Greengage has launched the EventSmart Impact Portal in response to demand from venues, bookers, and clients, addressing the lack of carbon measurement for small meetings, which account for around 80% of all business events.
There is potential for the portal to make a significant contribution in understanding the hidden environmental impact of small and medium sized meetings. Currently fewer than 5% of these meetings have any form of carbon measurement or environmental impact tracking. This means that the vast majority of business-related emissions from meetings are completely invisible to organisations trying to meet their scope 3 carbon reduction goals.
The Impact Portal is the first portfolio-wide event carbon calculator designed specifically for small and mid-sized meetings of between 2 and 100 attendees, but it can measure meetings of all sizes.
Using the portal venues can provide clients with a simple online overview of carbon emissions or upgrade to provide more detailed reports based on individual factors specific to different locations. Additionally, they can provide clients with QR codes to facilitate self-reporting and measurement of the whole event including elements such as travel that are not the responsibility of the venue.
The Impact Portal enables bookers to make data driven decisions. For example they can get an indication of the carbon footprint of a meeting at the planning stage when there is still time to consider changing venues or locations to reduce emissions.
The portal also allows for green transportation planning and community impact measurement.
Louise Boyse, Greengage’s commercial director, commented: “When we talk about sustainable events, the conversation typically revolves around large conferences, trade shows and corporate gatherings. Until now small meetings have been a massive blind spot that actually have a huge impact on emissions from the meetings and events sector.”