Across the events industry, expectations about sustainability are changing quickly.
Governments are tightening environmental regulations, and mandatory emissions reporting is expected within the next two years. At the same time, clients, delegates and stakeholders are asking us for more – a particular challenge for really big international conferences.
Rather than waiting for regulation to force change, our Venues & Events (V&E) team chose to act early. In summer 2025, we launched a carbon tracing pilot using TRACE — an industry-recognised carbon measurement platform – for five events including the Royal Geographical Society’s International Conference with over 2,000 delegates, geographers and researchers from across the globe.
Now the results are in!
Including our extra Green Events features – carbon A-rated menus, plastic-free catering, sustainable signage, free bus travel and new waste streams – at the RGS conference saved 10 tonnes of carbon emissions. That would take a forest of 455 mature trees a year to absorb.
Opting for Green Events features cut the carbon footprint of our conference by an enormous 70% *
Green menus and compostable serveware alone cut carbon emissions by 83%
The average carbon footprint across all five conferences was 13.7kg/CO2e per delegate – about the same emissions as driving a small car from Birmingham to Shrewsbury.
However, when we included travel – and by their very nature international conferences attract delegates from across the globe – the carbon footprint goes up to a massive 627 kg CO2e per delegate. That’s like driving to Rome and back again.
*Excluding travel
Project manager Annaliese Stanton said: ‘This was not about being perfect. It was about being informed and using this knowledge to do better.
‘It’s taken a lot of work and collaboration to get to this point and it’s fantastic that we now understand where we can make the biggest impact. Food and procurement decisions are powerful and within our control, and travel is the hardest but most important challenge.
‘As our data grows we can build a clearer picture of how to make smarter, greener decisions, and position University of Birmingham as a responsible, forward-thinking host institution.’
Next steps
We’re committed to measuring five more events in 2026. This will help us support academics bidding to hold conferences at Birmingham, particularly where funders and professional bodies want evidence of carbon impact.
Interested in how we’ve made conferences at University of Birmingham greener? Get in touch with the team.
