ISO20121, GRI EOSS and Event Sustainability

These notes are taken from a presentation that I gave to UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry in 2012.

ISO20121

BS8901 the Event Sustainability Standard was launched in 2007 to coincide with the UK's bid for the FIFA world cup and was quickly adopted Internationally.

The ISO process began in 2010 and 30 countries were involved in that process.  Every country has a standards body within the country and they are invited to take part in the creation of an International Standard.  During the chairing of ISO20121 each country brought at least one representative from the industry (not just the "standards people")  As well as 30 countries, liaison bodies were also involved including UFI. 

There are very few standard that are industry specific - this is one of the key differentiators of ISO20121 versus something like ISO14001.  It has been created by the events industry for the events industry, and as such addresses more specifically the concerns of the events industry.  Also, one of the most crucial things to remember about ISO20121 is that it takes a plan, do , check, act approach.  It is about a way of working, identifying your issues and putting a plan in place to address them.  It's not a checklist, it's not about saying "what are the 10 things I can do?"  It's a framework so you can identify what's relevant for you to address.

Because it's a way of working rather than a checklist approach, one of the benefits to implementing ISO20121 is that it can be implemented by big or small companies alike.  Implementing ISO20121 also still represents an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and best practise, not just as an individual organisation, but as a business community, and as the events industry.  There are also financial savings accessible by understanding our events more fully through this lens.

GRI EOSS

The Global Reporting initiative is an Internationally recognised framework for reporting on sustainability,  It has a number of sector specific supplements, for example Oil & Gas.  (Please note since the G4 GRI guidelines update in 2013, these sector specific supplements are now represented as Sector Disclosure documents that align with and can be used alongside the G4 Guidelines)  Work on the Event Organisers Sector Supplement started around 2010.  COP15 was one of the first events to report to GRI standards, and the London 2012 Olympics Local Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) were amongst the first Internationally to report to GRI EOSS.

Benefits of reporting include transparency, leadership, stakeholder engagement and measurement.  A key benefit is that as an Internationally recognised reporting framework, we are all working to the same standard, using the same language, even though our issues or stories may be quite different.

Working Together

It makes sense to use the GRI G4 Guidelines with the Event Organizers Sector Disclosure Document alongside ISO20121 as the tools compliment each other - not least because they are both Internationally focused.  If you integrate these approaches from the very beginning of your event process, you will reap the benefits of a better understanding of that process and where financial savings can be made and more positive impacts created.