Integrate climate action into your next event

People often think an event's (scope 3) footprint is mostly attributed to the venue. A University of British Columbia (UBC) study revealed an entertainment event's actual environmental foot print is overwhelmingly generated by attendee travel (spectators, players, and performers). A Global Association of the Exhibition Industry study on the US and Canada B2B trade show industry similarly found 85% of a trade show event's carbon emissions is generated by participant travel.

Food, accommodations and venue energy represent the other major areas of impact, and can vary depending on the type of event (sporting, trade show, etc). Many in the "green events" space tend to focus their efforts on venue, materials and waste, representing a relatively minor portion of an event's total carbon footprint.

Event industry evolution

Moving to fully online or hybrid events is the most straightforward solution, but is not always ideal or even possible for all event types. Consider live sporting and entertainment events, or tradeshows where attendees need to be able to see, touch, test. Coldplay is at the forefront of environmental sustainability for the in-person event industry. In addition to a host of climate accomplishments for their Music of the Spheres Tour in 2022, they planted 5 million trees, one for every concert-goer.