What are the Sustainable Development Goals or SDG’s?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. There are 17 Global Goals and each of them can be mapped to actions that will help to create a more sustainable meeting or conference.
Goal 1 - No Poverty
Goal 1 – End poverty in all it’s forms everywhere.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Food and Material Donation
- One of the best ways to reduce poverty is to donate what you don’t use!
- In terms of donation, If you don’t have a donation program for event materials- it is time to get started on one!
- Donation: also called Recovery is the first action at events that falls into our court behind reduction and reuse.
- Community service project: organize a CSR project for event attendees to give back to the local community.
Goal 2 - Zero Hunger
Goal 2 – End hunger, achieve food security & improved nutritions, and promote sustainable agriculture.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- A critical piece all venues need to be thinking about is having a food donation program in place.
- Food donation can be both really simple or more complex whether you are dealing with hot buffet foods, even breakfast foods, or else cold grab and go items.
Goal 3 - Good Health & Well-being
Goal 3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Include activities for participants to get outside and get some exercise.
- Create a space in the event for quiet time.
- Include a wellness commitment challenge at your event.
- Therapy dogs are a great way to bring joy and happiness to your event.
This SDG is a very important reminder about the need for having those wellness and health related programs front and center at your venue.
Goal 4 - Quality Education
Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive & equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- The power of this SDG is its ability to get your venues and events asking themselves, ”what are we doing to support quality education in our sphere of influence?”
- Choose speakers that will provide quality content for the attendees to learn from.
- Start by offering, or looking to attend education sessions.
- Sourcing ambassadors and temp labor from the local schools of hospitality, which provides some extremely powerful real-word insights for the students.
- Choose venues that use nationally recognized standards such as LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design).
Goal 5 - Gender Equality
Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women & girls.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Create an inclusive environment that is welcoming to all genders, ages, and accessibility.
- Create programs that include topics and speakers from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- Set goals for inclusivity that align with your event and then track the successes.
Goal 6 - Clean Water & Sanitation
Goal 6 – Ensure availability and sustainable and sustainable management of water and & sanitation for all.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Provide at least one meal that is vegetarian in your menu planning.
- Choose chicken over beef for meals on your menu.
- Choose venues that provide low flow sinks, toilettes & urinals.
- Look at venues that have incorporated heating and cooling systems for the building are using technology that uses less water.
- Choose venues that use standards like LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) during site selection.
Goal 7 - Affordable & Clean Energy
Goal 7 – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Choose venues that use clean/renewable energy sources.
- Look for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications.
Goal 8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth
Goal 8 – Promote sustained, inclusive & sustainable economic growth, full & productive employment, and decent work for all.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- You keep supply chains in mind. What are you sourcing, where is it coming from, and who are sourcing it from. (ie woman owned business, local business, social enterprise, etc…)
- When purchasing you choose items that have a positive impact.
Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Goal 9 – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive & sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Choose cities for your event with modern public transportation options.
- Locate innovative venues with infrastructure to support your event.
- Donate signage to the local community to be repurposed.
Goal 10 - Reduced Inequalities
Goal 10 – Reduce inequalities within and among countries.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Choose local vendors.
- Source goods and services within the host city.
- Creating a CSR program for the local community to benefit from.
Goal 11 - Sustainable Cities & Communities
Goal 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Look for cities that have recycling and reuse programs.
- Encourage attendees to take public transportation.
- Ensure your venue and hotels are accessible to public transportation.
- Provide shuttle buses for attendees.
- Create incentives for ride sharing, public transportation, and using the shuttle bus.
Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption & Production
Goal 12 – Ensure sustainable consumption & production patterns.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle what you’re providing, and what you will do with items after the event is over.
- Reuse banners year after year by not including dates that make the sign unusable.
- Recover items that can be donated to local communities.
- Recycle and compost.
- Find other alternatives to swag.
- Create goals for data collection and report on successes and recommendations for future improvement.
Goal 13 - Climate Action
Goal 13 – Take urgent action to combat climate change and it’s impacts.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Encourage attendees to use public transportation or ride sharing.
- Create signage that can be reused year after year.
- Mitigate impact by partnering with transportation companies that will offset their carbon footprint.
- Find sustainable sponsorships to offset various impacts of your event.
- Choose local businesses and vendors for services and goods.
- Plan your menu with locally sourced foods.
Goal 14 - Life Below Water
Goal 14 – Conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Plan your menu with sustainable seafood choices.
- Do not pre-pour water glasses.
- Provide attendees with water bubblers to fill and refill glasses or reusable water bottles.
- Remove straws from being offered automatically to attendees.
- Keep supply chain in mind when planning your menu.
Goal 15 - Life on Land
Goal 15 – Protect, restore, promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt & reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Create a sustainability policy to include guidelines for minimizing waste.
- Really take a full-spectrum / cross cutting look at your waste management programs front and back of house.
- Place a real emphasis on reusables.
- Set baselines, assessing your diversion rate and set aggressive targets, like hosting a Zero Waste Event.
Goal 16 - Partnerships for the Goals
Goal 16 – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and inclusive institutions at all levels.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Promote diversity and inclusion initiatives.
- Provide a safe and inclusive environment for all.
- Educate and inform your venue about ECPAT, and international program to identify and report human trafficking.
- Have an emergency response plan and reviewing throughout the planning process to address all possibilities that you can be prepared for at your event.
Goal 17 - Partnerships for Goals
Goal 17 – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
How do you include this goal in your event planning?
- Partner with your client, vendors, and community groups to work towards sustainability goals together.
