At a joint webinar on Thursday, January 18th, ICCA and Destination Canada presented the groundbreaking survey on the integration of sustainability into business events, bringing key collaborators together online to focus on this essential industry-wide issue.
This extensive survey explored how associations and their event partners are engaging with sustainability, highlighting the integral role sustainability now plays in the issuing and actioning of Request For Proposals (RFPs). The live webinar featured:
– Virginie de Visscher – Destination Canada
– Thomas Reiser – International Committee on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH)
– Natasha Richards – IMEX
Together they discussed key points raised in the survey and how these findings reflect the industry’s readiness – and willingness – to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Key highlights included:
– The willingness of associations/organisations to pay for more sustainable events
– The challenges faced when planning sustainable events
– The importance of communicating an event’s sustainability to attendees
Destination Canada’s Executive Director Business Events, Virginie De Visscher, added: “At Destination Canada, we are dedicated to elevating the environmental, sociocultural and economic sustainability of the business events industry, in Canada and around the world. We are deeply thankful for our valuable partnership with ICCA, which shares our belief in investing in forward-thinking research to inform innovative, creative and collaborative solutions in a new era of sustainable travel. We hope this survey and its findings spark real change and enable us to build a brighter, more sustainable future together, so the global business events industry can continue to flourish.”
As our industry takes purposeful strides towards a more sustainable future, both ICCA and Destination Canada express a shared interest in continuing the conversation started by our joint report. Recognising that more can – and must – be done is a core value of both organisations and further discussion and collaboration can only lead to more positive action. We believe the webinar has served as a platform for reflection and will prove a catalyst for change. This is just the next step on a long road and we cordially invite stakeholders to join us as we build a more sustainable global business events industry.
Access the full report here.