How to Find a Sustainable Venue for Your Event: A Guide for Event Organisers

With sustainability top of the agenda for many event organisers, choosing a sustainable venue for events is essential. But verifying which venues are sustainable, and whether some claims are just hot air, can leave many of us in a muddle and short on precious time.

Here, we're diving into how to be sure you're choosing a sustainable venue, from the key features to look for to the questions to ask, to make sure you're making your events as green as possible.

Why Choose a Sustainable Venue?

Environmental Impact of Events

From energy consumption to waste production, events can leave a significant carbon footprint. By choosing a sustainable venue, organisers can significantly reduce this impact, ensuring that their event is more environmentally responsible.

Positive Brand Image and Corporate Social Responsibility

Hosting events at sustainable venues not only aligns with a business’s ethical standards but also strengthens its brand image, demonstrating a genuine commitment to environmental responsibility. In the age of heightened awareness around sustainability, companies are expected to prioritise eco-friendly practices, and doing so can significantly enhance loyalty and brand trust.

With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) now holding businesses accountable for their environmental impact, choosing sustainable venues is a clear way to meet these obligations while projecting a positive, forward-thinking image. It shows stakeholders that sustainability is embedded in your core values, not just a trend. Head to our latest blog, on How CSRD Affects Event Professionals in 2024/25 and How to Prepare

Meeting the Expectations of an Eco-conscious Audience

These days, attendees are more environmentally aware than ever. With more competition for event attendance than ever, if your event doesn't align with attendees' values, it's going to be harder to get them in the room.

What to Look For in Sustainable Venues

Energy Efficiency

Electricity and heating are major contributors to a venue's environmental footprint, making energy efficiency a crucial factor when selecting a sustainable venue. Many eco-friendly venues are equipped with features like LED lighting, renewable energy sources and energy-efficient appliances, such as low-consumption dishwashers, to minimise energy waste. Some venues even go a step further, utilising solar panels or generating their own power.

Also look for venues with a Building Management System (BMS). These systems monitor energy usage and allow venue managers to optimise efficiency by adjusting heating, lighting and cooling in specific areas, further reducing the venue’s overall energy consumption.

Waste Management

Look for venues that prioritise recycling, composting and have robust waste reduction initiatives in place. This could mean they're working with suppliers that use less packaging, reducing their meal options and portion sizes to keep food waste to a minimum or have reusable exhibition stands and decorations you can rent.

Water Conservation

Events can use up a huge amount of water, but there are many things venues can do to reduce the water used on the day. Features like rainwater harvesting, low-flow fixtures in taps and toilet flushes, and water recycling systems demonstrate a venue's commitment to conserving water.

Sustainable Transportation

Venues located near public transport hubs, or those that offer amenities like bike racks and electric vehicle charging stations, encourage attendees to opt for more sustainable travel options. Prioritising venues with excellent public transport links can drastically reduce the number of attendees and exhibitors traveling by car or private vehicle, significantly lowering the event’s carbon footprint.

For an even smarter approach, consider integrating You.Smart.Thing, a platform that helps attendees plan the most eco-friendly routes. This tool provides travel information, including public transport updates, walking routes, and bike-sharing options, making it easier for your guests to choose sustainable transportation methods as well as the ability to measure the carbon footprint from hosting your event. Win, Win!

Eco-friendly Materials and Good Infrastructure

Venues that are working hard to be sustainable are also likely to have invested in good insulation, well-fitting doors and windows, and more efficient heating systems. Other good factors to look for include the use of sustainable building materials, recycled furniture and non-toxic paints.

Local and Sustainable Catering Partners

Catering is a key element of event footprints, and if a venue has an in-house caterer, you want to make sure that they align with your sustainability goals. You can ask for the sustainability credentials of caterers and other partners during the venue selection process. Handy hint: if you're opting for a dry-hire venue, check out our top sustainable caterers for some event inspiration!

How to Start Looking for Sustainable Venues

One of the best ways to look for sustainable venues is through a service like Hire Space where you submit an event enquiry and our team sends the best options for your brief. It's fast, simple, and takes the hassle out of the search!

