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For years, sustainability in the events world has run largely on trust. A venue says it is green, an organiser repeats it in a proposal, and a delegate takes it on faith. That arrangement is coming to an end.
From 27 September 2026, the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (2024/825) comes into force. It is designed to stamp out greenwashing by holding businesses to a simple standard: an environmental claim is only as good as the evidence behind it. Self-reporting is no longer enough. Claims now need to be independently verifiable.
The UK’s Green Claims Code has been in place since April 2025, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority, which has the power to fine businesses up to 10% of global turnover for unsubstantiated green claims. The direction of travel is unmistakable, and it applies as much to the events and hospitality sector as to any consumer brand.
Most venues are already doing genuine, meaningful work. Solar panels, locally sourced catering, waste reduction, energy monitoring. The problem has never been effort. The problem is evidence. Under the new rules, saying “we are a sustainable venue” without independent substantiation is exactly the kind of claim regulators are now targeting. The risk is no longer reputational alone. It is legal and financial.
Procurement is where this is likely to impact first. As the rules take effect, carbon and sustainability data moves from a nice-to-have towards a qualifying question, and venues that cannot produce credible, evidenced numbers risk being filtered out before a conversation reaches commercial terms.
There is an awkward truth at the heart of the industry. Some of the events least likely to measure their own footprint are the ones with sustainability in their title. Smart-energy expos, environmental summits, green-tech shows: events built to advance the cause, yet often silent on the emissions they themselves generate.
The scale of the gap is striking. Of the roughly 400 events that have adopted the Better Stands Initiative, one of the industry’s most visible sustainability schemes, only a handful are sustainability-focused events themselves. The initiative is a genuine step forward on reusable stands, but it also shows how few green-themed events are yet turning the lens on their own impact.
Part of the reason is that these events face the hardest version of the problem. Attendee and speaker travel typically accounts for 70% to 90% of an event’s total carbon footprint, and a summit that draws an international audience cannot recycle or digitise its way out of that. Freight, venue energy, and catering add to it. Local recycling bins and digital badges are visible gestures, but they rarely touch the parts of the footprint that matter most.
This is not a reason for green-themed events to stop convening. It is a reason to measure honestly and say what is actually being done, rather than lean on the theme of the event as if it were the same thing as evidence. An environmental summit that can show its footprint, and its plan to reduce it, is far more credible than one that simply assumes its subject matter speaks for itself.
This is not a distant hypothetical. Certification and reporting standards across hospitality and events are tightening now, with independent third-party auditing fast becoming the expected baseline rather than a premium add-on. Schemes that have relied on self-assessment are retrofitting verification ahead of the September deadline.
One Tribe has been providing event-specific carbon reporting since 2024, well before verification became a regulatory requirement. Our approach was built around evidence from the outset, rather than adapted to meet a deadline.
Our event calculations are built on a calculator developed with our carbon accounting partners, Tunley Environmental, using recognised ISO and GHG Protocol methodologies. That gives event footprints a solid, defensible foundation.
Every event measured produces a live impact page: a permanent, shareable record built on that methodology, which venues and organisers can put in front of a client at any time.
You do not need to wait for a perfect solution to start reducing your exposure:
The venues that can prove it are about to have a genuine advantage over the ones still asking everyone to take their word for it.
Evidence over intent. That is where this is all heading, and it is a direction we welcome.
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One Tribe is a Climate Action Platform enabling businesses and their customers to make a positive environmental impact.
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.