I S S U E : C A R B ON TA R G E T
TARGET DRIVEN
Is it time for meeting planners to commit to net zero? A carbon reduction framework – backed by the UN – might be the way to go. James Lancaster reports…
ssociation meeting planners all over the world could soon be pledging to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. An ‘ambitious’ roadmap to create a carbon reduction target for the business events sector was discussed at an industry roundtable – with all eyes on COP26 for the big launch. UK-based Positive Impact Events is hoping to raise £30,000 to drive the project, which would be delivered under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Other sectors – like sport and fashion – have already committed to UN-backed sectoral carbon targets to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. The aim would be for the UK events A
sector to create a template for carbon reduction, ahead of COP26 in Glasgow in November, that could be copied by event professionals worldwide. Positive Impact Events CEO Fiona Pelham said a target for events was ‘an idea whose time had come’. She said: “The compelling future is the UK Prime Minister standing up at the COP conference and announcing that the UK has taken a sector devastated by Covid-19 and built it back better, that the UK is a place to bring your events to because we can deliver them in a sustainable way, that the UK now has skills in sustainability that can be exported, and the UK events sector has a carbon target and reduction plan that other countries can now join.” She added: “There is a gap in the fact that the events sector will be involved in
16 APRIL 2021 AMIMAGAZINE.GLOBAL
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