company, event planners can assess where their emissions are being generated, how essential they are, and if they can be eliminated. With more visibility and transparency, events can more easily avoid carbon-intensive activities.
REDUCE
The next priority in an event’s carbon management hierarchy should be finding ways of reducing emissions. This might be through embracing renewable energy sources, cutting out food waste, encouraging public transportation among your attendees, or even something as simple as adopting ene rgy-efficient lighting.
REPLACE
Where possible, make adjustments to the processes and activities of your event, ensuring that everything is optimized in terms of sustainability. Replace your high-carbon activities or energy sources with low-carbon alternatives.
OFFSET
The least favored option within the carbon management hierarchy is offsetting the carbon emissions generated by your event. Sometimes emissions are inevitable. Unfortunately, the modern economy still depends on fossil fuel use and other high-carbon processes. Where emissions cannot be eliminated, make sure you compensate by offsetting or sequestering an equal amount of carbon using certified carbon offset projects.
These are just a few ways your event can be a leader for change.
Want to explore this topic more?
Check out the MEETYOO Co2 calculator.
