Seven best practice guidance and methodology documents
Net Zero Carbon Events has published seven best practice guidance and methodology documents that provide actionable insights and strategies for organizations worldwide to achieve net zero. The seven documents, produced by dedicated action area workstream teams, were launched at ExCeL London on December 11, 2023. They cover priority areas identified by the Roadmap published a year ago—venue energy; smart production and waste management; logistics; travel and accommodation; food and food waste; offsetting; and measurement.
Each of the seven documents contains detailed guidance to help organizations progress on the decarbonization journey. For instance, the measurement methodology serves as a comprehensive guide for understanding and quantifying event-level emissions. It covers nine emission source categories, measurement tiers, event-level metrics, extrapolation and baseline-setting. Smart production and waste management has launched a materials library with a comprehensive list of different materials used in events with their specific emissions factors with the plan to expand it in future while logistics not only provides advice on on-site and last-mile logistics but also on traffic management and smart cities.
James Rees, president of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC), which is driving the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative for the industry said: “These documents, vital to the development of an industry-wide standard pathway towards net zero carbon events, represent the largest, most inclusive collaboration across the events industry ever achieved, with the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative being supported and endorsed by UNFCCC.”
“This achievement is the result of the hard work of over 100 industry volunteers whose support, added together, represents many years of working time to develop, critique and finalize these guidance documents to be used in practice and improve upon over time as NZCE evolves.” Rees concluded: “Part Two, the next stage of the initiative, is a major change and exciting step forward. After the three phases of development, identifying what needs to be covered and producing guidance, successful implementation is vital. This next part needs the total commitment and active engagement of everyone from CEOs downwards to achieve net zero.”
The event also looked to the future of the initiative. Kai Hattendorf, managing director and CEO of UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, said that the release of the guidance documents completed the initial work of the NZCE initiative. In 2024 and beyond, the focus will shift from development to implementation. “We achieved in record time what no one deemed possible initially—a united industry response to the climate challenge. Going forward, NZCE will focus on supporting and guiding NZCE supporters and pledgees with their implementation of the guidelines and emerging standards,” he said.
To achieve this, NZCE will again adapt its structure and workflows around three central tentpoles—“measurement, reporting and verification,” “activation and adaptation” and “communication and education.” The initiative’s work will be based on a series of projects to progress topics such as Reporting, Standards, Certifications, Reusable Stands and other key issues prioritized in the community as central drivers of greenhouse gas reductions.
Net Zero Carbon Events is open to all organizations involved in events. Registration is free of charge, but financial contributions are crucial to developing the campaign.
For more information, visit www.netzerocarbonevents.org.
