Collaboration plan for sustainable business events 2023

“How can National Convention Bureaux Leverage Their Influence for Sustainability?” is SANCBE’s latest whitepaper. It presents a joint action plan for sustainable corporate events and sustainability in line with the European Green Deal and Net Zero Carbon Events Initiative. The SANCBE-ICCA-IMEX Group Global Forum for National Convention Bureaux launched the document on May 22 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Our biggest problem is climate change. Business events can drive required transformation. Scientific conferences, political summits, and commercial exhibitions all facilitate human collaboration and communication. Thus, the corporate events industry has a unique opportunity and obligation to minimize and adapt to climate change.

Plan of action developed in collaboration to direct the hosting of sustainable business events

Matthias Schultze, GCB German Convention Bureau Managing Director and SANCBE Co-Chair: “Business events have been focusing on ecological sustainability for many years, but from now on we need to expand our understanding of sustainability, intensify our efforts, and align them with the best available science, existing international goals and frameworks, and leading industry movements such as the Net Zero Carbon Events Initiative.”

Eric Bakermans, Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions and SANCBE Co-Chair: “Our new whitepaper is built on many hours of insightful conversations, and it reflects the new roles and purposes we have jointly defined for ourselves as a European alliance. Our trust-based teamwork and common goal for a sustainable future led to it.”

Specific Actions

The current SANCBE whitepaper tackles four pillars and related areas of action: expertise & resources, advocacy & communication, strategy & standards, and facilitation & innovation. These pillars provide national convention bureaux tangible ways to accelerate sustainable transformation. The whitepaper inspires and guides European member organizations and non-European national convention bureaux in worldwide collaboration.

National Convention Bureau Global Forum

SANCBE, ICCA, and IMEX Group published the whitepaper on Monday, May 22, 2023, in Frankfurt, Germany, during the inaugural Global Forum for National Convention Bureaux. The forum provides a collaborative industry platform for National Convention Bureaux to share experiences and information to sustainably enhance corporate events and make lasting benefits in destinations.