We no longer need to discuss why the green agenda is important…
At this point the entire planet realises we have a problem, so businesses need to stop talking about it and instead take action.
Aside from beating the drum unnecessarily, the other issue with being too vocal is it opens companies up to accusations of ‘greenwashing’. And recently people are far too eager to point the finger at anyone who isn’t practicing exactly what they are preaching.
But although conversations around ‘why we should be green’ have become redundant, conversations around ‘how we should be green’ shouldn’t be silenced. But ‘greenhushing’ is a direct by-product of the aforementioned accusations and so all too often organisations are sitting on valuable knowledge that could help the planet.
The real solution to this crisis is collaborative innovation. Being green is not a competitive advantage, it’s an essential requirement. Particularly when it comes to events – be it a thousand-person conference or a ten-person bonding experience. Sharing best practice to make events, which were notoriously carbon heavy, better for the environment won’t impact the unique creative concepts but it will help the planet.
But who has the answers and how can this knowledge be tapped into?
Large organisations with massive teams of sustainability experts could be looked to for the answers, and of course they have some. But it’s actually the small agencies that work with a number of these large businesses that are successfully collecting best practices from multiple teams. They are accumulating knowledge from different sectors and then cross-pollinating these learnings back to their clients.
What’s more, as an external voice, event agencies are able to question norms and challenge the ‘why’ of an event. The result being sustainable, quality experiences that are within budget but achieve the desired outcomes.
