01
We separate measured from estimated
An ESG team can use a measured number with a stated methodology. They cannot use a claim. Every figure in our reporting is labelled as one or the other.
Sustainability
Most event sustainability is claimed. Very little of it is measured.
An event gets declared carbon neutral because an offset was bought, and nobody asks what the underlying footprint was or how it was calculated. We do the reducible things first, measure what remains, and report it as what it is.
Where the impact actually is
Six levers, in order of size.
Sustainability effort tends to land on the visible things — paper, plastic cups, signage — while the destination decision, which dwarfs all of them, gets made on other grounds entirely. Work the list in order of size.
- 01
Travel
Usually 60–80% of an international programme’s footprint. Destination choice, routing, mode and whether the event needs to be in that city at all. This conversation belongs at the brief, not at close-out.
Relative size: Largest - 02
Catering
Over-ordering is the biggest on-site waste stream and the easiest to fix. Realistic guarantees based on actual attendance patterns, plated versus buffet decided with waste in mind, surplus redistribution where the destination supports it.
Relative size: Large - 03
Freight and build
Reusable modular stand systems with replaceable graphics, consolidated freight movements, and set pieces designed for a second outing rather than a skip.
Relative size: Large - 04
Venue energy
Certification status, renewable supply, and whether the building actually runs its systems efficiently rather than holding a certificate.
Relative size: Medium - 05
Materials and print
Digital delegate materials, signage designed for reuse, badge and lanyard return schemes that people actually use because there is somewhere to put them.
Relative size: Medium - 06
Local sourcing
Suppliers, produce and staffing sourced in market — lower transport impact and money that stays in the destination.
Relative size: Medium
How we report it
Four commitments about the numbers.
Our position on offsets
Offsetting is a separate line
We will not describe an event as carbon neutral because an offset was purchased. If you choose to offset, it appears as its own line, described as what it is, alongside the underlying footprint.
03
Some choices cost more and some save money
Reusable stands, realistic catering guarantees, digital materials and fewer freight movements reduce cost. Renewable-powered venues, certified caterers and rail over short-haul air sometimes do not. We show both columns rather than averaging them into a claim.
04
Certification is a certifier’s job
We can run a programme to the ISO 20121 management-system requirements and prepare what an auditor will ask for. We cannot certify it, and an agency that says it can is describing something else.
In practice
What we actually do.
Travel is most of it
For nearly every international programme, delegate travel dominates the footprint. Destination choice, routing, mode and whether the event needs to be in that city at all move the number far more than anything on site. That conversation belongs at the brief, not at close-out.
Catering guarantees, honestly set
Over-ordering is the largest on-site waste stream and the easiest to fix. Realistic guarantees based on actual attendance patterns, plated versus buffet decisions taken with waste in mind, and a surplus redistribution arrangement where the destination supports it.
Build once
A reusable modular stand system with replaceable graphics beats a custom build thrown away after three days on both cost and impact. The same logic applies to set pieces, signage and delegate materials.
Report what was measured
We separate measured data from estimates and label both. An ESG team can use a measured number with a stated methodology; they cannot use a claim.
Questions
The ones worth asking any agency.
We cannot certify — that is a certification body’s role — but we can run the programme to the standard’s management-system requirements and prepare the documentation an auditor will ask for. If certification is the goal, say so at the brief, because it changes how the whole programme is documented.
Have an ESG reporting obligation? Say so at the brief.
It changes how the whole programme is documented, and retro-fitting the evidence afterwards is considerably harder than collecting it as you go.
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