Is our increasing focus on AI diverting attention from sustainability?

Can we harness AI’s transformative potential to benefit people and the planet?

Senior Business Events Manager at VisitScotland, Rory G. Archibald , explores the ways we can advocate for keeping sustainability on the agenda in an era of change.

What risk does the increasing focus on AI pose?

AI has already transformed the way we work and process information and continues to make ground-breaking change across all industries. With this epoch-making tool, it’s easy to be distracted from other areas that need our attention.

Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence. The business events industry must continue to drive to become a net zero industry and embrace AI as a tool that can help us to reach our sustainability goal, which we have a way to go at this current rate of progress.

Are there any ways in which AI can help address the issue of sustainability?

Here is where I believe the greatest opportunity lies for AI. PCMA has launched its own AI tool, Project Spark. It says: “Project SPARK is a once in a generation opportunity for the business events industry to understand and define how a disruptive technology will shape our chosen profession.”

During PCMA Convening Leaders in San Diego I sat in a session that gave live examples of how AI could generate a list of potential venues for a future event, tailored to individual needs, create new formulas in excel, and suggest content, agendas and summarise notes into an executive summary.

What if we could use these tools to plan the most sustainable events possible?

Could AI map out venues, hotels, food suggestions, and transportation that produces the smallest amount of carbon? Could AI gather sustainable data from hotels, venues, and transport to give accurate carbon calculations? Could AI suggest activities or actions to reduce our carbon footprint? Could AI do more? Absolutely. If AI can do what we want it to do, technology such as this should be used to solve the greatest problems our world faces today.

There are many different global issues which are diverting attention and resources away from sustainability, how can we maintain a focus on sustainability?

Quite simply, the two most important things at any time are people and planet. If we keep those as our focus, we can cut through the noise and not be distracted by things that do not put them first.

However, it’s not always that easy. Socioeconomic and political issues often have a direct impact on people and planet. As an industry, we must legislate ourselves and hold all parties accountable. We must use the power of our sector to champion, advocate, and demand change. We are from an industry where ‘no’ has always been a dirty word, but now, ‘no’ must become a part of our vocabulary and one we are empowered to use. If something does not put people and planet first, then it must be a no.

Do you think enough is being done?

Sustainability is often still viewed as a ‘nice to have, not a must have’ and that seems to come down to resource, cost and the expectation that it is for someone else to do the work of being sustainable. And sometimes, suppliers don’t always feel empowered to say ‘no’ when asked for activities that don’t put planet first.

There are some great examples out there of events that put people and planet first. Here in Scotland our three international conference centres – Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), Scottish Event Campus (SEC) and P&J Live all have ambitious net zero targets, dedicated resources within their teams and investment in technology to help their efforts. Our academic venues, such as the University of Edinburgh whose vision is to ‘make the world a better place’, are also committed to becoming a zero carbon and zero waste university with strong alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. But we are not perfect, and this isn’t reflected across the industry as a whole.

Often, we see carbon offsetting marketed as an option, but this in isolation is not a solution and our focus should be on reducing emissions, not simply offsetting. We need to work harder and smarter – we need to direct AI’s transformative potential towards saving the planet.

What’s your vision for the future?

That we become an industry that sets the example of how to put people and planet first. That we can sustainably grow, offer quality jobs to people from all backgrounds, become a beacon of inclusivity and a catalyst of positive change that other industries and governments follow.

Business events are unique in that they bring every other industry together. Everyone must meet. That could be a meeting for ten to a congress for 20,000. At some point in your career, you will be at a meeting with colleagues from outside your office. This gives business events a unique opportunity to drive social and environment change. Sustainability is a cause for everyone to be concerned about.

If we can influence change in private industry and academia, then we must. Our industry has individuals and groups with incredible passion for the good business events do for society. We just need more of them.

How is VisitScotland approaching the issue, what solutions is it offering?

VisitScotland has a robust sustainability policy to guide how we operate as an organisation and how we support the wider tourism industry:

https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/our-policies/sustainability . ??

For business events, we support the efforts of our cities and regions, signpost solutions for specific challenges and champion for change in Scotland and around the world.