Carbon Footprint Evaluation of the Business Event Sector in Japan

Abstract

The business event sector expects large economic impact as MICE (Meeting (M), Incentive Travel (I), Convention (C), and Exhibition and Event (E)). Some guidelines for MICE sustainability include the requirement for carbon management (carbon neutral, measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon offset, etc.) as a positive contribution to mitigating climate change. According to the environmental guidelines for events updated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 2019, goods should be procured after considering the environmental load items and life cycle stages from the life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. In this study, we evaluated the business events sector, not only transportation but also accommodation of participants from overseas, as well as food and beverages, souvenirs and shopping, and entertainment and tourism expenses. These items were not included in the previous existing case studies. We evaluated the carbon footprint (CFP), calculated from consumption information using input-output analysis. In this study, the total CFP was 804.8 t-CO2eq (M, I, C-ICCA (Convention based on an international conference standard from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)), and E) and transportation (Transp, 56.0%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 13.2%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.0%), souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 10.1%), and food and beverages (FB, 7.9%). In the case of M, I, C-JNTO (Convention based on an international conference standard from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)) and E, the total CFP was 1714.4 t-CO2eq and transportation (Transp, 54.3%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 14.3%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.9%), food and beverages (FB, 9.2%), and souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 8.2%). From this result, the CFP of this sector was found to be due to transportation, planning and preparation, accommodation, food and beverages, and souvenirs. Sustainability guidelines recommend that organizers procure products that contribute to lower CFP, and it is considered good practice to provide participants with such product and service choices. The providers themselves also need action to offer low CFP products. Assessing changes in consumption items in future studies may help to calculate environmental impacts and sustainability.

Impact of virtual continued medical education on carbon footprint and awareness of digital sobriety: A retrospective cross-sectional study among public health professionals in India

“…The potential CE of transport involved in attending the CMEs and returning has been estimated to be the single most important factor in the overall potential of CE. This is in line with previous literature, which also found transport to be the predominant factor ( 21 , 27 , 28 ). Travel-related emissions incurred to present a paper at conferences were pegged at 0.8 MT CO 2 Eq, worldwide ( 29 ).…”

Carbon Emissions from Virtual and Physical Modes of Conference and Prospects for Carbon Neutrality: An Analysis From India

“…The potential per capita emission from the physical mode of our conference was 0.37 MT CO 2 Eq, which is lower than the one reported for an academic conference in Europe (0.57 MT CO 2 Eq) (Neugebauer et al, 2020). Transportation of the delegates to attend the conference was the single most contributor toward the CE in our study, similar to the findings from existing literature (Kitamura et al, 2020; Neugebauer et al, 2020; Roberts & Godlee, 2007). The potential travel-related per capita emission was found to be 0.27 MT CO 2 Eq in our study, which is almost half that of reported from the 14th Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (0.5 MT CO 2 Eq), annual meetings of the Societies for Pediatric Urology (0.6 MT CO 2 Eq) and ASAB (0.6 MT CO 2 Eq) (Desiere, 2016; Milford et al, 2020; Raby & Madden, 2021).…”

Quality education: industry contributions to embed sustainability in a meeting and event management curriculum

“…Strategically applying such sustainability tools will enhance practical applications and reinforce industry knowledge amongst students. Future event practitioners should know where and how to source products and services for event participants that contribute to low carbon (Kitamura et al , 2020). When people gather for events, they use resources and generate waste and affect the environment, society and the economy (Jones, 2018), but if managed sustainably, events offer a powerful platform to create awareness of green initiatives.…”