What’s a realistic roadmap to net zero events?

But they’re clearly not the same thing. So what would a credible pathway to net zero actually look like for an event? And is it really something only organisers with multimillion-dollar budgets can attempt? The answer is no. The principles are surprisingly straightforward: measure the footprint, reduce emissions where you can, deal responsibly with what remains, and report what you have actually done.

The tools and budgets will vary enormously. But transparency, and honesty, should not. There is an important distinction between measuring an event's carbon footprint and claiming that it is net zero. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides the accounting framework used by many organisations to measure emissions. For an event, Scope 1 typically includes direct emissions such as fuel burned in generators or event-owned vehicles.

Scope 2 covers purchased electricity. Scope 3 includes other indirect emissions, which for events can include attendee and artist travel, accommodation, catering, freight, production and supply chains. The exact boundary will depend on the methodology used. A credible net-zero approach therefore starts with measuring the emissions that matter, setting reduction targets and reducing them as far as reasonably possible before addressing residual emissions.

The Net Zero Carbon Events initiative, launched in 2021, committed the events industry to a pathway aligned with the Paris Agreement, with an industry roadmap released in 2022. Its work identifies travel and accommodation, venue energy, food and food waste, logistics, smart production and waste management as key areas for decarbonisation. These have to be accompanied by measurement, reporting and carbon offsetting.

Buying carbon credits is not illegitimate, but credits should not become a substitute for reducing emissions that an organiser could reasonably have avoided. Does this only work at F1 and Olympics budgets? It is easiest to see a structured roadmap at that scale because the reporting is public. Formula 1, for example, reported a 35% reduction in its carbon footprint against its 2018 baseline in its 2026 sustainability update.

It attributes reductions to measures including renewable energy at facilities, changes to travel and freight and more efficient logistics. The sport is targeting net zero by 2030. What works for it is that it has a baseline, a target, a documented reduction pathway and publicly reported progress. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games has similarly emphasised the use of existing infrastructure, minimising temporary power systems and managing energy and other resources as part of its sustainability strategy.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a useful counterexample. FIFA has corporate commitments to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040. Yet independent estimates of the tournament's footprint vary substantially. Carbon accounting platform Greenly estimated about 7.8 million tonnes of CO2e, with spectator travel accounting for nearly 88% of the total. A stadium can be highly energy efficient and still host an extremely carbon-intensive event if tens of thousands of people have to fly to get there.

Wimbledon offers another useful example. Its sustainability reporting includes staff, player and official flights as part of its Scope 3 emissions and reports renewable electricity procurement alongside operational emissions. The same logic applies whether you are running a 60,000-person festival or a 300-person conference. The tools change, not the sequence. Measure before claim For an event, the obvious starting points are usually venue energy, travel, accommodation, catering, freight, production and waste.

The precise hotspots vary by event. This step can require time and data, but it does not necessarily require a large budget. And it is the step small organisers are most tempted to skip. Reduce what you can control Waste is the most visible sustainability issue at many events. But it is not necessarily the largest source of emissions. Energy and mobility can matter much more. For a smaller event, this might mean choosing a venue with existing grid access rather than bringing in diesel generators.

It could mean designing transport information around public transport rather than simply telling attendees to “travel sustainably”. It could mean reducing unnecessary freight, digitising registration and ticketing or negotiating catering contracts around realistic attendance and portion requirements. Deal with what remains Some emissions are genuinely difficult to eliminate, particularly long-distance travel.

This is where residual emissions and carbon credits can enter the conversation. But the order matters. An organiser should first understand what remains after reduction rather than simply calculating a large footprint and buying an equivalent quantity of credits. The quality of credits also matters. Claims about carbon neutrality or net zero should not rest on credits whose underlying climate benefit is uncertain.

Verify and report that is credible Not every event needs the same level of assurance. A global sporting event and a 300-person conference will not have the same reporting infrastructure. But both can document what they measured, what they changed, what they could not change and what assumptions they made. ISO 20121:2024 provides a framework for event sustainability management that applies across event types and sizes.

Importantly, the standard allows different ways of demonstrating conformity, including self-declaration, supplier validation and third-party certification. This makes the basic discipline accessible even when full certification is not. Events about climate change They should be held to the same standard. In fact, there is a good argument for holding them to a higher one. Climate conferences, sustainability summits and environmental festivals exist partly to persuade people that systems need to change.

Their own operations should therefore be treated as part of the story, not as an awkward footnote. The wider pattern is well documented. Major international gatherings can generate substantial emissions through air travel, accommodation, freight and temporary infrastructure. This doesn’t mean climate convenings should not happen. Convening people can itself have enormous value. It does mean that organisers should be asking whether every journey is necessary, whether the event location is accessible by lower-carbon transport, whether virtual participation can replace some travel and whether the emissions that remain are being transparently reported.

India's events industry spans an enormous range, from international concerts and sporting events to corporate conferences and community gatherings. This makes it difficult to prescribe one universal sustainability checklist. It also makes the case for a roadmap. The intervention should follow the footprint. This sounds obvious, but it is remarkably easy for events to do the reverse: choose a highly visible sustainability intervention first and then try to make the carbon accounting fit around it.

A pedal-powered installation can be fun and memorable. Solar-powered charging stations can be useful. Reusable cups can reduce waste. But none of these should be presented as evidence that an event is net zero unless the underlying footprint has actually been measured and reduced accordingly. On the ground Some of the most useful sustainability interventions are not particularly glamorous. Consider a marathon.

Tens of thousands of participants may pass through hydration points over a few hours. Replacing single-use systems with reusable or lower-impact alternatives, designing collection systems properly and making those systems part of the event's standard operating procedure can produce improvements year after year. Over time, the intervention becomes part of how the event operates rather than a one-off sustainability activation.

That is the compounding logic a credible roadmap needs. Not one expensive gesture, but a series of decisions that become standard practice. So, can events actually go net zero? Not overnight. And certainly not through a report release or a carbon-credit purchase alone. But the roadmap is not mysterious, and it is not reserved for organisers with multimillion-dollar budgets. Measure honestly. Reduce what you can.

Deal responsibly with what remains. Verify and report what you have actually done. The events industry does not need every organiser to claim net zero tomorrow. It needs more organisers to get on a documented, measurable pathway towards it. The piece is published in arrangement with Climate Action Live