23. April 2024
Sustainability is increasingly of consideration in all industries; also in the events industry, which includes all market players involved in large as well as small events in business, politics, sports and culture. These events use resources and leave an imprint on the world around them.
One of the biggest events taking place every four years is the Olympics. Since the Olympics in London in 2012, the Olympic Committee has worked strategically with sustainability in the planning and execution of all Olympic Games, and they implemented ISO 20121 – the international standard for event sustainability.
This year Paris will host the event, and the updated version of the standard has recently been published and is ready to be used at this summer’s Olympics in the French capital.
The purpose of revising ISO 20121 has been to ensure that the standard is up to date in relation to the sustainability requirements of today. In particular, the recent version emphasizes the importance of acting on climate change and ensuring human rights.
The Olympic Committee has played an active role in the revision work which has been carried out by players in the events industry from all over the world. From Denmark too. Six Danish organizations have participated in the work, where they have focused particularly on formulations that promote best practice in relation to the various concrete sustainability elements included in the standard. Focus has also been on making the standard more accessible to players across the events industry. Ulrika Mårtensson, owner of BeeSustain Aps and chairperson of the committee S-895, elaborates:
- Our industry is complex med many players, including many small and medium-sized players. I see a great desire to work seriously with all aspects of sustainability, however many people are in doubt how to do it. Here, the ISO 20121 standard – developed by an international standardization body together with players of the events industry – is an invaluable tool for future-proofing all parts of the value chain in events, regardless of the size of the company.
The Danish organizations will continue the cooperation in the standardization committee with focus on ensuring that all players in the value chain how the standard can contribute to meeting the increasing requirements for sustainability.
ISO 20121 is the only internationally recognised standard for sustainability for the events and meeting industry. The standard provides a common foundation for a strategic work that brings real value to the customers and an event industry that is developed in a reliable manner at the same time. It focuses on the entire value chain and can be used both for one-off events and all types of suppliers to the industry, and by companies that make a living from organising meetings or events. Thus the standard can be used as a tool to systemising the sustainable transition for a wide group of organizations and enterprises. From hotels, congress centres, festival sites, and stages to catering companies, event agencies, municipalities, destination management companies etc.
- ISO 20121 is a management system standard that will help players in the events industry work systematically with sustainability, both from an overall perspective and in detail. And there is a great need for this with all the new requirements for sustainability organizations must fulfil in relation to energy consumption, waste, accessibility and diversity. The standard can help the events industry document its conformity to the increased requirements and demands from people, the market, national and international authorities regarding environmental, social, community and management responsibility, says Chief Consultant at Danish Standards Berit Holbech Asmussen.
All Danish enterprises and organizations interested in this area are offered the possibility to participate in the Danish committee S-895. Read more about how the committee work runs, and how you can learn more from each other’s experiences, and to a larger degree disseminate the good solutions in the events industry here:
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