Net Zero Carbon Events – Update

In November 2021, world leaders met in Glasgow, Scotland at COP26 to present how their countries will achieve the 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 in order to deliver on the Paris Agreement. At this meeting, the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge was launched with over 100 first signatories, setting out the events industry’s commitment to play its role in addressing climate change.

What started as an initiative of AIPC, ICCA and UFI – in collaboration with the UN and in partnership with other industry stakeholders – was lifted to the level of the Joint Meeting Industry Council. At the end of August 2022, the initiative had over 260 signatories and 130 other supporters.

A key element in making Zero Carbon happen is the definition of clear roadmaps with tangible milestones for all the different stakeholders in the event value chain. Impressive work has been done by various working groups and a first draft of the roadmap was made available in July, which can be found here: NZCE-Roadmap-Draft-v2-for-Consultation-July-2022.pdf (netzerocarbonevents.org).

This 80-page document give an overview of the approach, the guidelines and resources and also provides a wealth of additional information. Signatories and supporters were asked to provide feedback by end of August.

The final version of the roadmap will then be prepared and fully designed for official release in November 2022, at the UNFCCC COP27 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt).

As a next step, 8 workstreams have been identified to deliver on the priorities identified by the Roadmap: Measurement, Reporting, Carbon offsetting, Venue energy, Production and Waste, Food and food waste, Logistics, Travel and Accommodation. Those will start in September 2022 and all details on this phase can be found here: NZCE_phase3_July2022.pdf (netzerocarbonevents.org).