CHICAGO — Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE), the strategic alliance of European national convention bureaus, and Gevme have collaborated to launch the Sustainability Hub for Events. The new platform uses AI to simplify sustainability guidelines into actionable steps for events.
Sustainability Hub for Events works by indexing event data to create personalized recommendations based on specific needs, generated using industry best practices and guidelines. With more user interactions and feedback, the platform can continue to improve the accuracy and performance of its offerings and services.
The Sustainability Platform also draws on the NZCE Roadmap and the Strategic Alliance Sustainability Framework to provide users with sector expertise and actionable insights.
“Sustainability is a complex topic. The NZCE initiative has already developed a broad theoretical foundation covering a wide variety of environmental sustainability aspects for the business events sector,” said Alex Alles, executive director of the Joint Meetings Industry Council, which is leading the NZCE campaign. “There are hundreds of pages to read, and we recognise that it could be beneficial for organisers to use an AI platform to help with understanding and overcome this data overload. We hope this beta will be widely used so we can test as much as possible and iron out potential bugs before the official launch.”
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The platform offers a variety of tools that event planners can leverage, including: best practices for green cleaning, maintenance and waste management; setting sustainability goals aligned with industry roadmaps and milestones; seamless integration of guidelines into event planning and execution; and venue sustainability assessments and optimization tips.
“We are pleased to see that the platform has already generated a huge interest from the business events community. We see representatives from all stakeholder groups testing it, including venues, organizers, suppliers, convention bureaus and others. This is exactly what we wanted and we invite others to sign up and try it out,” Alles said. “Registration is quite simple and no specific data is required to use the services. Users can simply ask the system what they want to know and they will receive an instant response. We are pleased that the platform works in more than 20 languages, which helps users in all regions of the world.”
“In record time, the Net Zero Carbon Events Initiative has identified and reviewed hundreds of best practice cases on how we can all decarbonize our industry,” said Kai Hattendorf, CEO of UFI. “Even with all the workstreams and roadmap structures in place, this is thousands of pages of material – I suspect it’s the most comprehensive and best catalogue of actions available to everyone in our industry.”
“But it can be difficult to navigate all of this information, which is where this new AI-powered solution comes in. Think of it not as a search engine, but as a solutions engine. In the current beta phase that JMIC is running as host and facilitator of the NZCE with Gevme, everyone can help make this the best tool on the planet for our industry to reduce carbon emissions in their own business and advance this largest and most inclusive global industry initiative ever.”
Contact Kai Hattendorf at kh@ufi.org