How Confex made climate action part of the show.

One Tribe helped International Confex calculate its event footprint, offset 386 tonnes of CO₂ and turn networking into a campaign that protected 10,000 trees.

See how we did it

International Confex · The 2024 exhibition programme

The brief

The events industry was asking about its flagship show’s sustainability credentials. Confex needed an answer backed by action.

One Tribe’s role

Whole-event assessment, carbon offsets and an attendee tree-protection campaign

01 / The customer & the challenge

The show that brings the industry together wanted to lead by example.

International Confex gathers event professionals, suppliers, buyers and thought leaders from across the UK. Its parent company, Mash Media, wanted the show’s 2024 programme to take a more active role in addressing its environmental footprint.

Customers, organisers, venues and suppliers were already asking about the show’s environmental credentials. The team needed to calculate the footprint and take action it could explain to the same industry it brought together.

One Tribe worked with Confex on both sides of that challenge: assessing emissions behind the event and creating a way for people attending it to participate in conservation.

“Working with One Tribe allows us to be more transparent with our sustainability goals”
Jack NeweyPortfolio Director, Conference News and International Confex

02 / What One Tribe did

Understand the emissions. Then give attendees a role.

The event assessment paid particular attention to attendee activity and travel emissions. One Tribe then worked with the team to identify carbon projects that could support its offset programme.

Alongside this work, the 10,000 tree challenge connected rainforest protection with networking. Making contacts was already the reason many people came to Confex. The campaign made that activity a route into climate action.

How the programme worksExplore the four steps

International Confex

01 / 04

Event activity + attendee travel

Programme illustration · Motion is off. Select any step to explore.

03 / The programme in practice

Networking became a way to protect rainforest.

The tree challenge gave people an immediate way to take part. Attendees did something familiar (met a new contact) and connected that activity with forest protection.

That made the programme easier to communicate. Confex could talk about its event assessment and offset projects while also showing an action visitors understood. Its wider sustainability activity earned a distinction in Event Decisions’ ESG impact report and prompted enquiries from other stakeholders.

Rainforest conservation landscape — Forest conservation · One of the areas supported by the programme; illustrative project photography

04 / The results

10,000 trees protected. 386 tonnes of CO₂ offset.

trees protected: 10,000
CO₂ offset: 386 t
communities supported by project benefits: 20+

Results from the 2024 programme. Offsets fund climate projects separately from reductions in the show’s own emissions.

The 2024 partnership results record 10,000 trees protected and 386 tonnes of CO₂ offset. Investments in nature-based and renewable energy projects supported benefits for more than 20 local and Indigenous communities and eight UN Sustainable Development Goals.

For Confex, the programme created a clearer response to customer questions and a practical example for the wider events industry. It combined measurement behind the scenes with an activity people could join on the day.

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