Guy Bigwood, MCI Group's Sustainability Director and Green Meeting Industry Council President

10/05/2010

« Meeting planners need to really integrate sustainability criteria in the way they select and buy products and services”

As an active expert on CSR and sustainable development, Guy Bigwood wrote the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol. For BWMN, he gives advice to the meeting planners to make more sustainable events.

What are your main missions as the MCI Sustainability Director? And as Green Meeting Industry Council President?

As MCI's Sustainability Director, I founded and manage the CSR program in the MCI group. My mission is to make the company more sustainable in its day-to-day operations. This mission begins at employee level by trying to make the 900 staff more and more environmentally and socially responsible in the way they run their events and projects. At the same time I work a lot with our key suppliers and with our pioneering clients to help them be more sustainable with their events and operations.

As for the Green Meeting Industry Council, it’s the largest global association dedicated to sustainability in the meetings and events industry. As our motto states, we aim to facilitate the transformation of the global meetings industry through sustainability by creating standards, education, research and through networking.

You wrote the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol, a framework for sustainable meetings, launched a few days ago. How did you get involved in the project and what are the main guidelines you highlighted?

The organization of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen last December was a fantastic opportunity to do something for the meeting industry. I start to contact people in the industry to run a project and managed to engage a group of 7 organizations (The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bella Center A/S, Visit Denmark, Wonderful Copenhagen Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City of Copenhagen, MCI Copenhagen and Novo Nordisk A/S) concerned with sustainability. This coalition gave birth to the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol which is a management methodology created for meeting planners to help them organize more sustainable events. We have highlighted five main key areas: leadership commitment, strategic approach, stakeholder engagement, operational integration and good governance.

In the Fast Future prospective survey for IMEX and ICCA, Convention 2020, 70 % of the respondents say ethical and environmental factors will influence their decisions. How do you think meeting professionals will integrate sustainability in their global strategy in the next 10 years?

I really hope that in 10 years, sustainability will be innate in the way we do business. But for now meeting planners need to really integrate sustainability criteria in the way they select and buy products and services. They need to request and include sustainability as one of their purchasing criteria. Sustainably certified providers should be given extra marks and then sustainability promises need to be translated to clauses in their supplier performance contracts. Planners have immense power in their wallet. Power to create change and to transform the market. But this will also require strong leadership and education. Planners need to be taught how best to increase meeting effectiveness while reducing environmental impacts and creating a better event experience.

What would you answer to meeting planners saying that being green costs more, to prove that it could actually save them money?

Well it is a fact, people are saying that sustainability costs much money, but those who say that are probably only looking at isolated items and not big picture. To see the money saved, you have to look at the whole event. For example, organic food costs 10 to 20 % more in most countries, but if you rebalance your menu with less beef (replace it with poultry) and more vegetables, for instance, you can choose organic food for the same price while having the carbon footprint of the meal and providing your event delegates a more healthier experience.

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