Green Meetings and Events
With the ever increasing focus on the environment right across the world it is not surprising that the conference and events sector has come under scrutiny in respect of what actions it is taking to add to the ever growing demand for sustainability. Indeed, the Business Tourism sector in Ireland is already experiencing increased demand from customers for evidence of sustainable policies and practices when choosing an event organiser or venue.
In response to this, Fáilte Ireland has published a new guide in 2010 entitled A Guide to Running Green Meetings and Events. This guide has been produced to address a number of needs identified within the sector. These include;
- a growing international requirement by businesses for a more sustainable supply chain under companies Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes (CSR)
- a definable demand from consumers for greater environmental standards
- a growing belief that businesses cannot avoid these issues as they are to the fore in terms of modern business ethos and can deliver a defined economic benefit – whether it is through reduced costs or thorough increased business.
- This guide is intended for any business involved in the planning and/ or running of a meeting or event/ conference in Ireland. This will range from conference organisers, venues (including hotels), accommodation providers, catering companies, entertainment and activity providers, audio-visual and IT companies, and transport providers.
Environmental management can be as simple or as complex as any organisation wishes it to be. The Fáilte Ireland guide supports the simple, yet focused, approach, by providing a series of tips and advice to businesses on simple measures which can be taken in planning and running a green meeting or event, followed by a series of checklists which allows businesses to communicate sustainability in a very simple and transparent way to customers.
By adopting a sustainable philosophy and offering green meetings and events a business can gain competitive advantage and a market differentiator over other businesses which have not done so, and learn how to communicate this effectively to customers.
In addition to this many businesses in Ireland have shown that by adopting good practice in areas of waste, water & energy management that costs have been reduced – often with no investment requirement. What is important to realise is that these savings are being made with no change to the quality of service to the customer. In fact they can now be used to demonstrate how responsible the business is in managing their costs at a time when all businesses are under severe pressure.