The Centre for Sustainability and Social Impact stands at the forefront of driving meaningful change in the global events industry. By providing globally relevant resources, we empower event professionals to adopt sustainable and socially impactful practices, fostering a pan-industry commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Through our actions, we can build welcoming communities, drive sustainable development, and champion diversity, equity, and inclusion. The following case study exemplifies the type of initiatives and progress the Centre for Sustainability and Social Impact aims to support and highlight. Client: Visit Denver Meghan Green, Head of Global Events Marketing and Communications for SAP, discusses Visit Denver’s recent certification to the EIC Sustainable Events Standards with Tiffany Eck, CMP, Associate Director of Destination Services at Visit Denver.
Background Visit Denver’s journey toward achieving sustainable event certification demonstrates how organizations within our industry can take concrete steps to achieve environmental and social responsibility. Visit Denver, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, embarked on a sustainability journey in 2013. They were the first destination organization to achieve a Level 2 sustainable event certification under the APEX (EIC Accepted Practices Exchange) standards in 2015. Years later, in 2023, they were awarded Platinum Level certification for the EIC Sustainable Event Standards. VISIT DENVER is the world’s first destination to achieve this highest level of certification. Challenge As sustainability standards evolved over the past decade, Visit Denver aimed to maintain and improve their certification under the new Event Industry Council (EIC) Sustainable Event Standards. This required adapting to a point-based system and addressing new criteria across various aspects of their operations and the city’s infrastructure. Solution Visit Denver took a multi-step, multi-year approach to making consistent and incremental improvements in developing and implementing a comprehensive sustainability and social impact plan and program:
- Leadership Buy-in: Secured top-level support for implementing new policies, communications, and programs.
- Green Team: Formed a dedicated team to drive sustainability initiatives.
- External Expertise: Engaged a sustainability consultant to conduct a gap analysis and provide guidance.
- Foundational Elements: Focused on establishing core components like a sustainability policy, procurement guidelines, a comprehensive sustainability and social impact plan, and an annual sustainability report.
- Continuous Improvement: Annually updated their sustainability plan and sought new opportunities to enhance their practices, including implementation of human trafficking awareness training for staff and exploring potential financial incentives for sustainable groups visiting Denver.
Result Visit Denver made multi-year advancements in policy and program. The organization’s commitment to sustainability resulted in Platinum-level certification under the EIC Sustainable Event Standards in 2023 while setting benchmarks for other destination organizations. Lessons Learned
- Start small with foundational elements and build incrementally.
- Leverage existing resources and make them publicly accessible.
- Be prepared to address new criteria, such as DEI and human trafficking awareness.
- Consider external expertise to navigate complex standards.
- View the certification process as an ongoing journey of improvement.