A more sustainable event policy does not have to be complicated or expensive, according to a calculation commissioned by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). With smart choices for catering, materials, mobility, and waste, the CO₂ emissions of an event can be reduced by up to 70%. During the upcoming Green Week, from May 19 to 23, TU/e will continue to work on this and is happy to share that knowledge with other parties as well.
In addition to education and research, various events take place on the TU/e campus. Every year, there are approximately 36 large events (250 - 4000 visitors), 20 medium-sized events (150 - 250 visitors), and 300 small events (up to 150 visitors). To know (and measure) how they comply with its own sustainable events policy , the university has engaged the external agency PHI Factory to map out the CO₂ footprint of one of those events - the Sustainability Day on 3 October 2024.
Calculation of impact categories
A total of 450 visitors came to this 9-hour event. PHI Factory's calculations were compared to a similar event with regular choices in the so-called 'impact categories' of Energy, Mobility, Catering, Crockery & Cutlery, and Materials & Waste. It is important to note that the biggest impact is in the transport choices of visitors, over which organizers often have little influence. In addition, the impact of power consumption during the Sustainability Day turned out to be virtually zero, because TU/e already uses green electricity.
But there are also great strides to be made in the field of catering (vegetarian versus meat), (promotional) materials (digital versus tangible), and waste (processing). The Factsheet 'Eventscan TU/e Sustainability Day' contains more explanation, but the most important conclusions are:
- A regular event has emissions of 3211 kg of CO2 compared to 1866 kg of CO2 for the Sustainability Day. That is 72.1% more.
- Visitor mobility (1001 kg CO2), catering (296 kg CO2), and materials and waste (515 kg CO2) have the largest absolute impact.
- The biggest difference between the Sustainability Day and a regular event was in the catering (296 kg CO2 for Sustainable vs. 1008 kg CO2 for Regular) and use of materials (515 kg CO2 for Sustainable vs. 915 kg CO2 for Regular).
- The biggest impact in Materials and Waste was in ten aluminum tubes that are in the banners (made from recycled PET bottles), namely 378 kg of CO2 out of a total of 515 kg of CO2.
Insightful calculation tool
At the request of TU/e, PHI Factory developed a handy online calculation tool that provides insight into how much concrete CO₂ savings each specific choice yields. With this knowledge and insights, TU/e continues to build a sustainable events policy, as part of the overarching TU/e Sustainability Office in governance, campus operations, research, and education. Other organizers of festivals or conferences, for example, can also use this tool free of charge to take a closer look at their own event.
Green Week
In addition, they are cordially invited during the Green Week from May 19 to 23 to discuss sustainability with the TU/e and other visitors. The program will include a lecture by Fairphone, the Sustainability in Education Awards , a campus biodiversity tour, and the national Climate Exam, for which TU/e is one of more than a hundred locations. Everyone is welcome during all activities; a separate registration is required for the Climate Exam .
