What is your favorite type of social event?

Whether formal or informal, you have probably participated in social events that involved gathering many people for a shared purpose. These events likely included many essential services and amenities—things ‍like food, basic materials (notebooks, brochures, pens), lights, screens, refrigeration, heating, cleaning services, merchandise, and transportation ‍to make the event successful.

Whether social, cultural, or professional, social events are essential to human development. They often celebrate shared customs and cultures and unite people of diverse backgrounds and experiences, creating unique benefits like establishing and strengthening human bonds; promoting solidarity, empathy, and tolerance; reaffirming recognition of and love for other human beings and preserving and promoting culture and tourism, to name a few.

With all the benefits of social gathering, it is easy to overlook the costs. Even more private gatherings like birthdays, weddings, and festivals require diverse forms of consumption with potentially far-reaching impacts. When we consider even more daily gatherings like professional meetings and workshops—‍not to mention less-frequent, but more resource-intensive meetings like professional conferences, skill-training sessions, and work presentations—‍the environmental impacts quickly add up.

The impacts of social events

In recent decades, our awareness of everyday environmental impacts, and of our historical neglect of these impacts, has grown dramatically. Prioritizing environmental care today goes beyond the products we purchase and consume and extends to our daily actions and behaviors, including our approach to gathering and socializing. Fifty years ago, who would have imagined that a simple music concert, with noble goals like cultural development, fun, and leisure, could be seen as a source of environmental degradation?

Numerous studies have identified negative impacts on land, water, plants, animals, and beyond generated by large social events. Impacts demonstrated by the research include:

1. Damage to local flora and fauna leading to biodiversity loss at event locations; and
2. Contamination of soil and water due to inadequate waste management—‍plastics, paper, human waste, aluminum, and cardboard generated from events can migrate beyond the event site.

So, how can we mitigate these impacts?

Today, multiple new tools are available for analyzing and evaluating options for greater sustainability in large event gatherings.

One of these tools is called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This is a scientific method that evaluates the environmental impact of a product, process, or activity throughout all stages of its life cycle, from the extraction of their raw materials to their disposal or final use in the case of products, and to their development in the case of activities. LCA makes it possible to identify options to reduce environmental impact and grow sustainability, as well as compare different alternatives to support informed environmental decision making.

An LCA goes hand-in-hand with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). The EPD concept is based on the ISO 14025 standard, developed by the International Organization for Standardization. An EPD is a verified and registered document that communicates transparent and comparable information on the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle.

This type of certification is performed according to a protocol, defined by program operators, called the Product Category Rule (PCR). The International EPD System, a global program for environmental declarations, ‍is, in fact, currently developing a specific PCR for events called “Events and tourism services,” which is expected to be published in August 2024. This will allow the issuance of EPDs for this service category.

Another useful tool when tackling event sustainability is the ISO 20121 standard. This international standard provides sustainability criteria for organizations that manage any type of event or activity, determining the necessary conditions for all stages of the event process: design, organization, planning, execution, development, review, and any post-event activities.

However, it is important to note that ISO 20121 certifies the management system of event-organizing companies, and not the event itself; it seeks to encourage certified companies to incorporate sustainability measures into their event planning and development.

Some of the benefits of implementing ISO 20121 include:

1. Improving your carbon footprint.
2. Saving costs through reduced and greater-efficiency resource consumption (water, energy, etc.).
3. Providing greater control over suppliers and contractors.
4. Demonstrating corporate social responsibility and commitment to the environment and society.
5. Providing a risk prevention plan for possible environmental problems.
6. Cultivating ongoing improvements within the company.