Partner content: Trade fairs and sustainability – (not) impossible to reconcile?

Everyone is talking about sustainability and the demands on companies are constantly on the rise. Larger companies are required to disclose their impact, including by evaluating and reducing their CO₂ emissions. SMEs are also required to achieve these reduction targets in their supply chain.

The issue of climate protection is also growing in importance for participants of trade fairs. While private individuals are becoming increasingly aware of the issue and sensitive to issues such as recycling, visitors in the business context play a role in the emissions of their respective employers.

Trade fair participation – how to make things as climate-friendly as possible

Earlier this year, the Sotomo research institute reported that the Swiss population tends to overestimate itself when it comes to the climate-friendly nature of its behavior. The consequences of the climate crisis in Switzerland becoming more and more noticeable. As an Alpine country, temperatures are rising here twice as much as the global average.

Attending a trade fair with the climate in mind comes with the side effect of raising awareness about the issue. In general, exhibitors can consider the following measures to make their trade fair participation as climate-friendly as possible:

• Check alternatives to flying for arriving at the trade fair location. If no alternatives are available, traveling in Economy Class should be preferred. For example, passengers who fly from Zurich to Lima in Economy Class instead of First Class cause 3.5 tons fewer CO₂ emissions.
• Heavy and bulky products do not always necessarily have to be transported to the trade fair physically. A “digital twin” can also serve the same purpose.
• Minimize the number of staff at the booth. If necessary, you can also involve extra individuals on a virtual basis .
• Wherever possible, use public transporton site and encourage your customers to do so as well. Coordinate your program items with the public transport timetable. This will make it easier for participants to travel by public transport. In Switzerland, one train trip produces 27 times fewer CO₂ than a similar trip by car. It also requires 6 times less energy.
• Make your product information available electronically, e.g. using a QR code instead of multi-page brochures.
• Find out which paper is used for printing jobs and switch to the use of recycled paper. In addition, make sure to have double-sided printing carried out. Replacing fresh fiber paper with recycled paper saves up to 60% energy and 70% water, and causes half as much CO₂ in production.
• Try to offer mainly vegetarian and vegan snacks. For example, the production of 1 kg of beef causes 15.4 kg of CO₂, while the production of 1 kg of lentils causes 0.7 kg of CO₂.
• Reusing cutlery, plates. and cups can help you save a lot of CO₂. For instance, the CO₂ balance of a reusable plastic cup is 10 times better than that of a disposable product.

Not every one of these measures will suit every event. The reduction potential for each trade fair appearance must be determined individually.

Every journey begins with a first step

Whether a company with hundreds of employees or a five-person enterprise – this issue affects everyone. How does your company handle it? Do you already know about your footprint and have already taken appropriate measures for your next trade fair participation? Or are you unsure how to approach it quite yet?

We all know that the first step is the hardest. By reading this article, you are now already in the perfect position to dare to take it. Protecting the climate does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. It is important that the issue is addressed. One resource-saving option is to use an online calculator to gain an overview of your (event) emissions (e.g. using thefree footprint calculator from Swiss Climate). This also lists possible measures you can take to reduce the footprint.

Depending on the need, this calculation may already be enough. For more complex events or trade fairs, where an individualized and differentiated view is desired, it can be helpful to have a balance sheet drawn up by experts on the subject. This provides the ideal basis for putting together an action plan on which reduction measures can be implemented and when.

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Noémie Bommer is a Consultant at sustainability consultancy Swiss Climate and helps companies to establish a comprehensive CO₂ management system. She focuses on the area of events balance sheets and advice on measures.

Contact details: Noémie Bommer, noemie.bommer@swissclimate.ch, Swiss Climate AG