PCMA CEO Sherrif Karamat (pictured below) explores how the events industry can make the transition to net-zero events based on a circular economy globally possible.
Usually when you overshoot the mark it’s a good thing, like when you exceed your goals. But Earth Overshoot Day is no cause for celebration. This year, we reached Earth Overshoot Day on 2 August, marking the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. To determine the date of Earth Overshoot Day, the Global Footprint Network combines data and forms the most reasonable assumptions to assess humanity’s resource situation. Earth Overshoot Day would have landed even sooner – on 13 March – if the world’s population lived like residents of North America. It’s a sobering data point that underscores the urgency of shifting to a circular economy, whose model of production and consumption involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials for as long as possible. While we as an industry have gone to great efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials we use at our events, more needs to be done and we have far to go on the sustainability front. PCMA is endeavouring to lead the business events industry in that journey. To that end, we hired our first head of global sustainability, Carolina Goradesky, who has hit the ground running since starting in mid-May. Due in large part to her initiatives, PCMA has earned a certificate badge from the Events Industry Council (EIC) Sustainability and Social Impact Foundations Certificate Programme, which reviews an organisation’s existing policies and plans. At the first stage, we are mapping out areas where we can make an impact. At the same time, we are invested in developing collaborations with organisations that will be active players in delivering our objectives. AGU (American Geophysical Union) is one such partnership. A worldwide thought leader on climate change impact and innovation, AGU will help us design sustainable events, convene conversations related to risk and climate change, support the business events community with education and tools, and establish goals for meaningful progress in the reduction of carbon and actual offset programmes. Most recently, at Convening EMEA, held 20-22 September in Copenhagen – one of the world’s leading sustainable meetings destinations – we announced the launch of a new climate-tech event to take place in 2024 in partnership with the National Convention Bureaux of Europe. The one-day conference will be focused on exploring groundbreaking innovations and cutting-edge climate-friendly technologies to reimagine business events and create new business models. Put another way, new technologies make an indispensable contribution to sustainable meetings and turn the task ahead of the meetings industry into a twin transformation of sustainability and digitalisation. We’ll be exploring such questions as: Is the transition to net-zero events based on a circular economy globally possible? Business events are an essential tool for solving complex issues, and the climate crisis is the No. 1 challenge of our time. We have before us a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to contribute to the global efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Published with permission of Convene, the magazine of PCMA, © 2023.
