British Standard 8901 is a tool that provides business events organisers with a framework for managing the overall environmental, social and economic impact of an event. The BS8901 framework allows venues, organisers and suppliers to develop their own sustainable event management system as a corporate approach, or on an event-by-event basis.

Small changes
BS8901 requires small changes to an event’s sustainability, such as sourcing local food and drink, and encouraging delegates to use public transport or carpool to travel to the event. Currently, BS8901 is not a pass or fail certification. It is a methodology designed to encourage, and capture, continual improvement.

The obligations outlined within the framework are scaleable, making BS8901 equally relevant for both small and large event organising companies. However, BS8901 is drawing criticism abroad. What event professionals don’t like about BS8901 is that it necessitates change, according to Dr David Bevan at the Centre for Research into Sustainability, Royal Holloway, University of London. 

Successful process 
Bevan says that to ensure successful change there are two main questions: What is it we need to do, and why do we need to do it?  “One problem with  sustainability is we know why we need to do it but there is no one to tell us exactly what it is we have to do,” he says. “This problem may have prompted the development of BS8901.” 

When BS8901 was launched in late 2007, event organisers around the world expressed disappointment that the standard had turned out to be more complex than anticipated. Events associations such as Eventia in the UK claimed the standard imposed “too great an administrative burden” on both agencies and corporates to make it viable in practice.

“We feel it unlikely that many of our members will seek to make their events BS8901-compliant, unless there is a substantial rethink in the wording of the document,” Eventia chairman, Nigel Cooper, said at the time. 

However, Dr Andrew Thomson, CEO of the Business Environment Council, Hong Kong, says: “Of course, the same was said about ISO when it was launched in the mid-1980s, but the introduction of ISO drove the creation of new systems and practices. Now ISO is the expected minimum standard for all manufacturing organisations.” 

New standards
Bevan says new standards are agencies of change. “Good standards encourage professionals to ask the right questions, but they are not prescriptive about the answers,” he says. He claims people have become disconnected from the environment. “We are a part of the ecology, yet the only benchmark for success used by business is money, which is evidently not an adequate benchmark to ensure the sustainability of the planet." 

“For too long, business has considered the planet’s resources as theirs to be exploited when in fact business is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. If we don’t protect our environment, there will be no business.” Ben Taylor, managing director, Jack Morton, Asia, says: “Asia still views environmental sustainability as a factor of cost. Unless Asian governments demand the implementation of standards or legislation, progress is likely to be much slower than in the UK.”