Events can have positive as well as negative impacts on the environment through their ability to promote changes in behaviour and attitudes that benefit the planet.
They can do this by providing activities and making commitments that encourage participants, spectators and organisers to be more environmentally conscious and act more responsibly as a result. A formal commitment to established sustainability policy is a visible means of stating your intention of following best practice in minimising your event’s impact on the environment. You should do this in its planning phase and be clear on how you will evidence compliance with the core requirements of this guidance.
What to measure
The OECD and ASOIF recommend prioritising the following indicators of environmental promotion standards:
- Public commitment to environmental policies (ASOIF reference EN-EP1.1)
- Sustainable Procurement Code in place for all products and services (ASOIF reference EN-P1.1)
- Percentage of contracts awarded in compliance with sustainability standards (ASOIF reference EN-P2.1)
- Percentage of participants/attendees reporting a change in their lifestyles to act to benefit the environment (ASOIF reference EN-EP2.2)
The OECD considers these impacts to contribute towards the UN SDGs Responsible Consumption and Production (Targets 12.6 and 12.7).
Environmental promotion: How to measure it
Surveying event participants and spectators is the most common method of understanding:
- Awareness of environmental protection measures taken at the event (e.g. active travel, recycling etc) and approval of these
- The impact of the event’s efforts to promote environmental consciousness and more sustainable patterns of consumption and behaviour
The survey should set out to assess the proportion of participants and spectators intending to make a positive change in their behaviour as a consequence of exposure to the positive environmental practices of the event, such as avoiding single-use plastic – a legal requirement in Scotland and Wales – and actively recycling waste. At a more advanced level, follow-up research should be carried out after the event to understand the extent to which respondents followed through on their good intentions.