United Nations representatives to promote sustainability at IBTM World

Representatives from various UN bodies will be attending IBTM World this year, with the intention of learning about the meetings and events industry and promoting sustainability. IBTM World 2018 takes place from 27–29 November at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. This year the event will welcome around 3,000 exhibiting companies from 150 countries, over 3,500 buyers. The initiative comes on the back of IBTM’s ongoing partnership with Positive Impact. Positive Impact recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with certain United Nation bodies to help create a sustainable events industry. It is hoped that events can help the UN to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. During the event in Barcelona, UN representatives will participate in two education sessions as well as question and answer sessions on the show floor where visitors can find out more about sustainability. Positive Impact will host Ambassador meet ups and launch its latest sustainability report, which will highlight the importance of collaboration and taking action to understand your own sustainability challenges as the first step in making optimal business decisions. David Thompson, exhibition director, IBTM World, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome the UN representatives to IBTM World. With sustainability being such an important issue for our industry, giving our visitors the opportunity to learn directly from some of the leaders in this field is of vital importance. “As an organisation, we are committed to playing a leading role in supporting and inspiring the industry to take a sustainable approach to business and events.” Positive Impact CEO,Fiona Pelham said: “We are pleased to be facilitating collaboration between the UN, the global events industry and IBTM World. Positive Impact is a not for profit which exists to provide education and collaboration to create a sustainable event industry and tell the story of the power of events. “At IBTM World we are ensuring there is the opportunity for our industry to be having conversations about what our next action steps in sustainability could be and how this makes business sense.”