MPI launched the industry’s most comprehensive sustainable event measurement tool yesterday at the World Education Congress following months of research and design.

The application pilots planners and suppliers through the green event process—from energy-efficient audiovisual to water use and transportation—presenting a system that reports carbon emissions, tracks ongoing improvements over time and reduces overall environmental footprints. Basically, the new application provides a consistent way to measure sustainable results—something the industry has been long lacking.

The tool comes courtesy of IHG, which contributed US$500,000 to the MPI Foundation expressly for an ongoing CSR initiative. The tool’s history traces back to the U.S.-based Convention Industry Council, which tasked MPI with the creation of a sustainable event application in 2008. MPI commissioned the job to the Triple Bottom Line Alliance—a team comprised of leaders from MCI, the Carbon Consultancy and Meeting Strategies Worldwide.

Triple Bottom Line designed the tool to comply with and tie to a bevy of industry standards including the Accepted Practices Exchange’s Green Meetings and Events Standards, British Standard 8901, the Global Reporting Initiative and the upcoming International Organization for Standardization 20121—all of which address the industry’s growing interest in sustainable meetings. 

“We are experiencing a major shift in expectations around sustainability and CSR, increasing regulation and scrutiny and stakeholder influence. If these are not visible in supplier RFPs currently, then it’s a matter of when, not if,” says Roger Simons, CMP, CSR and sustainable events manager for MPI. “We have a duty to ensure our members—and the industry itself—are prepared and equipped for these developments.”