Record high temperatures, wildfires and flooding – recent weeks have delivered a stark reminder of the increasing impact of climate change. As environmental factors take their place alongside budget and resource restrictions for event professionals, IMEX America is due to shine a stronger light than usual on sustainable event practices.
Each year IMEX America, which takes place next October 10 – 13 2022, is improved by the findings and recommendations of an independently verified annual sustainability impact report. The report makes public the show’s energy use, F&B, materials consumption and reuse, community impact and more.
Prepared by sustainability partners, MeetGreen, the report also benchmarks each edition of IMEX America against industry best practices such as EIC’s Sustainable Event Standards. Following Earth Overshoot Day on 28th July, the sustainability report for IMEX America 2021 has been released.
Achievements detailed in the report include:
The show achieved its highest landfill diversion rate to date of 95%. This along with recycling, composting and donation efforts meant the show achieved the industry threshold for a ‘zero-waste event’
100% of carbon emissions from host venue MGM convention centre were offset
Waterwise, carbon emissions menu coding and expanded plant-based options helped reduce carbon impact and water usage
Efficiencies gained in carpet management meant only 1% of carpet was sent to landfill; the rest was either returned to inventory or recycled
The IMEX team experimented with new materials in some areas of the show such as Neenah conVerd paperboard and 100% polypropylene carpets
These achievements have been recognised by the industry – IMEX America has been awarded MeetGreen’s Visionary award for sustainability. The award recognises organisations that “lead within their own industry, prioritise measurement and work to move the sustainability dial. Research and develop new initiatives to improve environmental performance and use their buying power to drive change with venues and vendors.”
Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains: “At IMEX, we’ve always set our sustainability sights high – for everything we do, we look at ways we could do it more sustainably and more regeneratively. This can only be achieved by robust measurement, and we’ve partnered with MeetGreen since the launch of IMEX America to evaluate our efforts and challenge ourselves to do better each year. We’re also proudly committed to the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative and will publish our pathway to net zero by the end of 2023.
“Our show is designed to recognise and champion all areas of sustainability – we know that event professional are keen to learn more about how they can implement planet-friendly practices into their own events. They’re also mindful of their own carbon ‘spend’ both personally and professionally. IMEX America this October has been designed to address those needs head-on as well as providing a high-level, high-value business experience.”
