The erection of temporary marketplaces is a wasteful business. Exhibitions require a lot of materials that are often difficult to reuse, or outdated by the next edition of the event. Even before we look at the hefty carbon footprint that accompanies thousands of international visitors transporting themselves to an event, it’s important to be seen for being green. Organisers, venues and exhibitors need to operate according to a more sustainable agenda.
But clearly, a desire to be seen as sustainable means much more than separating plastics from your cardboard when you’re taking the bins out. It means changing management systems, operating within a new framework that will likely mean revisiting your current procedures and ideally, obtaining independent accreditation attesting to your company’s green credentials. It sounds like hard work, but let’s not forget, the result can be positive PR, new business and a higher profile.
Earlier this year the Dutch venue and organiser Amsterdam RAI won the first ever sustainable development competition organised by international exhibition organiser association UFI. The recognition for, among other things, its ability to engage its employees in hitting green targets, should do much to boost the profile of the venue, particularly with the larger organisers and contractors who want to be associated with high standards in sustainable business.
Amsterdam RAI wasn’t the only company vying for the title. It was selected from six shortlisted finalists: Belgium’s Artexis Group; South Africa’s Cape Town International Convention Centre; Messe Frankfurt in Germany, Switzerland’s Palexpo; and RAI compatriot UBM Live Amsterdam. All were invited to present case studies at the UFI Focus Meeting on Sustainable Development held in Hamburg in June.
UFI MD Paul Woodward, speaking at the time, explained the act of being truly sustainable is rooted in reality, working with proven results rather than simple adherence to green practice and ideals.
“In order to promote the full scope of sustainability within the exhibition sector, this first Sustainable Development Award competition aims to reward a broad, realistic approach to the topic,” he said. “This theme was especially challenging as only those companies with a significant history and proven results in this domain could qualify for entry.”
Exhibition organiser UBM Live Amsterdam committed to applying the UK-derived BS8901 standard early on. Its use of the standard, which subsequently evolved into the international standard ISO20121, ensures a comprehensive approach to sustainability applications that UFI claims will “significantly influence the scope of a company’s operations in the future”.
ISO20121 is first and foremost a management system. It is essentially a way of working that helps a company consider how to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, at every decision point. The decision by UBM Live Amsterdam to apply this particular standard to its operations is linked to the fact it is recognised in Europe.
It is not the only way to get your company recognised. The APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards, more prominent in the United States, comprise nine individual standards, or sectors, addressing the scope of the event planning process. It’s less a management system than a framework to operate within. Likewise the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is seen predominantly, as the name suggests, as a checklist to aid disclosure – a tool to help companies feed back on sustainability.
Colleen Theron, sustainability lawyer and consultant at EnviroLaw, says each of these standards has its own benefits, and will only help if we know what we want to achieve.
“First we must take a step back and work out what it is that we want to achieve,” she says. “If you take a global business, for example, what would be a differentiator and what would allow them to stand apart. What must they do strategically for things to happen and to show leadership.
“If a company is not big enough, then there is also merit in mixing and matching, taking the bits that you wish to apply to your business.”
Self-auditing and formal disclosure will have its own merits, after all most international events take place under the watchful eyes of thousands of visitors and exhibitors. And while parallels will be drawn with self-auditing show attendance – namely that unverified figures aren’t worth the paper they’re written on – it nonetheless demonstrates a desire to be seen as green.
Declaration of independence
Ultimately, independent verification is the only way to truly certify your achievement. If your company goes to all the effort of conforming to sustainability standards, be they ISO20121, ASTM or GRI, then why leave your credentials open to debate.
BPA Worldwide is one example of a specialist exhibition auditing company now capable of supporting independent verification of sustainability standards. It recently qualified as an approved ASTM independent verifier, and now intends to include other standards among its new ‘iCompli’ offering.
“No matter which standard a venue or show organiser chooses to adopt, BPA iCompli is agnostic from an assurance standpoint,” says Karl Pfalzgraf, VP of BPA Sustainability Assurance. “It’s not out of the question that a venue could adopt both. Some event consultants are recommending ASTM’s checklist format to drive specific actions and ISO20121’s management system as the overall sustainability approach.”
Ultimately companies looking to display their green sheen will need to demonstrate both innovation and accountability. Given the cost both in terms of finance and manpower, it’s important to know what you want from accreditation before setting off on your sustainability drive.
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Voluntary or mandatory regulation?
Michael Duck, executive VP of UBM Asia and chair of the UFI Sustainable Development Committee, says having more than 60 attendees at a recent UFI sustainability focus meeting showed the issue is important to all businesses. “It’s in all our interests as no one wants to work for a company that does not have sustainability practices in its DNA.”
But while some still see it as an optional differentiator, EnviroLaw’s Theron makes the point that new European Union CSR guidelines could soon force the hand of organisers and venue still at the contemplative stage.
“At the moment we have the new EU guidelines,” she says. “But in a few years the EU will issue a directive that member states will be required to apply under regulation.”
Acting today could save on stress in the long term.
This was first published in the Issue 4/2012 of EW. Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
