Sustainable events are becoming much more common because many are becoming more conscious of environmental impact. In 2019, National Geographic reported that since the first global outlook had been prepared in 1997, the Earth’s health has experienced a serious decline. It called for urgent and carefully considered steps to ensure that it’s restored to a sustainable condition.

As Joyce Msuya, acting executive director of U.N. Environment at the time said, “The Earth’s ailments are treatable, but not for a lot longer if people don’t make fundamental changes in what they consume, how they create energy, dispose of waste, and generally decrease the human footprint that is degrading air, water, and land.”

Over the years, the Earth has endured countless human activities that have negatively impacted its health. Including, perhaps surprisingly, organizing events. Although events are an integral part of human society as they foster unity, lead to growth and development, and improve social interaction, accompanying these benefits are some negative impacts that have made traditional event planning a threat to our planet.

Traditional event planning results in increased waste, greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon dioxide and ammonia), and high consumption of natural resources. This contributes to resource depletion and various disasters that threaten our survival. Therefore, the events industry needs to adopt sustainable practices.

These practices help us move toward a greener future by reducing toxic emissions and conserving natural resources. Rather than eliminating social gatherings, sustainable practices seek to find environmentally friendly ways to host events without harming the planet.

In this article, we will explore the key environmental impact of events, how event apps are a solution to reduce such impact, and the story of events that promoted event sustainability using event apps.

Key Environmental Impacts of Events

The level of environmental impact caused by an event depends on the event’s size . However, some effects, despite looking insignificant at the moment, can accumulate in the biosystem and cause serious problems in the future. The event industry generates 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions yearly as a result of different activities during preparing and attending the events. Let’s take a closer look at the three main environmental impacts of events.

Paper waste from printed materials

Research shows that paper makes up 26% of total waste at landfills. Printed materials are important to any event as they convey information about the event to the attendees, but they become useless after the event has been concluded resulting in disposing of the material, creating paper waste.

This waste can cause water pollution and landfill waste which adds to the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. The production of paper has a significant environmental impact, leading to deforestation, which in turn causes loss of biodiversity, air pollution, soil erosion, and climate change. These issues negatively affect our health and economic growth.

Energy consumption from travel and on-site activities

Energy can take various forms, including mechanical, electrical, and thermal. Each type of energy leaves behind residual effects. For instance, during transportation to an event, a vehicle’s engine converts fuel into mechanical energy to power the car. This combustion process releases gases such as CO2, which contribute to air pollution and global warming, leading to climate change. Additionally, these emissions increase the acidity of aquatic ecosystems, putting the lives of aquatic organisms at risk.

According to Headbox, the event industry uses an estimated 380m liters of diesel every year which translates to 1.2bn kilograms of CO2 emission yearly. Can you possibly imagine the adverse effect that alone will have on the sustainability of our planet?

Food waste and single-use plastics

The event industry produces a staggering amount of food waste yearly. Organizers, in the bid to not run out of food, tend to prepare excess which always results in wastage. Statistics have shown that an average event wastes 15%-20% of the food catered.

Event Apps as a Solution to Reduce Environmental Impact

Considering the effect of traditional event planning on the environment, the best way event industries can contribute towards creating a sustainable planet is by adapting to event apps.

Event apps are software that help event organizers effectively manage and host their virtual events. Event apps are eco-friendly. They help to beat down costs, conserve energy, reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and waste by digitizing event materials to reduce the production of paper and paper waste. They also reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses by allowing the host to organize events virtually. This conserves energy resources and eliminates excessive food waste.

Green event apps not only promote sustainability but also enhance social interaction, community management, and a sense of belonging. They allow individuals to participate in events from anywhere in the world. No need for travel or high transportation costs. Additionally, these apps help organizers reduce event costs, communicate details to attendees without using printed materials, set reminders, and measure engagement levels effectively.

An example of these apps is Guidebook. This particular app also allows you to print event badges and guides you through necessary event app metrics you need to know.

Success Stories of Brands That Used Event Apps

If you’re still contemplating whether to go green with event apps, here are a few success stories that could change your mind:

• Global Industrie is a perfect case study of a brand that switched to digital events. With the help of an event app platform, it gathered 2,500 exhibitors and 45,000+ attendees. The platform provided them with tools that could support multiple languages. It also allowed exhibitors to showcase their items, and have an engaging streaming tool for attendees.
• Another brand that went fully digital for its event is Apple. In 2020, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) went fully digital due to the pandemic. Apple’s WWDC App was used to confer with speakers, watch livestream sessions and access the event’s resources. The conference was considered a success. It pulled a high degree of involvement and participation from developers worldwide—more than 4 million visits.
• In 2021, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest technology trade show, hosted its first digital show in history on the CES app. The app allowed participants to watch live keynotes, explore exhibitor booths, and attend virtual networking events. Over 80,000 participants were in attendance and the event was recorded as a success.

The Future of Sustainable Events

Every event organizer should consider shifting towards green events rather than traditional ones to help build a sustainable environment for both the younger generation and ourselves.

One of our clients said, “In the past, Orientation has printed over 2000 schedule books (they are on glossy paper, look like a magazine, about 20-25 pages each). Once orientation was over, most of the time, the students would just toss them or maybe recycle them, leading to a lot of waste.

Our university has a mission to be more green by 2030 which in turn leads to the LEED certification. Our goal for Orientation is to be all digital 2025, Guidebook is providing us that platform to do that. It will also give our incoming students the ability to create their schedules.

All of the student affairs departments have been tasked with 'how can we move towards programming that is green' so we are looking at the items we give out for orientation and how to communicate with our incoming students. Hopefully Guidebook will start to be used in other areas of student affairs once we roll it out moving forward."