Impact measurement for the North American events industry
Summary
The Sustainable Events: Big Initiative Group (SEBIG) a collaboration of organisations from across the exhibitions industry value chain, required support to undertake a materiality assessment to address the environmental impacts associated with the Business to Business (B2B) trade show industry in the USA and Canada.
How we helped
Little Blue Research designed a research project using an iterative methodology to understand and measure the industry’s collective environmental impact and quantify the most important environmental impacts overall and by event/show life-cycle stage. Outputs included strategic short and longer-term actions for collective industry engagement at scale.
Client description
SEBIG
20+ organisations represented
Case study details
Main service: Impact & dependency
Sector: Exhibitions and events
Assessment location: USA & Canada
Capital(s)
Challenges
Obtaining data across the value chain for the trade show sector.
Developing models to quantify environmental impact for:
• visitor transport GHG emissions
• venue energy use GHG emissions
• logistics GHG emissions
• venue waste (including methods for food and plastic)
• depot waste
• booth construction materials.
Outcomes
• Identification of material environmental issues across the life-cycle of B2B trade shows.
• Prioritised list of short and longer term actions for the industry to take forward.
"Little Blue Research did what many consultants could not - work for 18 months to quantify something that has never been measured before, during a time of significant disruption. Their flexibility and rigour helped ensure that we had confidence in the findings."
Ben Wielgus, Head of Sustainability, Informa (SEBIG Co-Founder)
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