Montpellier adopts ISO 20121 to offer more responsible events

Article dated February 6, 2023, updated on May 23, 2024

Conferences, trade shows, seminars, festivals, sporting events... All these events are a testament to the vitality of a region. Their cancellation during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how much they generate a buzz that is essential to individual fulfillment and collective progress. But these events also have a direct impact on our environment: waste production, carbon emissions from travel, energy consumption, disruption to the natural environment, etc. This is an issue that local authorities want to better control.

Which standard should be used? The voluntary ISO 20121 standard

The concept of responsible events aims to minimize this impact, not only in terms of ecology but also in other areas of CSR, including social issues. And to explain how to go about this, there is a user guide: the voluntary ISO 20121 standard , which is recognized worldwide. Event organizers who claim to follow it to the letter can have it certified, thereby highlighting their commitment to sustainability. This is the case for SPL Occitanie Events, a local public company based in Montpellier, which both organizes events and manages hospitality infrastructure (Montpellier Exhibition Center, Sud de France Arena), and as such holds AFAQ ISO 20121 certification.

The two sites host 150 events and welcome 700,000 visitors each year. "Our company was founded in 2019, and we wanted to demonstrate a strong environmental awareness from the outset. We wanted to affirm this commitment and put it into practice, going beyond mere declarations of intent. Because a company is not just about human and material resources, it is above all about commitment and responsibility to the region in which it operates," explains Hélène Brunier, Director of Strategic Projects, Marketing and Communication at SPL.

ISO 20121 certification: continuous improvement of practices

Let's take a moment to consider the "declarations of intent" mentioned by Hélène Brunier. This is where the risk of such an approach lies: settling for publicity stunts and a coat of green paint to restore the credibility of projects that have suffered from bad buzz. Recent major sporting events have fallen into this trap, prompting the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to launch an update to the standard. A new version was released in May 2024. , with significant contributions from French stakeholders, including those from the French Union of Event Professionals (Unimev), updating the initial 2012 version. However, the latter remains the reference for the certification audit that the SPL underwent here.

Launched in January 2021, Occitanie Events' approach shows that a regional player can compete on a par with major global events and, above all, demonstrate continuous, concrete, and sincere improvement in practices, as concluded by the follow-up audit conducted at the end of 2022. The audit was conducted partly on site during Art' Montpellier, the Mediterranean contemporary arts fair held in November. "We had the motivation, but we needed a formalized approach to structure our concrete actions and involve our teams and all our stakeholders, including service providers such as stand builders, caterers, cleaning companies, etc.," continues Hélène Brunier. Breaking down barriers, bringing people together, and ensuring sustainability: this is the philosophy behind the ISO 20121 standard for event management.

Fifteen challenges identified by SPL Occitanie Events in Montpellier

The SPL is working on a total of 15 issues, including four priority areas, with a five-year plan. After introducing measures to sort and reduce waste and food waste, the SPL has committed to a new challenge: local biodiversity. A student from the University of Montpellier has compiled an inventory of fauna and flora, listing more than 250 species. This reference document will make it possible to measure the extent to which new measures within the complexes will protect nature, for example by shortening outdoor lighting hours and implementing a maintenance schedule for green spaces that is more respectful of the ecosystem.

As we can see with this new aspect, which did not exist at the outset, a certification process must be viewed as a continuous improvement exercise. "The auditor who visited us was a source of suggestions, pointing out new areas for improvement at each follow-up audit. The process has been nothing but beneficial for us," says Hélène Brunier. In fact, ISO 20121 certification reduces risks to the environment and to people, allows for better allocation of company resources, and meets the expectations of the public, which is increasingly sensitive to sustainable development issues.