The Ultimate Sustainable Event Planning Checklist

Now more than ever, sustainability is top of mind for event planners. It doesn’t matter if you’re hosting a team summit, client meet-and-greet, or large trade show — attendees want to participate in events prioritizing a safe, healthy planet. That’s where this sustainable event checklist comes in. 

Read on to learn more about why sustainability in the events industry matters and what you can do to create a sustainable event strategy that makes you proud and keeps attendees coming back year after year.

Why Sustainability Matters in the Events Industry 

Make no mistake: Sustainability — and climate change — are key points of concern for the events industry. After all, events can harm the planet in several ways, including excessive transportation emissions, energy consumption, and tons of food and paper waste. 

Head of one of the most important associations for the event industry says that the biggest issue ahead is climate change.#PCMACL pic.twitter.com/sHmNPS6HZB

— Julius Solaris (@tojulius) January 10, 2022

Of course, let’s not forget about all the event swag that winds up in landfills — branded stress balls, branded plastic water bottles, and branded beverage koozies. Thankfully, reducing and modifying swag is now a top sustainability trend in the events industry.

Research shows that human activities are responsible for almost all greenhouse gas increases over the past 150 years. As such, it’s important to remember that your choices as an events coordinator directly impact the environment. 

As the saying goes, you can either be part of the problem or the solution. 

To this end, many companies and organizers are getting on board with creating sustainable events. One study found that 83% of meeting professionals say their organizations consider sustainability when planning meetings and events. Does yours? 

3 Sustainability Phrases Event Managers Need To Know 

Bizzabo’s Senior Events Experience Manager Melanie Reid noted three important sustainability phrases that every event leader should know inside and out. Use these concepts to help drive sustainability awareness across your organization.

1. ESG Standards

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards measure how sustainably and ethically a company operates. Increasingly, socially conscious investors are deciding to support companies that prioritize ESG. 

For an example of what ESG looks like in practice, check out Coca-Cola’s ESG Resource Center. 

2. Sustainability Intelligence

Sustainability intelligence involves using big data to make environmentally appropriate decisions. For example, organizations can track waste production year over year to determine how much waste annual events send to landfills — and whether efforts to curb waste are paying off. Check out ESGeo and Cortex Sustainability Intelligence for more on sustainability intelligence services.

3. Conscious Consumption 

Conscious consumption (or conscious consumerism) refers to engaging in the economy while being aware of how your consumption affects society and the environment. Generally, this can include being conscious of the food you eat or the items you buy and making more sustainable choices to benefit the environment (e.g., eating less meat or buying used clothes). 

Sustainability-driven Infrastructure Checklist

Events won’t become more sustainable on their own. To improve them, you need to pay attention to every little detail — from where you position recycling containers to the types of utensils you offer. To get started, create a foundation on which you can build a sustainable event strategy using this checklist: 

☐ Evaluate your existing practices and attendee feedback.

☐ Use MeetGreen’s “My Event Footprint” calculator to assess your event’s impact. 

☐ Develop and maintain comprehensive corporate ESG standards.

☐ Audit all partners to ensure they align with your policies and ESG.

☐ Train all team members and stakeholders on ESG and appoint an ESG leader to ensure follow-through and policy adherence.

☐ Work with carbon-offset organizations to drive meaningful change. For example, Radisson recently partnered with offset provider First Climate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a positive social impact.

☐ Check out the Events Industry Council’s Sustainable Event Standards (EIC-SES) and consider pursuing EIC-SES certification.

Sustainable Event Planning Checklist

After you set a foundation for sustainable practices, you can turn your attention to planning.

☐ Ensure the vendors you work with use sustainable sourcing and delivery practices. 

☐ Study each venue carefully and assess its ESG, power sources, management policies, and commitment to sustainability. 

☐ Partner with venues and vendors with third-party sustainability certifications (e.g., LEED, APEX/ASTM, Green Key, and GreenLeaders).

☐ Ditch the plastic and offer eco-friendly badges — better yet, use an app. 

☐ Create reusable, long-lasting signage that you don’t have to throw away after the event. 

☐ Avoid printed materials or limit to printed materials for those with disabilities.

☐ Incentivize public transportation or partner with a rideshare company like Lyft to offer event-specific discounts. 

☐ Partner with local bicycle or scooter companies to offer alternative transportation options. 

☐ Plan a sustainable event menu by using food grown or produced within 250 miles of the event, seasonal produce, imperfect foods, certified organic foods, water-wise foods, and so on. 

☐ Communicate your sustainability efforts to attendees before and during the event. 

Checklist for Sustainable Swag

Providing sustainable swag for attendees can communicate that your event is committed to reducing waste and helping the planet. Remember: Don’t offer swag just for swag’s sake. Think about the long-term environmental benefits or challenges of the items you give attendees. 

