Over 280 event professionals gathered from every corner of the events industry and beyond to tackle one of the biggest sustainability challenges facing events.

The framework was launched in front of the industry at a special seminar last week, with the support of isla’s 72 strong membership, including Channel 4, Amplify, Brandfuel, Imagination and Church House Westminster. 

Our co-founder Anna was joined by some of the brightest names in sustainability, alongside isla members harnessing proseed to bolster event deliveries and optimise sustainability strategies for their businesses, clients and supply chain.  

The launch featured across several event trade titles including M&IT, Conference News, micebook and Standout Magazine.

Event businesses far and wide are already equipping themselves by downloading checklists, policy and plans to take their sustainability planning to the next level. The free guidance provides a critical opportunity to get ahead in shifting towards net-zero and circular events when in-person events return in the coming months.

isla’s members are rolling out the framework across their operations in anticipation of the benchmark and scoring tool launching later this year. 

We’ve pulled together our highlights from the launch. If you couldn’t join, or you want to watch the session again, re-watch below!

The universal framework can be found at www.proseed.events.  

 Top tips for tackling proseed’s four core areas

⚡ Energy – Ed Gillespie, Futurist & author of “Only planet”

Make the switch  

• Ask your venue if they purchase renewable energy from their supplier. 
• Incentivise delegates to make the switch at home too.
• Tariffs are often comparable or even cheaper than conventional fossil fuel tariffs.  

?️ Catering – Juliane Caillouette Noble, Sustainable Restaurant Association

Consider local, seasonal before all else 

• Consider local, seasonal menus before all else. 
• Procure your ingredients from local farmers, it supports the local economy and has a smaller carbon footprint. 
• Celebrate meat and dairy when on the menu invest in the best. Drop cheap meat used to fill menus and replace them with plant-based dishes.  

? Travel and transport – Bethan Riach, Vision 2025, ecolibrium

Reduce and Balance 

• Incentivise your attendees to make sustainable travel decisions and make travel part of their experience.  
• Use local suppliers to reduce the footprint of your logistics. 
• Climate balance unavoidable emissions with offsetting programmes and share these achievements with your clients and audiences. Check out schemes like ecolibrium’s Energy Revolution and tress+.  

?️ Waste – Eleanor Morris, WRAP

Target, measure, act

• Use Defra’s waste hierarchy and strategies to assess your waste and its end-of-life in the pre-planning phase.
• Set food waste reduction targets, work in partnership with your suppliers and help attendees reduce overall food waste.
• Use tools like Guardians of the Grub Cost Saving Calculator to track against those targets.

 Meet the Working Group Panel 

Learn about the 30 isla members that road-tested proseed and are now implementing the framework to achieve their sustainability ambitions – for their teams, clients and supply chain.

Panellists

Selina Donald, Sustainability Director and Founder of The Bulb 

Selina was involved in developing the proseed framework and understands the challenges that event businesses face in achieving sustainable business models. She highlighted how proseed as a resource and tool will drive businesses to achieve their sustainability objectives at both organizational and event level. 

David Ball, CEO of Brandfuel

As one of isla’s founding members, recently achieved ISO 20121 certification David shared Brandfuels journey and how proseed will slot over the accreditation to level up their sustainable event deliveries. 

Sam Trevenna, Managing Director, Goose Live Events 

Goose Live Event witnessed the evolution of proseed as part of the working group. Sam shared their experience of how clients are asking about sustainable solutions more and more, and how as an agency they are implementing proseed to meet their client’s sustainability objective and ambitions.

Want to start delivering sustainable events? Check out the universal framework at www.proseed.events, or take it one step further and become an isla member!