Syndication 
isla’s report combines data with information from surveys and interviews with industry experts, event professionals, and venues.
A new report, Temperature Check Europe 2025, released last month by isla, a U.K.-based events industry nonprofit focused on sustainability, offers what it calls a first-of-its-kind analysis of carbon emissions from events. The report analyzed data from nearly 1,000 events — including exhibitions, conferences, meetings, parties, activations, and others — held in 2024 in 22 European countries, recorded by TRACE, a carbon measurement and reporting platform developed by isla.
In addition to reporting on event emissions overall, the report also compared data divided by the kinds of events held. The data made it clear that “where emissions come from — whether that’s catering, travel, materials, or energy — varies significantly by event type.”
The report combines data with information from surveys and interviews with industry experts, event professionals, and venues, to produce what isla CEO and founder Anna Abdelnoor described as a guide and beacon for the industry. “The climate crisis is happening now,” Abdelnoor said, “and action to address it must continue at pace.”
Where Most Emissions Come From
According to the data, audience travel was the largest single source of emissions, accounting for 39 percent of total emissions. It’s also an area that is “least measured and hard to control,” according to the report. Audience travel-related emissions are significant, and planners should actively work to reduce them, but most — 61 percent — of event emissions that were recorded in TRACE came from other sources — ones that planners can impact through their own actions, the report said. “Organizers have more influence than they realize — smart decisions around production, freight, and procurement can significantly reduce emissions.”
The isla report analyzed data from nearly 1,000 events — including exhibitions, conferences, meetings, parties, activations, and others — held in 2024 in 22 European countries.
The leading event emissions by category, excluding travel, and isla’s suggestions for how their emissions could be reduced, include:
Booth and other build production: 20 percent — Booths and other structures and graphics are central to creating unique experiences, the report noted, but they also significantly impact emissions — exhibitions generated the highest material emissions of event types in the data. Tech and Pharma events, which made up 8 and 7 percent, respectively, of the events in the data, have the highest production emissions per event. Of the events where material usage was recorded by TRACE, 75 percent of all materials were new, rather than reused, rented, or repurposed.
Among the report’s recommendations to lower emissions: Use lighter and fewer materials to reduce emissions association with shipping; rent rather than buy equipment, design event builds to be disassembled and reused, and use recycled or repurposed materials rather than new materials as much as possible.
The report also recommends event organizers minimize waste by tracking the entire lifecycle of the materials at their events, to help them consider ways to keep materials in use for as long as possible. The data shows most event materials aren’t being recovered, repurposed, or recycled properly — more than half of materials are still used on a once-off basis, the report said.
Catering: 12 percent — Nearly 99 percent of the emissions related to catering come from food itself, rather than serveware. That means, the report said, that there a huge potential for reducing food-related carbon emissions in events by planning “plant-forward” menus. Compared with red meat, vegetarian meals create 88 percent lower emissions and plant-based meals generated 95 percent lower emissions. Events, as “hotbeds of creativity, education, and influence,” also present the opportunity to normalize plant-based meals and encourage people to try new things, the report said.
The report also compared emissions associated with the way that food is served at events. Buffets were associated the most emissions, and pre-portioned entrees and “street food/vendor style” meals with lower amounts.
Energy usage: 13 percent — Only a third of the events in TRACE recorded using renewable energy — of those, emissions from events were 83 percent lower on average than those that used standard energy sources. It’s easier, the report noted, for some venues to use renewable energy than others, due to factors including their age and size.
But in addition to venue infrastructure, event design plays a role in energy use, the report said. Exhibitions and conferences had the highest energy-related emissions, and events that were held both outdoors and indoors tallied the highest emissions of all.
Outdoor events consume twice the energy of indoor events, the report said, in part because they often use temporary infrastructure and rely on diesel-powered generators for lighting and to control temperature. And even when generators are powered by biofuels, combustion-based generators still must be delivered, which adds freight emissions, and are kept running when not actively in use.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), rechargeable batteries that can store energy from sources including a main electricity grid or solar panels and wind turbine, are an increasingly popular alternative.
Event production transport: 12 percent — Event production transport is the third-highest contributor to event emissions yet can be overlooked as a sustainability strategy, the report said. But since event teams control or influence freight shipping, decisions made about shipping and procurement have the potential to be a powerful lever for reducing event emissions.
Among the report’s recommendations are: Use electric vehicles or those powered by biofuels when possible; make sure that vehicles are the right sizes for loads; source locally to reduce travel distances; and consolidate loads wherever possible, including between suppliers.
Download the full report at bit.ly/Isla-report.
Barbara Palmer is deputy editor at Convene.
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