Mina Booth reports on the recent CN Sustainability Summit 2024 in Central London.
Over 100 leading corporate, agency, association and third sector event planners joined selected suppliers on 24 July 2024 to share knowledge and ideas at the third Conference News Sustainability Summit at Chicago Booth London Conference Centre in central London.
Jack Newey, CN portfolio director set the stage with a welcome to a day dedicated to exploring sustainability in the events industry.
Newey said: “It was particularly noticeable how significantly the conversations had moved forward from last year’s event. Everyone in the room was actively reviewing their carbon footprint and had started to put strategic journey plans in place to make the changes required. Last year, the emphasis was more on the talking rather than the doing stage. Now the industry has taken the bull by the horns and is committed to real change.”
Launched in 2022, the CN Sustainability Summit aims to examine what the events sector is doing well and identify areas for improvement. This year’s event provided a platform to evaluate the industry’s sustainability impact and generate ideas to address key issues hindering efforts to create a sustainable future for events.
From measuring the industry’s performance to discussing radical, new ideas to progress the sector and regenerative MICE strategies, the event tackled key challenges facing event organisers when delivering more sustainable events. A complex issue covering not just the activities on the day of the event but also the pre-planning and post event reporting.
Key takeaways included the importance of developing collaborative, long-term relationships with suppliers. Honesty and setting clear goals were also highlighted. Things don’t always go to plan and the event discussed ways to manage unexpected outcomes.
Travel remains one of the biggest contributors to the carbon footprint of all events. The difference between the carbon impact of business flights and c-class was explained. Now event organisers just need to persuade their senior leaders to travel at the back of the bus.
Not just a cost, a commitment to sustainability can also create real ROI for organisers, allowing them to pitch for companies that are increasingly looking to report on their carbon footprints externally.
Delegates went away feeling inspired and with a clutch of top tips to implement into their organisation straightaway.
“An enjoyable day filled with knowledgeable speakers who really wanted to change the industry for the better, I came away with ideas of quick wins as well as longer term projects that could make a huge impact on my company’s sustainability strategy,” said Adele Gallagher, interim events manager at RICS.
One of the sessions, hosted by event partner Global Destination Sustainability Movement, brought together experts from several UK destination management companies – NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau, Visit Belfast, Meet Cambridge and Marketing Manchester. They all agreed that sustainability is a much more important part of the decision when selecting destinations than it was a year ago.
Throughout the day, the event covered a series of sustainability challenges, with delegates able to attend the issues that were most relevant to them. These included:
The event divided into breakout sessions so that delegates could focus on the issues that were most relevant to them. Issues covered included:
- How good is the event industry at responsible business?
- Navigating B Corp certification
- Making smart supply chain choices
- Creating more regenerative, inclusive and circular cities
- Anthropy: Helping to shape a sustainable future
- The ROI in ‘Doing Good’
- The need for more radical thinking in events
- Communicating sustainability: crafting impactful event narratives
- Regenerative MICE strategies
“As an industry, we have a collective responsibility to act on sustainability. The CN Sustainability Summit is second-to-none for thought-leadership, collaboration, networking, showcasing best practice and profiling cutting edge solutions on delivering sustainable events,” Catherine Grinyer, MD at Attendable.
“This is the third year Immersive AV has taken part in the CN Sustainability Summit and that is for good reason. Not only is it informative, but it has given us an opportunity to position ourselves within the industry as a thought leader on sustainability. It is great to see so many like-minded individuals and companies meeting to discuss one of the biggest challenges our industry faces,” said Scott Holman, Commercial Director at Immersive AV.
Conference News would like to thank all its speakers, sponsors and partners that supported this year’s event:
Giant iTab, Immersive AV, Thorns Group, You. Smart. Thing., The University of Chicago Booth School of Business Conference Centre, Conference Badges, DBpixelhouse, Eden Project, event:decision, Good Hotel London, Lime Venue Portfolio, Losberger De Boer, One Tribe
CN Sustainability Summit 2025
Interested in attending next year? Get notified on all the key updates for #CNSS25 here.
