CARBON NEUTRAL EVENTS PROJECT
In the current context of combating and adapting to climate change, and faced with the urgent need to take action to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, it is essential that the various stakeholders in all sectors of activity mobilise and actively contribute to achieving this objective. The events industry is no exception.
The Canadian Carbon Neutrality Accountability Act, the Quebec government’s Plan for a Green Economy and the Ministry of Tourism’s Action Plan for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism 2020-2025 are all part of this approach.
The Council has produced a guide that is the result of a mandate to analyse and characterise GHG assessment and offsetting methods. The project was carried out at festivals and events in Quebec, in collaboration with Destination Québec cité and Événements attractions Québec.
Three pilot events were analysed :
Report
The main findings of this analysis are as follows :
- The events still have improvements to make to reduce their carbon footprint
- Efforts can be made to convince the public and other stakeholders to use active and public transport in greater numbers.
- The Quebec carbon offset market offers many options
- It is very rare that events can be said to be carbon negative.
- Before calling themselves carbon neutral, events must ensure that they are actually carbon neutral while having made significant reduction efforts.
- The tools available on the market for calculating carbon footprints vary widely in the way they work, the criteria they take into account and the results they produce
- There are training and support needs for events that aim for carbon neutrality
The guide has been designed to help event organisers achieve carbon neutrality, based on the findings and lessons learned from the pilot project. It is broken down into different stages: reducing, accounting for and offsetting GHG emissions. The full project report is also available (link coming soon).