Green/Sustainable Meetings

Making Sustainability a Top Priority

2023/01/12

Sustainability has become an important factor today in deciding how and where to host an event. For Explore Edmonton Corporation, event sustainability a top priority. Dramatic improvements were made in its sustainability efforts in 2022 with the implementation of several local social, environmental, and economic causes and programs. “Explore Edmonton proudly launched six new sustainability content-based training courses over 2022 with the goal of helping provide staff with a more in-depth knowledge of sustainability, its practices, and what Explore…
How to Find Joy in Flying Less

2022/11/21

As an event professional, I have a love-hate relationship with travel. I get a lot of joy out of the opportunity my job provides me to visit other places. At the same time, I feel significant guilt about the carbon impact of the flights I take. For a long time I rationalized these trips. They’re “only” 2 per cent of carbon emissions, I’d say (a figure that doesn’t include the full warming potential of all emissions from aviation). And…
Future-casting Sustainable Event Design

2022/08/26

As event professionals, focusing on our future is essential. We learn from the past, observe in the present, and then design our upcoming events based on our experiences. What we have learned from the past, and continue to observe in the present, is that sustainable event design and social impact are essential considerations for the future of our industry, and for the industries and communities we serve. Business events create environments for innovation, they act as an economic engine and…
Best Practices to Reduce Event Food Waste

2022/07/14

Second Harvest works with thousands of food businesses from across the supply chain, and across the country, utilizing logistics and technology to reduce the amount of edible food going to waste. Our inclusive model ensures this healthy surplus food is redirected to thousands of charities and non-profits across the country, providing millions of Canadians experiencing food insecurity access to the nourishment they need. Through our work with the hospitality industry and specifically events teams, we have learned some best…
How to Navigate Net Zero Events

2022/05/23

Corporate lingo for “mind the planet” is constantly changing. Start feeling comfortable talking about “sustainability” and “CSR”, and suddenly it’s all about “carbon neutral” and “net zero.” As challenging as it can be to keep up, it is important for event professionals to stay on top of what these terms mean if they are to deliver value and avoid liabilities in the corporate event space. So what do you need to know to speak confidently about net zero? To begin,…
The Need to Have Sustainable Meetings

2021/12/14

The disruptions of the past 20 months have shown the meeting and event industry’s resilience with event planners running numerous safe, meaningful meetings and events online, and recently again in hybrid and in-person formats. We’ve proved that we’re here to thrive through whatever the world throws at us, and are growing to meet the increasing demand for better-than-ever meetings and events. Edmonton’s first carbon-neutral conference three years ago represented a pivotal moment for us, solidifying that sustainability must be…
Striving for sustainability in events

2018/02/06

By Daniella Bustamante The concept of “sustainable” and “green” events is not new. Over the years, we have seen a shift towards making events more eco-friendly. This has been most noticeable with more hotels and convention centers coming up with detailed eco-friendly initiatives. With venues stepping up to the plate, planners and producers (myself included) need to do our part to prioritize sustainability. Overhauling an event to make it “green” is not an easy nor appealing feat, but even through…
Using nature to boost engagement and attention at your next event

2017/07/07

By Ben Moorsom Last year we were in Vienna working out of a Hilton, sitting inside dim meeting rooms for 12 hours at a time (sound familiar?). At the end of each day, we’d walk to this vibrant neighbourhood nearby for dinner. There were three different routes we could take to get there. But, every time we left the hotel that week, I noticed that we’d all naturally walk in the same direction—toward the big park with a scenic pathway…
Canadian programs help make buying seafood for your event a little less fishy

2016/06/03

Last month I visited the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world: Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan. The market handles more than 400 types of seafood valued at approximately $7 billion Canadian every year. Products arrive from all over to be sold during a lively early-morning auction. They are then sent to restaurants, hotels and caterers to serve to customers all over Japan and beyond. Strolling through the miles of aisles at the market it is easy…
How to get your event on the green energy grid

2015/12/17

Here in Canada, we’re a pretty conscientious bunch. Especially when it comes to green events. But for most of us, hosting a “green energy” event is a bit of a mystery. And it can seem a lot more complicated than it actually is. So what do you need to know? You may be sourcing some green energy by default Canada has diverse energy sources. In fact, over 77 per cent of our electricity comes from non- fossil fuel sources: 61…

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