What are the best ways to measure the social and environmental impact of your events?

At @ESGSummitEurope, we're committed to making a positive impact. We start by setting clear, easy-to-understand goals for each event. This includes engaging more people in our cause, raising awareness about important issues, and being kind to the environment. We keep an eye on things like how much waste we're reducing and whether we're bringing the community closer together. By tracking these simple yet important goals, we can really see the difference our events are making and keep improving them. This helps us stay true to our mission of making a positive change in the world.

Defining the impact objectives is essential. Measuring impact without a clear end-goal is a waste of time and resources. Data that just sits in a spreadsheet is no good to anyone! Decide what you want to measure and WHY right from the outset. What will you do with the data once you have it?

Measuring the social and environmental impact of events is crucial for organizations and businesses aiming to incorporate sustainability into their operations. Some effective ways to assess: - Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - Waste Management Audits - Carbon Footprint Measurement - Social Impact Assessments - Supplier and Vendor Engagement - Energy and Resource Consumption Tracking - Biodiversity Impact Assessment - Benchmark Against Industry Standards - Social and Community Outreach Programs By combining quantitative data with qualitative feedback, organizations can gain a holistic understanding of the social and environmental impact.

Data is central in determining the event production's reliability sustainability. One can collect data from various sources such as suppliers, venues, sponsors, staff, or attendees. You can use surveys, interviews, audits, reports, invoices, or sensors to gather your data. The Impact of the event can be obtained through focusing on metrics as you set your objectives. These aspects might entail attendee numbers, net promoter scores, engagement rates, conversation and revenue generated.

Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help measure success. Examples include waste reduction, energy consumption, community engagement, or social inclusion metrics.

From my perspective, selecting impactful indicators is the cornerstone of measuring the social and environmental impact of events. The tailored choice of indicators, whether quantitative or qualitative, aligns with the specific objectives. For instance, in striving to reduce the carbon footprint, metrics like CO2e emissions, energy consumption, and renewable energy sources prove invaluable. Conversely, when aiming for increased social inclusion, indicators such as diversity, accessibility, and satisfaction become pivotal. It's important to emphasize that selecting indicators should not only align with the event's objectives but should also be both reliable and verifiable.

In my experience, many companies have failed to see substantial progress in their sustainability journey as they have not selected the most relevant impact indicators. The most relevant impact indicators are the ones where the company has 1) high impact 2) high likelihood of taking action (technically and financially feasible) and 3) high interest from stakeholders (willingness and support from top management). A right mix of quantitative and qualitative indicators is also highly recommended. Finally, ensure the right resources/team is available to support these specific impact indicators

...Se o seu objetivo é reduzir sua pegada de carbono, você pode usar indicadores como emiss?es de Emiss?es de gases efeito estufa gerado pelo consumo de energia, pelo deslocamento dos participantes, pelo resíduos(rejeito) por exemplo

Evaluate the environmental impact of your event by calculating its carbon footprint, taking into account waste production, energy use, and transportation. Also, we can measure emissions using resources like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

If possible, implement post-event surveys to gather feedback on the overall impact, sustainability efforts, and areas for improvement. Use the insights to inform future event planning.

Companies today are using sustainability communication as a marketing tool. If your company has taken significant measures to address its relevant Environmental and Social Impacts (ESIs), do not shy away from communicating these. Communication of ESI can happen through Sustainability Reports, Websites, Media Relations, Employee Engagement, Social Media, Specific Events, etc. Effective communication and reporting allow better transparency and accountability, enhance brand reputation, improve operational efficiency and risk management, meet and exceed regulatory compliance, and motivate stakeholders. For effective ESI communication, consider materiality assessment (most relevant ESIs), the target audience, authenticity, and transparency

Remember: What you cannot measure, you cannot manage. Make sure you collect and record data through measurement, estimation, calculation, or assumptions. This will give you your baseline - helping you chart your journey to sustainable improvements. For events, you will collect data on travel (air, road, rail, others), food, waste, energy, and any other event-specific aspects. The data collected also allows you to benchmark against similar events, competitors, and international best practices.

In my experience, ISO 20121 Sustainable Events is instrumental in creating sustainable events. This standard emphasizes key principles like risk management, stakeholder engagement, resource efficiency, and continuous improvement. ISO 20121 encourages risk identification and mitigation to ensure sustainability isn't compromised. It promotes resource efficiency, resonating with my background in optimizing vendor management. Furthermore, ISO 20121 offers certification, demonstrating commitment to sustainability providing a robust framework for sustainable events by addressing risks, engaging stakeholders, promoting resource efficiency, fostering continuous improvement, and enhancing credibility, contributing to responsible event management.

Evaluate the social impact of your event by considering factors such as community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and economic benefits to local businesses. Collect feedback through surveys or focus groups. Additionally, we must be concerned with ongoing improvement: Utilize the information gathered to enhance sustainability procedures and guide future event preparation. Create a continuous improvement cycle to steadily improve environmental and social performance.