ISO 20121 sets a new standard
We were never convinced by BS8901 and we remain to be convinced by IS20121 - the management system standard that has been designed to help organisations in the events industry improve the sustainability of their event related activities, products and services. One of this year's panels at the Reeperbahn Festival Campus Conference is going to look both at event safety - and the new code for large outdoor events from the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia - and sustainability looking at the new ISO, with panellists including (Jens Michow, bdv, DE), Daniel Schlatter, (HVS GMBH, DE) and Eloise Sochanik, Head of Sustainability at Positive Impact Events (UK) moderated by Allan McGowan. In simple terms, ISO 20121 describes the building blocks of a management system that will help any event related organisation to:
- Continue to be financially successful
- Become more socially responsible
- Reduce its environmental footprint
The standard was set up to create an international version of the BS8901 to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics. London 2012 was heralded to be the "greenest games ever" although the Olympics themselves showed how simply setting up management systems is not a perfect system - as systems can be ignored or overridden. Olympic chiefs at LOCOG said they would deliver 20 per cent of electricity during the Games from new local renewable sources, but delivered very little. A wind turbine was scrapped and "not enough work was done to find renewable biofuels for running the site or to invest in solar". Even suggestions that that Thomas Heatherwick's marvellous Olympic cauldron burnt biogas during the Games were scrapped on grounds of cost and storage problems. With BP, Dow Chemicals and McDonalds as sponsors, it was never going to be easy, but at least McDonalds worked onsite ot improve their food sourcing and clearly set out calorie counts in meals; Coca-cola, another sponsor, have even helped set up the Zero Waste Events initiative - and some of what LOCOG did was outstanding - good public transport links (although not so good for cycling), recycled steel used in constructing the Olympic Park and the venues, pretty good recycling from consumer waste on-site and a 97% diversion from landfill for the construction waste, some re-use of grey water and LOCOG nearly met a 50% carbon emissions reduction against a pre-set benchmark. Not bad, and the wild flower beds were superb - but overall, not that green! A shame really and a missed opportunity from the Games that were meant to "inspire".
However, it may well be ISO 20121 is something that interests you. It applies to all types and sizes of organisation involved in the events industry – from caterers, lighting and sound engineers, security companies, stage builders and venues to independent event organisers and corporate and public sector event teams. Organisations that successfully implement the standard will be able to seek independent recognition of their achievement through a process called ‘Certification’.All organisations have a management system of some kind otherwise they would not be in business, it just might not be written down or thought of in the terms used within the standard. In our experience, most organisations are already doing up to 70% of what the standard requires. Hence achieving ISO 20121 may not require any radical change but is likely to require the adoption of new practices.