In June 2012, an ISO standard launched with the potential to transform the events industry.
Experts from 25 countries helped to develop this international standard, with another 10 countries observing. Members of the sustainability team of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were among eight stakeholders who provided input to a committee chaired by Positive Impact managing director Fiona Pelham. Some 18 months on, Fiona discusses the impact of ISO 20121 and calls on the UK events sector to show more leadership around sustainability.
Q. The past year has been about educating the industry about the existence of ISO 20121 along with the benefits of achieving certification. Do you feel there’s now a good understanding of the framework?
A. I think we are still on a learning curve to understand the content of this certification. I also think people may be still a little confused about who the standard is relevant for. The answer to that is, if you work in the events industry, no matter the size of your business and no matter the focus, ISO 20121 is relevant for your business and makes excellent business sense.
Q. What has been the take-up from UK venues, agencies and suppliers over the past 12 months?
A. There has been an increase in take-up from some of the larger venues across the UK including ExCeL, Manchester Central and the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, who are all implementing the standard. We’ve seen some of the major agencies start out on this sustainability journey including Smyle and we’ve seen some smaller events businesses come to us for materials to help implement ISO 20121. ISO 20121 came from a British Standard so we have the opportunity for leadership.
Q. Putting any business through the complexities of achieving ISO certification can be a daunting experience. What alternatives are on offer for those that wish to begin their sustainability journey but may not be ready to jump in at the ISO20121 deep-end?
A. Positive Impact provides online educational products and a number of guides to help people simply get started on the road to a more sustainable events business. We help you to identify your issues and to begin your journey. We also have the Positive Impact 2020 Vision. This is a really good starting point as it explains what experts would like to see happen over the next seven years and then gives you the opportunity to pledge actions to make this vision a reality.
Q. ISO20121 is obviously a fantastic sustainability legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. How would you like to see this legacy developed over the next 12 months?
A. I would love to see the UK take on some leadership in this area and for government to understand that the knowledge and expertise we possess as an industry in this area can be exported around the world to other countries hosting large-scale events. I’d also love to see the sustainability credentials of the UK included in bids for major events.
London 2012 started a number of projects including a zero waste initiative and a food sustainable sourcing policy. These are initiatives that we could roll out across the UK events industry supply-chain with relative ease. I’d also like to see more commitment, more education and more collaboration to achieve the 2020 vision.