Sustainable Events Guide
Staff and students across the University can use this guidance to support sustainable event planning and delivery.
This guidance is based on best practice outlined in ISO 20121 Standard for Event Sustainability Management Systems. It also aligns with our Sustainability Policy, Te Rautaki Aronga Toitū | Sustainability Strategy and Te Taumata Tukuwaro-kore | Net Zero Carbon Strategy.
Sustainable event planning is a journey, involving a series of iterative steps:
- Commit
- Plan
- Implement
- Assess
- Enhance
Before you start
Identify any major contradictions or negative environmental impacts that are embedded in your idea for an event. Early identification allows you time to rethink your idea before you get immersed in the details.
For example: An event that calls for ‘world peace’ by doing a balloon release to spread out peace messages is fundamentally flawed. While it may create an exciting visual spectacle, releasing materials where they cannot be retrieved is likely to cause harm to the environment.
Step 1. Commit
Securing commitment from event stakeholders is a critical first step. Stakeholders at the university include event owners, managers, committee members, presenters, and speakers. Highlighting the university's Sustainability Policy is essential, and you can draw from the excerpts below. You can also highlight relevant parts of the Sustainability and Net Zero Carbon strategies.
Relevant sustainability policy wording
"Staff, students, suppliers, contractors, and our key partners recognise their role as stewards of the resources they use, take action to prevent and minimise adverse impacts on land, freshwater and marine environments and global climate processes as a result of their activities and protect and enhance the ecosystems, and life-supporting characteristics of our world" (Vision section).
"We will act as a role model for sustainable practices" (Sustainable enabling environment section).
Specific sustainability policy statements
"Minimising the energy, water and material resources we use, including electricity, gas, water and recycled water, single use and disposable materials, packaging and plastics".
"Preventing and minimising our wastes (including food waste) and emissions at source by monitoring and actively managing activities including air travel".
"Promoting and accommodating the use of sustainable modes of transport including cycling, walking, public transport, and electric vehicles including bicycles".
Commitments from Te Rautaki Aronga Toitū | Sustainability Strategy
- We will be a net-zero carbon University
- We will be ‘climate conscious’ travellers and commuters
- We will deliver sustainable university facilities and services, including energy and water conservation and waste prevention
- We will fully engage digital capability to enhance our sustainability efforts
- We will value biodiversity, making it a priority to our estate, and reduce the biodiversity impact of research, teaching and operations
- We will embed sustainable procurement practices into all aspects of University services and processes
Emissions reduction targets from Te Taumata Tukuwaro-kore | Net Zero Carbon Strategy
| Emissions source | 2025 target | 2030 target |
|---|---|---|
| Work-related travel |
25% reduction | 50% reduction |
| Energy and fuel | 25% reduction | 50% reduction |
| Waste arising from consumption | 25% reduction | 50% reduction |
Tip: Make sure you identify stakeholders early. Having a positive vision for a 'climate conscious' event will help stakeholders to understand decisions that may initially be perceived as sacrifices.
Step 2. Plan
Prevent rather than cure
Start thinking about sustainability from day one. Ask event stakeholders questions about the use of resources, the potential generation of waste and how to promote and encourage walking, cycling and public transport.
Try to apply sustainability principles to every dimension of planning, including scheduling, floor planning and space design, structure and programme, run sheets, resource allocation, communications, and menus.
Engage
Make sustainability principles visible and explicit to all people involved in the event. This includes staff, attendees, and suppliers. Early engagement and clear messaging will help facilitate the implementation stage.
Move away from a ‘single use’ approach
Single use or disposable items are inherently unsustainable. Using 'greener' versions of these items does not deal with the problem of a throwaway mentality. Discouraging single use items makes way for deeper conversations about long term solutions to environmental problems. Rethinking the concept of 'convenience' is a good way to start those conversations.
Tip: Include relevant sustainability principles when asking for quotes. Suppliers may make an effort to provide the best possible alternatives if they are involved early on. This will help to avoid difficult, and usually more costly, last minute changes.
Waste free areas
Waste free areas are spaces where there are simply no bins available. For over twenty years, Auckland's regional parks have used this approach. From a psychological perspective, waste free zones invite users to take responsibility for anything they bring into the space. Events can have designated waste free areas or be completely waste free by removing or covering any bins at the venue.
Tip: Indoor events can be made waste free for attendees if event planners organise catering providers to take responsibility for collecting all items related to food service, including cutlery, crockery, and any food scraps or serviettes left behind by attendees. Waste sorting can be completed behind the scenes in back-of-house areas. As long as nothing single-use is given out to attendees (e.g. individually wrapped pens), bins should not be required in public spaces.
Step 3. Implement
There are as many sustainability-inspired actions as people in your event. Here are some of the most common ideas implemented at sustainable events:
- Challenge expectations!
- Spread the sustainability message to attendees, sponsors, suppliers
- Ask suppliers to back environmental claims
- Think modular and limit time sensitive signage and collateral
- Offer a pre-order menu to avoid food waste
- Organise one or more event staff to carry out sustainability duties
- Serve local produce and products
- Use reusables by default - crockery, cutlery, linen
- Avoid printouts, use apps
- Give BYO priority with queues and discounts
- Re-think defaults for forms, sponsorship packs, instructions
- Support walking, cycling, public transport with maps, priority bike parking, subsidised transport passes
- Make water available on tap or fountain only
- For souvenirs and prizes, offer donation certificates, public transport passes, tickets to shows or venues
- Say goodbye to single use straws, bags, and packaging
- Aim for waste free and eliminate public bins!
Step 4. Assess
At the end of your event, use surveys to understand people’s experiences of your sustainability initiatives. Existing surveys can be adapted to include questions about sustainability.
Remember to make the most of event debriefs too, so the organising team can reflect on what went well, and anything that could be improved in the future.
Audits can also be useful when it comes to any waste generated. This involves keeping all waste streams from the event so that they can be manually sorted and weighed. It is best practice to use a set of pre-assigned categories following an established protocol. This provides data on overall quantities and the types of materials being discarded. When monitoring a specific event over time, the first audit sets the baseline against which subsequents audits are compared.
For many people, manually sorting waste is a powerful learning experience and opens up opportunities to discuss the origin and implications of the different materials being used.
Tip: As an alternative to manual audits, keeping records of invoices or packing slips can also help to understand how well an event has aligned with sustainability principles. These documents will typically show the quantities of items ordered for a particular event, which can be analysed in the context of existing waste and recycling systems. For example, 200 disposable cups evidenced on a packing slip will sooner or later be 200 cups in a landfill.
Step 5. Enhance your next event
Use what you have learnt from your sustainable event planning experience as a basis for enhancing your next event. Were there any surprises? What could you do differently next time in the various steps?
Sustainable Events Checklist
To ensure you cover all bases, use the Sustainable Events Checklist.
You can also learn tips from this Case study of SDG summit.