International Sustainable Event Management System introduced to SA

The drive to implement sustainable business practices is rapidly moving from that of innovation and market leadership to one of expectation. In time, this will be driven by the most fundamental of business imperatives - profit through cost reduction - something from which even the events sector of the economy is not immune.

Integrating ethical business practice

SEMS enables the integration of responsible, efficient and ethical business practice into events. It facilitates improved sustainability performance and business excellence with its step-by-step approach which helps event professionals to plan, monitor, measure, and report upon the sustainability performance of an event.

"Heritage sees this as an ideal opportunity for the South African industry to benefit from a globally competitive event management system and has been appointed a SEMS' affiliate member for Africa," says Greg McManus, MD of Heritage.

"SEMS exposes the events and meetings industry to global, tested best practice and encourages it to measure its own performance against acknowledged leaders in the sustainable event management field," McManus adds.

SEMS consists of two mechanisms for performance reporting; the self assessment report, which scores various aspects of an event and organisational sustainability, and the built-in handy calculators which measure office energy and waste; event energy (both gas and power); event water, waste, production travel and transport; and event delegate and visitor travel and transport.

Encouraging sustainability

The SEMS methodology supports a number of event sustainability standards including ISO 20121 (international), BS8901 (UK), CSA Z2010 (Canada), BNQ9700-253 (Quebec, Canada), A Greener Festival Award (UK) and Industry Green (UK), and can be used in any country around the world.

As an online tool, it is accessible anywhere in the world with standard internet access; and has been optimised for use on the iPad. The SEMS calculators include international emission factors which means the GHG emission factors are tailored to the country in which the event is held. Clients can use the audit services offered by SEMS (2nd party) or alternatively, apply for certification through affiliates such as Heritage Eco-Events.

"We welcome event and sustainability organisations like Heritage's Eco Events to become SEMS Affiliates and help encourage the uptake of sustainability across all industry sectors and regions. This programme has been designed to enable organisations positioned in this space to promote a credible management system that aligns with their corporate culture, adding to and enhancing their service offering in the market place," says Jane Fullerton-Smith, MD of SEMS.

SEMS products include the SEMS tool, Policy Wizard, Measurement Module and 2nd party Audits for conformity to ISO 20121. The system is available through www.heritage-events.com.

For more information on the SEMS toolkit, go to www.semstoolkit.com.