EIC Seeks Comment on Proposed Standards for Sustainable Events

The Events Industry Council on Monday released six new supplier standards for sustainable events for public commentary. Major changes have been made to increase the standards' ease of use, strengthen social responsibility considerations, and recognize innovation and exemplary performance. These standards will replace the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards, the council said.

The draft standards can be reviewed on the EIC website through April 18. Current categories for comment include accommodations, audiovisual and production, destinations, exhibitions, food and beverage, and venues. Further, a new event organizer standard is being developed and will be released for input in the next two months, the EIC said.

More than 100 of the industry’s leading practitioners contributed to the development of the new standards, the EIC said. “The public commentary phase is an important milestone in launching standards that can be implemented around the world,” according to the EIC.

“Throughout the process of revising the standards, we focused on making them globally relevant,” said Mariela McIlwraith, CMP, the EIC’s director of industry advancement. “In addition to having volunteers from 15 different countries participating in the revisions, we designed the requirements to focus on environmental and social outcomes, rather than country-specific regulations and programs. Most importantly, they have been streamlined with clear compliance levels that are actionable and trackable,”

“We encourage everyone in the industry to jump in with thoughts, comments and questions,” Chance Thompson, chair of the EIC's Sustainable Events Standards Committee, said. “The ultimate goal is for our industry to use these standards to make events more sustainable, which will help build a better future.”