The Meetings Show outlines plans to reduce carbon footprint

The Meetings Show, the UK’s leading event which brings together the world’s meetings and events community, has unveiled further commitments to minimising its environmental impact.

Working with isla as its strategic sustainability partner, The Meetings Show will forge ahead with its plans to reach net zero by 2050 and cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.

Using isla’s measurement platform TRACE to help measure and minimise carbon emissions, The Meetings Show will collect data around the areas of travel, waste, catering and energy from this year’s show activity.

The collected data will then be assessed and used to create a full Event Impact Report that will provide data insights on findings and help steer further improvements for future shows.

To allow better calculation of The Meetings Show 2023’s carbon footprint – and identify areas of improvement - visitors, suppliers and staff are being asked to supply information on their travel habits to and from the event.

Work is already underway to minimise negative environmental impact. For example, furniture at the show will be hired from existing stock to avoid buying and disposing of single-use furniture and the volume of printed materials has been greatly reduced and replaced with digital signage and digital materials. Elsewhere, the food being served in the central lounge bar will be plant-based while red meat will not feature on the Hosted Buyer Lounge menu.

Recommendations have also been provided to exhibitors and show suppliers, to enable them to make more informed choices around key areas such as transport and catering and there will be themed education sessions to provide advice to event professionals in making their events more sustainable.

Jack Marczewski, portfolio event director of The Meetings Show, TEAMS Europe and Business Travel Show Europe, said: “We are committed to minimising our environmental impact and promoting sustainability. We recognise that sustainability is a complex topic, and it is through collaboration and knowledge sharing we’ll create meaningful change. With everyone’s support we can make faster progress and so I hope all suppliers and visitors will be forthcoming with relevant data to move forward.”

The Meetings Show recently appointed isla CEO and founder Anna Abdelnoor (pictured) to its Advisory Board. Isla will host five educational sessions on its stand (A41) at this year’s show and provide information about The Complete Sustainable Events Course, which it created in partnership with The Meetings Show and which will run from September.   

There are various ways to register to attend The Meetings Show 2023 (at ExCeL London on 28-29 June) which will be co-located with Business Travel Show Europe and TravelTech Show.  To find out more about the buyer, hosted buyer and visitor registration options, visit: https://www.themeetingsshow.com/register.