4 legacy tools to work on sustainability at destination

As we explained in our last magazine, generating legacy in the destination is one of the main challenges for event organizers today. Although it will not be an easy task, it is true that more and more tools in the form of associations, organizations or foundations are being made available to convention bureaus to work on it. Here are some examples of tools you can use to make your events leave a legacy at the destination.

#MEET4IMPACT

As destinations become more aware of the impact of the legacy, new organizations have emerged to accompany them on their journey. This is the case with the non-profit #MEET4IMPACT, a collaborative project designed with the vision of transforming the events industry. This will be achieved by generating a movement to create a positive impact with its actors and events. Its mission is to help organizations and communities define, manage, measure, communicate and maximize positive social impact through events.

Flanders has already benefited from their support: its convention bureau is working with the organization to develop a strategy for legacy creation and impact measurement, with which they will try to guide the region’s events agenda over the next two years. Their fields of expertise will be the starting point of a conference roadmap with broader legacies and concrete impacts, working on four specific event cases.

GDS

Sustainability “seeks to mitigate the negative effects that our activity generates on people and the planet,” says GDS Senior Changemaker, Impact &Events, Beatriz Ibáñez. Ibanez’s company’s acronym refers to the Global Destination Sustainability Movement, the platform specializing in identifying or helping to create “thriving places and communities enabled by tourism and regenerative events.”

From this movement, they annually launch one of the most important global rankings on sustainability, in which the 30 most experienced cities in this area are evaluated: the GDS-Index. Of the three categories in which destinations are awarded, one Spanish city is in the top three in the ranking of destinations that have improved the most with respect to previous editions in 2022, winning the bronze medal: Barcelona.

The development of this index uses a methodology based on 70 criteria, both qualitative and quantitative, which evaluates four key areas of each destination’s sustainable performance: the city’s environmental strategy and infrastructure, its social sustainability performance, support for industry suppliers, and the destination’s management organization strategy and initiatives.

Ship2B

The Ship2B Foundation is another great initiative that has emerged in the quest to generate legacy, although in its case, working from the companies at the destination. Their mission is to drive the impact economy: they seek to promote change, inspire, generate knowledge and valuable connections through the Ship2B Impact Forum. This annual event – which in its last edition was attended by more than 400 business leaders, investors and administrations – seeks to drive an impact economy where businesses, in addition to being profitable, contribute intentionally and measurably to solving societal and planetary challenges.

Eventsost Key

In addition to providing information on how to organize a sustainable event, countries and cities can have their own tools to monitor the sustainability level of events. Without leaving the city of the Pilarica, Zaragoza CB works with Eventsost Key, a digital platform that offers organizers instruments for sustainable events: a carbon footprint calculator, a database of resources or a list of the most sustainable suppliers in the city, among other tools.

Source – https://www.eventoplus.com/articulos/4-herramientas-que-todo-destino-debe-utilizar-para-iniciarse-en-el-legado/