Faced with the climate emergency and new environmental regulations, companies in the events sector no longer have a choice: reducing their carbon footprint has become a strategic priority. An event's carbon footprint assessment measures the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated before, during, and after the event. Transportation, accommodation, catering, production, waste, energy: each stage has a measurable and optimizable impact.
In a context where CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is becoming a central pillar of corporate strategy, events must reinvent themselves to incorporate a sustainable, transparent approach that is aligned with the expectations of participants, partners, and the general public.
The question is no longer "should we take action?", but how to accelerate the ecological transition in the events industry, given that the 2024 Paris Olympic Games marked a turning point in terms of environmental commitment, aiming to halve CO2 emissions compared to previous editions. This collective ambition sent a strong message: the events industry must rethink its practices.
Companies that organize events cannot remain blind to these ambitions for their own sake!
TheADEME highlights that an average event for 1,000 people consumes:
– 100 kg of paper, equivalent to 2 trees, 30,000 liters of water.
– 200 KWh of energy, equivalent to 3 years of lighting with an energy-saving light bulb (15 W).
– 500 kg of waste, equivalent to the annual waste produced by one French person. When we talk about the events industry, we often think of trade fairs, exhibitions, conferences, and expos aimed at the general public, professionals, or even reserved for company employees, but these formats have very different impacts in terms of pollution.
Events generate enormous amounts of GHG emissions, mainly through participant travel (cars, planes), electricity use for lighting, air conditioning, etc. These emissions contribute to global warming and exacerbate environmental problems.
The carbon impact of a large festival located on the outskirts of a city, welcoming nearly 280,000 visitors over four days (such as the Festival des Vieilles Charrues in Carhaix), amounts to more than 15,000 tons of CO2 equivalent.
49.7% of emissions are related to the transportation of festival-goers,
29.5% to the transport of works of art, artistic teams, and logistics,
19.9% to food and beverages,
0.9% of the impact is related to merchandising, electricity, and waste.
Source: The Shift Project. Let's decarbonize culture!, 2021, p.56
Events require various materials such as paper for invitations, food and beverages, and audiovisual equipment, leading to intensive use of natural resources.
Events generate a considerable amount of waste, ranging from food packaging to communication materials. This waste is often poorly managed, frequently ending up in landfills and contributing to pollution.
Certain events can disrupt local ecosystems, whether by occupying natural spaces for temporary infrastructure or by disturbing local flora and fauna.
Measuring and reducing the carbon footprint of the events sector is therefore essential to minimize these negative impacts. Organizers are increasingly encouraged to adopt eco-responsible practices, such as holding virtual events, reducing waste, and using renewable energy, in order to reduce their carbon footprint and protect the environment.