With our dedicated Event Sustainability Hub, we have in-depth knowledge of the most eco-friendly venues in the market, ensuring that organisers are presented with the best options. If you're eager to do the leg work yourself, we recommend looking at our sustainable venue lists with the best venues for a range of event types (we're continually adding to these). The best way to get information on the measures a venue is putting into place to reduce its environmental impact is through its sustainability policy. You can find this online or request it from your contact at the venue.

Questions To Ask Your Venues

When you're considering venues, we recommend focusing on one or two areas that are important to your or your client's brand and event - such as catering and energy, for example. It's hard to find a venue that's perfect in all regards, but by setting sustainability objectives for your event, you'll be able to narrow down venues that work for your own event's environmental goals. It's important to ask questions about a venue's sustainability initiatives to find a location that aligns with your own green objectives. Remember, collaboration is key!

Here are some of the key questions you might want to ask in your RFP:

Certifications & Awards

• Do you have any sustainability certifications, such as BREEAM or ISO 20121 (see more certifications below).
• Have you received any awards or recognitions for your green initiatives?

Energy Use & Efficiency

• What energy-saving measures do you have in place?
• Do you use renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power?
• Are your lighting systems energy-efficient, ie using LED bulbs?

Waste Management

• How do you handle waste disposal and recycling?
• Do you have composting facilities?
• What steps do you take to minimise single-use plastics?

Water Conservation

• Do you have water-saving fixtures, such as low-flow toilets and faucets?
• Are there any rainwater harvesting or greywater recycling systems in place?

Transportation

• Is the venue easily accessible by public transportation?
• Do you offer bike racks or electric vehicle charging stations?

Local and Organic Sourcing

• Do you source food and beverages locally or from organic suppliers?
• How do you ensure that your suppliers adhere to sustainable practices?

Building Materials & Design

• Were sustainable or recycled materials used in the construction or renovation of the venue?
• Is the design of the venue optimised for natural lighting and ventilation?

Community Engagement

• How do you support local communities or engage in social responsibility initiatives?
• Do you have partnerships with local environmental or social organisations?

Staff Training

• How do you train your staff on sustainability practices?
• Do you have a dedicated sustainability officer or team?

Continuous Improvement

• How do you measure and track your sustainability performance?
• Are there any future green initiatives or improvements planned?

Guest Engagement

• How do you encourage guests or attendees to participate in your sustainability efforts?
• Do you have any programs or incentives for guests to reduce their environmental impact during their stay or visit?

Carbon Offsetting

• Do you have any carbon offsetting programs or partnerships in place?
• How do you work towards reducing your overall carbon footprint?

Note: Obviously, you don't have to ask all of these questions, but some of the categories might provide a good starting point to look at what's really important for your event!

What Accreditations or Certifications Should You Look For?

Looking for third-party certification is a good way to gain a more objective understanding of a venue's sustainability initiatives. There are many different sustainable venue accreditation schemes, but some of the most widely recognised are:

ISO 20121

ISO 20121 was established as a benchmark for the events sector, ensuring that agencies, stakeholders, venues, and suppliers adhere to a consistent global standard. Venues with this certification have to meet stringent requirements.

Greengage ECOsmart

Upon successfully passing Greengage's evaluation, hotels and venues earn a sustainability ranking ranging from Bronze to Platinum. Greengage offers guidance and tools to aid venues in enhancing their practices and revisits the venue's ranking annually.

Green Tourism Green Meetings

Green Tourism offers a sustainability certification tailored for the tourism and hotel sector. They collaborate with global entities to set sustainability as a universal benchmark.

Greener Arena Certification

A Greener Future provides carbon footprint assessments for venues, granting certifications to those that achieve net zero objectives.

Green Key

Green Key sets an international standard for venues and hotels. To date, they've recognised over 3,200 tourism facilities across 65 nations.

BREEAM

BREEAM offers a range of certifications for the built environment, alongside advice and practical measures to help improve venues' sustainability.

The choice of venue plays a significant role in the overall sustainability of an event. With Hire Space as your partner, finding a venue that aligns with your environmental values has never been easier.

Check out our Sustainability Hub for more guidance, check out our top sustainable venues, or get in touch with our expert venue finders to find your ideal green venue today!