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Why undertake the Sustainable Events Project?
Many events are organized in Quebec each year: festivals, symposiums, conferences, shows, etc. Regrettably, these events have very significant impacts on the environment. This includes the production of tonnes of waste, greenhouse gas emissions and the overconsumption of natural resources such as paper and food.
Yet simple measures could help to reduce these negative impacts. Moreover, it is even possible for events to bring benefits to the communities that host and support them. For example, they can help to stimulate regional and fair trade economy, foster awareness of sustainable development among suppliers, partners and participants, and facilitate access to the event for certain populations such as students, non-profit organizations, people re-entering the job market, etc. Many event organizers want to apply sustainable measures. But where to start? Which suppliers to choose? How to benefit from sustainable events that have already been held? Are there tools to facilitate this undertaking? To answer these questions is the aim of the Sustainable Events Project!
Objectives
The main objective of this project is to simplify the organization of sustainable events and to encourage the event organizers to adopt more sustainable practices. Concretely, the objectives are:
- Train event managers in sustainability
- Reduce the environmental impact of the events, namely by better management of energy and residual matter
- Develop long-term management habits
- Promote responsible consumption
- Stimulate local benefits and event output for the general society
- Share the existing expertise
- Develop knowledge in terms of event sustainability
Use of the Sustainable Event Logo
The logo for the Sustainable Event Project as well as other visual elements associated with it are the property of the Réseau québécois des femmes en environnement (RQFE). To its clients and partners, the RQFE offers the possibility to use a version of the logo, where it is mentionned « in partnership with ». To do so, the clients and partners need to acquire the RQFE's authorization. Subsequently, the RQFE will send out the logo version mentioned above.
Background
Since its foundation in 1999, the Réseau québécois des femmes en environnement (RQFE) has been active in eco-responsibility. In 2000, it worked with the regional committees for the World March of Women in their selective collection activities on the march circuit. That same year, the RQFE published, in collaboration with Recyc-Québec, the ministère de l'Environnement and the Société des Alcools du Québec, a Guide pour la réduction des matières résiduelles lors de l'organisation d'événements publics [Guide to Reduce Residual Waste when Organizing Public Events].Since 1999, all RQFE events have been organized while respecting the principles of sustainable development: for example, the Colloque international Écodéfi [Ecochallenge international symposium] in 2005. From there came the idea of sharing this expertise. Since 2005, the RQFE helps other event organizers in their eco-responsible procedures, first on an informal basis. In fall 2006, the RQFE offered its first training sessions on eco-responsible events as public and private training sessions.
It was however only in 2007 that the project For Eco-responsible Events actually started with its current framework. With its services and tools, it has reached a great number of clients and partners .
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The Project 
