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ISO 20121, BREEAM, LEED, Green Key and more: the badges look similar but certify very different things. Here is what each actually covers, and where measurement fits.

 

A venue’s marketing often lists a row of sustainability badges, and to a client they can blur into one. But these certifications certify genuinely different things, and knowing the difference helps you choose the right one, and helps a client understand what a badge actually guarantees.

Management systems versus building performance

The most important distinction is what a certification assesses. Broadly, they fall into two camps, and they answer different questions:

  • Management-system standards, like ISO 20121, certify how sustainably an organisation manages its events: the processes, policies and continuous improvement, across the whole event cycle. It confirms you have a robust system, not a specific outcome.
  • Building-performance standards, like BREEAM and LEED, assess how a building performs across energy, water, waste, materials, transport, health and more. They speak to the venue’s physical fabric, not to how any individual event is run.

This matters because the two are often treated as interchangeable when they are not. A venue can hold ISO 20121 and still sit in an inefficient building; a BREEAM-rated building can host a poorly-run, high-waste event. Each badge answers part of the question, not all of it.

A quick guide to the main ones

  • ISO 20121: the international standard for sustainable event management. A management system, applicable to any event size, covering the full event lifecycle.
  • BREEAM: a leading building-performance assessment, widely used across Europe, covering energy, water, waste, materials, transport, ecology and more.
  • LEED: a globally recognised green-building rating system, similar in spirit to BREEAM, common internationally.
  • Green Key and Green Tourism: sustainability standards oriented towards hospitality and tourism venues and hotels.
  • Sector schemes (such as ECOsmart): hospitality-and-events-specific programmes, increasingly adding independent auditing.

A certification tells you a venue is managed or built to a standard. It does not tell you what any single event’s footprint was.

Where measurement fits

Here is the gap none of these badges fully closes. A certification confirms a system or a building meets a standard. It does not, on its own, tell a client what a specific event held at the venue actually emitted. That is a different question, and increasingly the one procurement teams are asking: not just “are you certified”, but “what was the footprint of my event, and can you show me”.

This is why the strongest position combines the two. A recognised certification demonstrates credibility and process. A measured, shareable footprint for the actual event provides the specific evidence a client can use. One without the other leaves a gap: a badge with no event-level data, or event data with no wider credibility.

Choosing well

If you are a venue deciding where to invest, match the certification to what you want to prove. Want to show your building is efficient? A building-performance standard. Want to show you manage events responsibly? A management-system standard. Want to answer the client asking what their event emitted? That is measurement, and it sits alongside any badge rather than being replaced by one. The venues that stand out increasingly do both.

A badge shows process. A measured footprint shows the event.
See how the two work together.

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Eric currently works as an independent consultant at the intersection of nature and climate, focused on catalysing market and non-market solutions to drive the just transition.

He previously was Head of Product at Earthshot Labs, supporting nature conservation and restoration projects across the global south secure project finance. Prior to Earthshot Labs, Eric led nature-based carbon project development for Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and founded the Carbon Cooperative, a global alliance of leading nature conservation and restoration practitioners exploring carbon finance. After serving in the Peace Corps in Mozambique out of university, he spent much of his 20s working in community-based conservation and ecosystem restoration efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa interspersed with two startup ventures as co-founder and CEO of a mental health tech startup and COO of a sustainable coffee company. Eric has a dual Masters in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Policy from Stanford University where he was a NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a BS in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University.

Alan is a risk management thought-leader, superconnector, and FinTech pioneer. His mission is to enable an Earth Positive economy which includes nature in global accounting systems.

Alan is Founder of Generation Blue, a venture studio dedicated to planetary game changers powered by exponential technologies. Previously, Alan established Natural Capital Markets at Lykke AG, pioneering blockchain based forestry and carbon backed tokens. Alan has over two decades of risk management experience advising global financial institutions, and was a founding member of the RiskMetrics Group, a JPMorgan spin-off. Alan is an investor and advisor to regenerative impact ventures, including TreeBuddy.Earth, Regenativ, and Vlinder Climate.

Lori Whitecalf made history when she became the first woman to be elected Chief of Sweetgrass First Nation in 2011. She served three terms of office from 2011-2017.  

Lori took a two-year hiatus from leadership to expand the family ranch and serve as the FSIN Senior Industry Liaison. She was re-elected on November 29. 2019 and again on November 30, 2021, as Chief of Sweetgrass. Chief Whitecalf practises a traditional lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering. She currently sits on the following boards: Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology, FSIN Lands and Resource Commission, Battle River Treaty 6 Health Centre and Battleford Agency Tribal Chiefs Executive Council, FSIN Women’s Commission.

Tina is the Chief Business Officer for MLTC Industrial Investments, the Economic Development arm of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. She has a diverse background of experience. Having spent 15 years as a municipal Chief Operating Officer, 20 years involved in Saskatchewan’s Health Authority Board Keewatin Yatthe and 9 years with Northern Lights Board of Education. 

 

She continues as a Board Member with Beaver River Community Futures supporting small business development in her home region. Tina brings a wealth of experience in a variety of fields and many connections to the Indigenous communities of Northern Saskatchewan. In addition Tina holds a BA Advanced from the U of S, a Certificate in Local Government Authority from the U of R and is certified as a Professional Economic Developer for Saskatchewan and a certified Technician Aboriginal Economic Developer (TAED).

Tootoosis’ career spans 40+ years in HRM, political leadership, and Indigenous economic development, as a dedicated bridge builder and advocate for Indigenous causes.
As a key member of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) team since 2021, he develops strategies for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report and Call to Action #92.

He is a graduate of the First Nations University of Canada and a certified Professional Aboriginal Economic Developer. Spearheading various community initiatives while serving as a Chair of the SIEDN while directing ILDII and WIBF. Founder of MGT Consulting Tootoosis is based in Saskatoon, Treaty Six Territory.

Cy Standing (Wakanya Najin in Dakota) has a long and distinguished career including serving overseas as an Electronics Technician in the Royal Canadian Air Force, former Chief of Wahpeton Dakota Nation, former Vice Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indigenous Nations (FSIN), past Executive Director of Community Development Branch of the Department of Northern Saskatchewan as well as an Order in Council appointment to the Federal Parole Board.  

Mr. Standing has served as a Director on many Profit and Non-Profit Corporate Boards, including serving as a Director for Affinity Credit Union with assets of over six billion dollars as well as IMI Brokerage and Wanuskewin and is currently a member of the One Tribe Indigenous Carbon Board.