Orlando can become the most sustainable event market in America. Not one company, not one venue: the whole market. It only works if we do it together, planners and suppliers, competitors included.
The research firm MeetGreen measured it: a typical conference attendee produces about 1.89 kilograms of waste per day, about four pounds. Take one ordinary Orlando event with 800 attendees over three days, and that's about 4.5 metric tons of waste, roughly 10,000 pounds, from a single event.
In our corner of the industry, much of it isn't paper cups. It's flowers, foliage, foam, plywood, props and signage: things that were beautiful for four hours and then went in a dumpster.
1.89 kg, as measured by MeetGreen.
800 attendees over three days.
Half the emissions, under the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge.
In 2021, at the UN climate conference in Glasgow, the meetings industry launched the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge, with more than a hundred organizations signing at launch. The commitment: cut emissions in half by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050 at the latest.
The large organizers who signed can't hit those numbers alone. Most of an event's footprint lives in the supply chain, so they're going to ask suppliers for data. ISO 20121 is already showing up in corporate RFPs. Planners will be asked how sustainable an event was. Suppliers will be asked to prove it. The question is whether Orlando answers first, or last.
ISO 20121 is the international standard for managing an event's sustainability. It was created for the London 2012 Olympic Games and revised in 2024 for the Paris Olympics. Every Olympic Games since London has used it, and more and more large organizers now ask for it.
It doesn't tell you to use a certain cup or a certain light bulb. It requires a management system that builds sustainability into every stage of planning and delivering an event, scaled to the size of the event.
It weighs the economic, environmental and social impacts of an event, the same three pillars this site is built on.
The 2024 revision added climate change as an issue organizations must consider, along with human and child rights, fair and open tendering, and an event's legacy.
The revision takes a risk-based approach to suppliers, and treats sponsors who provide products or services as suppliers too. If you supply an event run under ISO 20121, expect to be asked how you work.
That's why it's showing up in corporate RFPs, and why the seven questions matter. Read the full ISO 20121 guide.
The Orange County Convention Center's North-South Building has earned LEED Platinum for operations and maintenance, the first Platinum in the center's history. According to the OCCC, only seven other convention centers in the world hold Platinum certification.
But a building is only the shell. What rolls through the loading dock, the flowers, props, décor, food and trucks, is us. That's where the next gain is. If Orlando's suppliers match what the venue has done, Orlando has a story no other market in the country can tell.
The companies behind Orlando's largest event venues have published sustainability goals with real deadlines. Here is what they have said publicly.
In its 2030 environmental goals, The Walt Disney Company committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions for its direct operations, 100% zero-carbon electricity, and zero waste to landfill at its wholly owned and operated parks and resorts. At Walt Disney World, a 270-acre, 50-megawatt solar facility came online in 2019, and Disney says organic waste is sent to an off-site composting facility.
Universal is part of Comcast NBCUniversal's goal to be carbon neutral for its own operations by 2035. Universal says its parks focus on energy, water and waste. Its Orlando and Hollywood recycling programs recover more than 11,000 tons of material a year, and food waste from more than 30 Orlando restaurants is collected daily and sent to an anaerobic digester to make energy.
Marriott, the company behind Orlando properties such as Gaylord Palms and the Orlando World Center, has science-based targets validated in 2024: cutting its direct emissions 46.2% by 2030 from 2019 and reaching net zero across its value chain by 2050. It also aims for 22% of its suppliers, by emissions, to have science-based targets by 2028.
Under its Travel with Purpose 2030 goals, Hilton aims to cut carbon emissions intensity at its managed hotels by 75% and halve water and landfilled waste intensity, against a 2008 baseline. It requires every managed hotel in North America to have a food donation program, and reports that it has already passed its landfill waste goal.
Here is why that matters to everyone else in the room. A resort can't hit a zero-waste or net-zero target on its own. The flowers, décor, food and trucks that come through the loading dock count toward those numbers. The suppliers who can name their sources, divert their organics and report their results are the ones who help these venues keep their promises.
Commitments as published by each company. Explore Fresh is not affiliated with or endorsed by these companies. Sources: The Walt Disney Company, 2030 Environmental Goals; Blooloop; NBCUniversal, Our Theme Parks; Marriott International, April 2024; Hilton Travel with Purpose; Lodging Magazine.
We compete with each other every week. But when a planner picks a city, they aren't choosing a florist or a decorator first. They're choosing Orlando. Our reputation is shared, so our sustainability story should be shared too.
The goal: become the first city in America that can publish market-wide numbers for how sustainable its events are.
Put them in your next RFP. Read the seven questions.
Five commitments any company can make, regardless of size. Measure one event this year. Just one. Take the pledge.
Start with your first steps, then get free training for your team.
The playbook is free. Introductions to O-Town Compost, our composting partner, a carbon calculator, a certification guide and a 25-point checklist are available to anyone who signs.
Sources: MeetGreen attendee waste research; Net Zero Carbon Events pledge (COP26, 2021); Orange County Convention Center press release on LEED v4.1 O+M Platinum. ISO 20121 history and 2024 revision: BSI; AvISO Consultancy; ISO.
SUSTAINABLE EVENTS. CHOICES THAT MATTER.