Podcast blurb: This video aims to enhance understanding on how events and environmental sustainability intersect. There has been an increased focus of event organisers to make events greener with some proactive measures taken to offset the huge impacts stemming from mega/major events such as from travel/transport, energy and water use, pollution, waste generation and resource consumption. However, there is still a lot to be done in terms of adopting a consistent approach to measuring environmental impacts in events, engage and consult environmental scientists in event planning, minimize and mitigate the impacts of events on the environment. Ultimately, events and the environment have a bi-directional relationship. Events affect the environment and are increasingly affected by climate change. As such environmental sustainability needs to be embedded in an events design and planning process to ensure sustained positive long-term impacts for the hosting communities.

Niki’s bio: Dr Niki Koutrou is a Principal Lecturer in Research & Knowledge Exchange at the University of Sunderland in London. She holds a PhD in Sport Policy from Loughborough University, UK. Her research explores social impacts and legacies of the Olympic Games and other Mega Events, the benefits and impacts of community sport volunteering, civil society stakeholder relationships and sustainability, sport programme evaluation and sustainability and environmental sustainability attitudes in grassroots sport. She acts as a Project coordinator of various collaborative sport related projects funded by Erasmus+ sport programme of the EU. These currently include Be Active for Greener Sports (BAGS) and CHANGE on behalf of the European Sports NGO (ENGSO).

Further reading and resources:

• There are some good resources out there for people to delve more into the concept. I would recommend the book by Robert Case published in 2013 by Routledge on Events and the Environment (https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-the-Environment/Case/p/book/9780415605960#:~:text=It%20offers%20insights%20into%20how,be%20resolved%20within%20the%20industry)

It is the first book to provide a thorough exploration of the multi-dimensional relationships between events and the environment and It gives important information on how sustainable measurement practices can be incorporated into event planning, management and monitoring, presenting several case studies There is also the book titled Events and Sustainability by Holmes and colleagues published in 2015 by Routledge, which also provides a good overview of the topic (https://www.routledge.com/Events-and-Sustainability/Holmes-Hughes-Mair-Carlsen/p/book/9780415744508)

• There is also the upcoming Routledge Handbook on Events and Sustainability by Whitfield and colleagues. I have also contributed with a chapter that discusses various current sectoral responses on environmental sustainability and the Event industry's dual role on ES.

• For sports events specifically, I would recommend the audience to look up the various studies published by Brian McCullough, Madeline Orr, Sylvia Trendafilova and Walker Ross who explore the evolution of ES in sport organisations and events and call event stakeholders to consider climate adaptation strategies and risk management to withstand the negative effects of climate change on their events in the future.

• For practical resources, I would recommend looking on the IEMA website (https://www.iema.net/) and tools, which provide free resources, training and guides for any company who are keen to start adopting more sustainable practices into their organisations

• The United Nations Environment programme (UNEP)- Green Meeting Guide - Roll out the Green Carpet for your Participants”. also provides extensive guidelines on how to green meetings covering specific indicators on climate neutrality (emissions reduction, calculation and offsetting) with checklists on venue, accommodation, catering and transport for meetings with up to 200 participants

• The resources and websites of various sustainability advocacy groups and NGOs such as Sport and Sustainability International, Sustainability Report and Green Sport Alliance

• The resources provided by the Life Tackle project (https://lifetackle.eu/) funded by the EU aiming at improving the environmental management of football matches and the overall level of awareness and attention towards environmental issues in the football sector

• And the environmental certification standards for the events industry such as the ISO20121 sustainable events standards which offer guidance and best practice in managing sustainable events across the social, economic, and environmental dimensions-benchmark for quality