Advito, a leading global travel consultancy, has partnered with BCD Meetings and Events (BCD M&E) to create the industry’s first carbon emissions calculator that is certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and designed to help event professionals reduce the overall environmental impact of their programs.  

The innovative event tech tool was developed in response to BCD M&E’s needs to factor sustainability into their event strategies and their desire to understand and measure the non-traditional elements contributing to overall emissions. 

With the calculator, Advito and BCD M&E are aiming to empower their clients to make the environmental impact of their meetings and events a central element of their planning process and drive the industry toward a more sustainable future.

While created for BCD M&E, the calculator is available to other event organizers. 

Advito’s sustainable collaboration practice lead, Julien Etchanchu, led the development of the calculator based on the consultancy’s ISO-certified carbon emissions scale, GATE4. 

“We know that the industry standard for measuring emissions across all four travel categories isn’t granular enough to capture the true environmental impact of a meeting or event,” Etchanchu said. “So we developed our calculator to ensure clients are getting a true picture of their footprint.”

The ISO certification means that the emissions figures can be included in annual financial reporting as recognized carbon calculations, and that the methodologies are accurate, robust and compliant with internationally recognized greenhouse gas measurement and reporting standards, according to Etchanchu.

The calculator allows event professionals to input a wide range of data in the pre-event planning stage to understand the impact of their choices and the levers they can adjust to decrease emissions. It is designed to not only provide a way to drive more conscious decisions when choosing a destination, venue and other event design elements, but to also consider non-emissions-related impacts like plastic use, water waste and more. It will persuade decision-makers to choose more sustainable options, and the insights gleaned from the calculator will educate organizers and attendees on key sustainability issues. 

“Sustainability has been the biggest topic in the meetings and events industry for the past year,” said Charlene Rabideau, managing director of North America for BCD M&E. “We are thrilled to be able to offer our clients the industry’s most robust emissions calculator that [not only] considers traditional elements, like the venue, giveaways and food, but also measures the most important contributor to overall emissions—where attendees are coming from and how they are getting there. 

He added, “We want to give meeting planners the tools they need to look at things like economy versus business class flights for attendees, airport transfer options and even the percentage of vegetarian meals to help significantly reduce the emissions impact of their programs.”

The new emissions calculator is currently available through Advito to help event organizers and anyone involved in the decision-making process for events to make data-driven, sustainable choices.

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