Warren Campbell, general manager, 15Hatfields, says the events industry should be more transparent with its environmental practices.
We’ve all seen the ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘100% organic’ or ‘good for the environment’ labels being plastered on products and services to tap into our desire to make more ethical choices to address the climate crisis. Apparently, according to the European Commission there’s currently 230 different ‘green’ labels being used by organisations all featuring varying levels of evidence to substantiate their claims.
From managing a venue where sustainability and transparency form the bedrock of everything we do, I find the European Commission’s statistic that 53% of ‘green claims’ currently being used on products and services contain vague, misleading or unfounded information, really disheartening. It is little wonder consumers are becoming sceptical about the environmental merits of such statements – and it’s something that must be addressed without waiting for legislation – if we want to ensure people continue to join the groundswell of change and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Leading the way
While I’m encouraged to see more venues seeking to become increasingly sustainable as they tackle key areas, I do think there’s an issue of greenwashing in the business meetings and events industry – particularly with the terminology that continues to be used and the lack of evidence to back up claims.
Take the definition of an ‘environmentally friendly venue’, for example, what does that actually mean? If, for example, a venue claims to be environmentally friendly but is still opting to use any form of single use plastic, it’s simply not. Similarly, if a venue claims to have zero waste going to landfill but can’t substantiate what happens to each of their waste streams once they leave their building, what are they basing their claim on?
Despite legislation coming into force in the not-too-distant future, I think we as an industry should be leading the way and taking it upon ourselves to be more transparent with our environmental processes and initiatives to encourage and captivate an even greater army of sustainable advocates and help planners make informed decisions. For example, we’ve recently launched our new Sustainability Hub which provides event planners with in-depth detail about all of our sustainability credentials and policies.
We don’t claim to have all of the answers and are always looking to challenge the status quo with new initiatives such as our palm oil free status – but it would be great to see others following suit and providing the all-important detail behind each of their sustainability claims.
Let’s not wait until the legislation comes into force, instead let’s make a concretive drive to help event professionals make informed decisions that are based on reliable, comparable and verifiable environmental information that’s easily accessible from the get go.
