Event Sustainability is not about Love of Nature – it’s BIG Business!
For the love of nature? Yeah right! Event sustainability, like corporate sustainability, is all about business. There are no granola eating, tie-dye wearing, tree hugging hippies in this mix.
You see, corporate sustainability is BIG business (click on any of the logos below to be directed to their corporate sustainability website):
Large companies like these are embracing sustainability. They’re not only motivated by feel good photo ops and public relations stunts either. Sustainability is becoming an increasingly powerful management tool, a lens through which one can find innovative new solutions to traditional business problems. It’s all about the efficient, “sustainable” use of a company’s resources. What’s not to like about that?
Event sustainability is more than just a trend
The numbers are backing up news of this trend too. A study released this past January, conducted by the MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group, reaffirms sustainability’s increasing popularity:
“…sustainable business practices have gained so much traction across industries and geographies that sustainability is nearing a tipping point, the point at which a substantial portion of companies are seeing the need for sustainability and deriving financial benefits from related activities.”
The events industry – ever dependent on prevailing corporate trends – is embracing its own brand of sustainability. Led by a pioneering industry association, the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), and international standards like ISO 20121 and APEX/ASTM, event sustainability has come of age.
Professionals like event planners are educating themselves on event sustainability not out of a love of nature, but as a way of remaining competitive and demonstrating value to their clients in the face of a much larger shift in the marketplace.
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