Planning sustainable events is better for the planet – but it’s also better for your brand. high parentage of Gen Zs and Gen Ys believe that companies should address urgent environmental issues. So it comes as no surprise that sustainability is top of mind for event creators.
But if you’re expecting a list of strict regulations that’ll suck the sparkle out of your programming, prepare to be presently surprised. Here are ten things to try to make your next event carbon neutral.
<>Location: Minimize Your Carbon Footprint
1. Incentivize Sustainable Travel. The bulk of event emissions come from travel (as much as 90%), so innovative event creators are offering greener options. For example, at this year’s International Music Summit in Ibiza, organizers sponsored an Eco Badge initiative to promote sustainable travel, such as biking or taking the ferry. “We ask people traveling over to show a picture of their ferry ticket and they get a heavily discounted price in return,” says event co-founder, Ben Turner.
2. Make Your Venue Easy to Get To. Offer options that are within walking distance, and provide out-of-town guests with instructions for all available public transport.
3. Opt to go virtual. The most powerful way to reduce carbon impact from travel for your event is of course to make it travel-free. Though the pandemic is largely over, virtual events are here to stay and they have a lot of advantages for event organizers to leverage. Most notably: better budgets for big-name speakers and presenters.
Food: Low-Impact Menus and Less Food Waste
4. Offer plant-based dishes. Offering more plant-based dishes is a simple way to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, and being mindful of your meats. Did you know beef production causes 10 times the amount of global greenhouse gas emissions as chicken?
5. Serve plant-based milks. Choose one of the year’s trending alt-milk choices – including potatoes and oat. Go one step further and serve your drinks in edible cups!
6. Partner with food donation programs. Partnering with food donation programs like Too Good to Go, helps businesses such as cafes, restaurants, hotels and more make better use of surplus food by selling it off. More profit, less food waste.
7. Opt for locally-sourced ingredients. Local isn’t just less carbon-intensive, it also lets you highlight local traditional or artisanal foods. In this way, you can emphasize the uniqueness of your event’s location and leave a more memorable impression on attendees.
8. Choose food that’s less likely to spoil. Did you know that
one-third of all food produced never gets eaten and is responsible for 6% of total global greenhouse gasses? More than three times as much as the entire aviation industry! As an event producer, there’s a lot you can do to minimize that number. Food can be available longer, and depending on how it’s packaged (look for compostable options there as well) leftovers can be donated instead of tossed.
<>Share: Tell Folks About Your Efforts and Invite Them to the Party
9. Educate Your Audience Be sure to toot your own horn about your eco-friendly decisions and especially, the impact. You’ll gain trust, loyalty, and brownie points from your audience for now, and hopefully will raise everyone’s expectations so that future events everywhere have a higher standard of sustainable practices
10. Leave the Landfills Alone From compostable cups to digital programs – put a limit on items that’ll end up in the trash. And forget branded giveaways all-together.
BONUS TIP – MAKE YOUR MARK WITH THE RIPPLE MAKER
Specialty coffee or a cocktail is guaranteed to be a better crowd pleaser than corporate swag, and with Ripples you can extend your brand messaging to each and every drink. And this incredibly photographable mediums will spread to social and increase your impact beyond the event space.
And with Ripples’ natural, plant-based drink prints, all you’ll leave behind are smiles of delight.
