The world of sustainable events is bigger than ever. As more planners and partners in hospitality and tourism incorporate sustainability into their business models, it becomes a need-to-have, rather than a nice-to-have.
This year, Smart Meetings published a repertoire of sustainability content geared especially around how-tos and making sure everyone has access to the knowledge and resources to feel confident talking about sustainability and implementing it into their business practices.
Your Complete Guide to Sustainability
This January 2024 piece aims to offer a comprehensive, introductory, concise, guidebook-style overview of sustainability. Wondering how to start carbon tracking? What counts as scope three emissions? Where do carbon emissions even come from? With a list of “need to know” sustainability terms, straightforward explanations and tips for incorporating sustainable practices into your event planning strategy, this article is a tool you’ll want to keep bookmarked.
Sustainability Tools for Easier Green Planning
Planning sustainable events isn’t a small task. Working with partners can help take much of the load off. In this article, Smart Meetings compiled a list of some of the timeliest and most impactful partners and tools you’ll want to work with as you build your green meeting.
Earth Day is a Call to Action
Think of Earth Day as a “green New Year’s.” With the New Year coming right up, it feels even more relevant to adopt this mindset again. These days, disposable plastic has gone out of style. In this article, you’ll learn more about the environmental impacts of plastic that tell us why. Plus, with some shoutouts to major sustainability achievements across the board that took place in 2024, there’s plenty of cause for celebration that you definitely want to know about.
Sustainable Event Planning: Action Steps to Lasting Strategy
In October, Smart Meetings hosted a webinar with sustainability thought leaders in the tourism and meetings industries: Ellie Hurley, events director at Financial and Insurance Conference Professionals (FICP); Tiffany Eck, associate director, destination services at Visit Denver; and Lori Allen, vice president of global event operations at MetLife.
They discussed how they each have created actionable sustainability strategies and seen successful outcomes at their companies. This article breaks down their conversation. As an added bonus, you can stream the webinar here.
Healthy World: Overtourism and Crowd Avoidance
Sustainability isn’t just about the earth. It’s also about the people who live on it. This article’s assessment of overtourism, using the protests in Barcelona in summer 2024 as an example, demonstrates how care for the earth and care for people exist in tandem. And once establishing an understanding of the intersecting elements of sustainability in this way, it offers some actionable steps planners can take to be part of the solution.
