The Commitment to Green Growth of the event industry

The event industry is becoming greener and greener since the signing of the CGG in early February!

What is the CGG ?

Barbara Pompili and Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne signed a “Commitment for Green Growth” in favor of the transition to a circular economy, alongside event professionals.

Indeed, hard hit by the health crisis, the professionals of the event industry, gathered within the Union des métiers de l’évènement (UNIMEV) have taken advantage of this period to reflect on the reduction of the environmental impacts of their activities. These discussions, conducted alongside the Ministries of Economy, Finance and Recovery, and Ecological Transition, have led to a series of commitments aimed at accelerating the sector’s transition to a circular economy.

This signature is also part of the Destination France plan, which devotes specific measures to events to encourage the revival of the sector. This 3-year commitment will contribute to achieving the national objectives of the February 10, 2020 law on the fight against waste and the circular economy.

In concrete terms, professionals commit to :

• Reduce at the source and better recycle wasteproduced by events (carpeting, signage, wood/furniture, cotton-scratch, plastic, food waste);
• Develop the reuse of the main construction elements of the stands (panels, partitions) and furniture;
• Reduce food waste and encourage donations to associations.

These various commitments are accompanied by measurement indicators that will make it possible to regularly assess the progress made on each of the commitments. A National Observatory on waste and secondary resources in the event sector will also be set up to collect accurate data.

For its part, the State undertakes, for example, to study the regulatory changes to be made to regulations that could be a hindrance to achieving the objectives set out in this Commitment to Green Growth, to set up eco-responsible events or event activities, or to support the analysis of the skills management issues required to develop the circular economy in the event sector and the adaptation of the professional training offer.

What has happened since the signing of the CGG ?

A study on waste management is currently being conducted with Deloitte within the sector.

Thus, Unimev and Deloitte visited the set-up of the 2022 International Agricultural Show. The opportunity for the team to observe waste management in the field during a trade show. In addition, in order to identify the quantities and flows of waste produced by the event industry, Deloitte created a questionnaire for Unimev’s members, which we of course answered.

There is still a long way to go, but the desire is there and little by little the ephemeral is becoming more and more sustainable!