☐ Offer curated gifts from small business makers and local artisans.

☐ Ensure items are environmentally conscious and ethically sourced, including packaging, product, and so on. (Think: bamboo!)

☐ Request that exhibitors offer sustainable, intentional swag based on your event’s sustainability policies. 

☐ Provide durable, long-lasting, and reusable products that people will enjoy — not throw out the first chance they get. 

☐ Consider eGifts or discounts instead of physical objects. Keep in mind that whatever people receive, they have to bring back home with them — and extra weight on planes leads to higher carbon emissions.

☐ For high-ticket raffles and prizes, consider sustainable items like electric cars and e-bikes. 

☐ Think outside the box and offer NFTs, virtual 1:1s with executives, reusable straws and flatware, and other non-traditional swag. 

Checklist for Responsible Waste Management

Events produce significant waste — especially for large conferences with thousands of attendees. That being the case, responsible waste management is critical for success. If you’re looking to improve the way your events handle waste management, here you go:

☐ Provide recyclable and compostable materials to attendees. 

☐ Invest in reusable cups and other materials not as swag but as an investment in a greener event industry.

☐ Place recycling and composting cans throughout your venue and minimize regular trash cans. 

☐ Create clear signage for what goes in each bin, so there is no cross-contamination in your bins. 

☐ Commit to a zero plastics policy at your event. 

☐ Collect and analyze reports detailing power consumption, water usage, and waste removal after each event.

☐ Research different waste removal providers and prioritize companies with eco-friendly policies and procedures. 

☐ Request all leftover food be donated to local organizations and food banks. 

Reusable coffee cups at TEDxSydney (Photo by Globelet Reusable on Unsplash)

Checklist for Creating Sustainable Virtual or Hybrid Events

Many companies are now offering virtual or hybrid events to reduce emissions. According to our State of In-person Events survey, 68% of event organizers plan to have a virtual component at their next in-person event, and 53% of organizers are “focused” or “very focused” on a virtual events strategy for 2023.

But virtual events aren’t without impact on the environment. The International Journal of Environmental Studies analyzed a six-hour conference on Zoom and found that the event generated the equivalent of 1,324 kg of carbon dioxide emissions::

• 64% of emissions came from network data transfer.
• 19% of emissions came from pre-conference planning meetings.
• 11% of emissions came from computer use during the conference.

You can make hybrid and virtual events even more sustainable by making a few minor adjustments: 

☐ Encourage attendees and speakers to be mindful of lighting to lower carbon-fueled energy consumption. 

☐ Host events earlier in the day to encourage the use of natural light.

☐ Work with an event software partner who uses Amazon’s AWS, which is taking steps to reduce impact by decreasing water use and relying on wind and solar farms. 

☐ Minimize pre-event meetings to reduce energy consumption. 

☐ Encourage attendees and participants who are not actively speaking or participating to turn off their cameras, reducing environmental impact by 96%! 

☐ Plant trees to offset your virtual event’s carbon emissions from servers, data transfers, cloud systems, and search engines.

☐ Support solar initiatives at the corporate level, if possible. (If solar electricity were used for conference-related activities, the overall emissions generated by events would fall by three-quarters to just 344 kg of carbon dioxide.)

Fun fact: Chances are you spend a lot of time searching Google while planning your event. But did you know there is a sustainable search engine? It’s called Ecosia, and they’ll plant a tree in biodiversity hotspots like Burkina Faso, Indonesia, and Brazil for every search you make using their search engine. 

Checklist for Evaluating Event Sustainability 

Event sustainability isn’t something your company can expect to master overnight. It’s essential to assess your progress over time and work to make each event more sustainable than the last. 

If you’re wondering how to make your next event more sustainable, consider the following steps:

☐ Use net promoter score (NPS) surveys to collect attendee feedback about how participants perceive your sustainability efforts.

☐ Ask your attendees, sponsors, and speakers what they’d like to see regarding sustainable practices; they may have insights or ideas you’d never think of.

☐ Talk to attendees, sponsors, and speakers directly for anecdotal and direct feedback.

☐ Work with a sustainable event consultant specializing in discovering and eliminating wasteful practices.

☐ Download MeetGreen’s Sustainable Event Kit and consider purchasing ​​MeetGreen Calculator 2.0® to take a future-proof approach to event planning. 

Take Action To Create More Sustainable Events

Remember: There’s only one planet, and we all live on it and must preserve it for future generations. That’s why taking action and looking for ways to improve sustainability and promote responsible environmental policies for your upcoming events is essential.  

For further reading on what you can do to make this happen, check out our article offering tips on making your next event more sustainable.