Positive Impact Annual Sustainability Report 2024

This report details progress on Engaging The Global Event Sector in the UN SDGs, Race to Zero and UN Global Compact Reporting Requirements

 

Positive Impact is a not for profit which exists to educate, engage and collaborate with the majority small to medium enterprises within the global supply chain which enables engagement around the world. 

Readers of this report will gain insight into how engagement* strategies can be used to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and understand how not for profit Positive Impact, an example of a purpose led business, is leading in the transformation of the global event sector and the development of a new narrative which will shape the future of human engagement.

Positive Impact could be described as a critical friend. A critical friend is someone who cares but asks inconvenient questions, challenges the status quo and exists for a bigger purpose than ego and financial returns.

Positive Impact is passionate about the power of human connection and engagement while being honest about the negative impacts and greenwash which the logistics of bringing people together can create.

 

*The term engagement is used to describe meetings, events, exhibitions, festivals, sporting activities. The term engagement is used in the updated 2022 Race to Zero Criteria.

“2024 has been a turning point for a sustainable event sector. The Club of Rome letter during COP29 is evidence that HOW we engage as humans is recognised as not being fit for purpose. This is an opportunity to start telling the story of how human engagement can be delivered in a way that DOES meet the needs of our planet, people and future.”

- Fiona Pelham, CEO Positive Impact Events

What got us here, won’t get us there

The impact of human behaviour is being felt on planet Earth and the consequences are moving beyond scientific reports, into our every day lives as we experience flooding, heatwaves, fires and droughts on a scale like never before.

There are some very obvious behaviours that produce these results including creating high levels of carbon emissions traveling by plane, wasting food, procuring internationally grown products with large carbon footprints and creating plastic materials for a one time use. 

These behaviours continue to be part of the DNA of the global event sector that delivers engagement activities such as conferences, concerts and sport competitions.

During 2024 calls to measure beyond carbon and waste impact of events grew louder and the response from some leading event associations was dangerously weak as they choose to describe travel related emissions as ‘out of scope’and resisted evolving to future fit business models.

Could a more positively impactful future come from using credible frameworks to evolve existing business models? 

The launch of revised ISO 20121:2024 led to innovations like The Pavilion for People (powered by Positive Impact) which demonstrated how new approaches could be taken so all voices were heard in events addressing the key challenges of our time such as COP29.

This animation imagines what low carbon engagement strategies could look like:

Human engagement is vital for the future of humanity.

Human engagement removes barriers to equality and inspires behaviour change.

This year’s Acceleration Action Report from Positive Impact explores innovation in how human engagement happens (with focus on the over 2,000 community of Positive Impact Ambassadors from over 60 countries who are part of the event sector supply chain, and use their voices to champion the creation of a sustainable event sector).

The report explores the opportunity of a gap that could be addressed and what a new narrative for human engagement could be.

What is an Acceleration Action Report?

In 2019, the United Nations asked for commitments to action to accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals.

This was an opportunity to demonstrate the role of events in accelerating action to achieving the SDGs and not for profit Positive Impact continues to take action on this.

Since September 2019 Positive Impact has submitted an annual report.

View the 2019 - 20 report
View the 2020 - 21 report
View the 2021 - 22 report
View the 2022 - 23 report

For over 7 years Positive Impact has been part of the UN SDG Action Campaign, most recently in 2024 during UN Summit for The Future, and Global Week to ACT4SDGs.

How you could read this Acceleration Action Report

This report has been written by Positive Impact CEO Fiona Pelham, the Positive Impact team and influenced by the community of over 2000 global Positive Impact Ambassadors.

 

If you are a head of sustainability we suggest you read this report and look for these ‘red action boxes’ which you can act on so your corporate engagement strategy aligns with advancing your net zero commitments. This report is written with reference to UN, ISO and best practice sustainability terms.

 

If you are an event professional there is an immediate action you can take to be part of the solution. Become a Positive Impact Ambassador, take action on the resources you receive and use your voice to champion the creation of a sustainable event sector. If you spend the time it would take you to read this report on acting to use your voice there will be impact!

So event professionals: you don’t need to read further. It’s ok to use the time to take action starting with becoming an Ambassador.

Positive Impact: A Purpose Led Business

Read below to understand how not for profit Positive Impact is empowering action which is creating a new future for engagement strategies.

Not for profits are uniquely positioned to empower positive change, as this exploration into Positive Impact demonstrates.

  • Positive Impact is a not for profit which since 2005 has been providing education, engagement and collaboration opportunities to create a sustainable event industry.

  • Since 2016, Positive Impact events has had a number of memorandums of understanding with United Nations bodies including UN Environment, UNDP, UN Global Compact and UN SDG Action Campaign. 

  • Since 2017, Positive Impact had a memorandum of understanding with UNFCCC and has worked to engage with the event sector on a climate action framework for events. In 2021 Positive Impact became a Race to Zero Accelerator for the event sector.

  • Since the launch of ISO 20121 in 2012 Positive Impact has implemented ISO 20121 and after a number of years of 3rd party certification now demonstrates evidence of 1st party implementation of ISO 20121:2024.

    Positive Impact CEO also volunteers her time as chair of ISO 20121.

  • In 2020 Positive Impact became one of 14 Race to Zero Accelerators. Race to Zero is a UN backed global campaign uniting the world's largest coalition of non-state actors taking immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030. This means Positive Impact is responsible for acting to increase the number of event sector businesses who have joined The Race to Zero.

    There are 3 steps to join starting at the Positive Impact website where the first step is to become a Positive Impact Ambassador (so you can access materials to use your voice to champion the creation of a sustainable event sector), the second step is to make your net zero commitment on the Positive Impact website (so the number of event sector businesses being counted can be measured) and the final step is to repeat your commitment on SME Climate Hub who are The Race to Zero Partner responsible for the review of all SME commitments, OR the Exponential Roadmap Hub who are a Race to Zero partner responsible for the review of business commitments.

  • Since 2013 Positive Impact has had an innovative internship programme to support people at the beginning of their careers to build skills for a sustainable future. Following the programme interns feedback they have learnt valuable life skills (including time management and personal goal setting) and over 50% gain employment in higher roles than those they were interviewing for before their placement.

    During 2024 Positive Impact internships explored how to contribute their skills and shape their careers: “My experience as an intern has allowed me to work on truly impactful projects, such as the Pavilion for People. This internship has expanded my curiosity and encouraged me to explore creative solutions to climate change.”

  • In 2020 Positive Impact launched a history page which documents action, since 2005, taken by Positive Impact and key moments in the transformation of the global event sector. The impact of Positive Impact has been described as a small pebble hitting the water and making huge ripples. The Positive Impact community includes global leaders, innovators and advocates for sustainability and for the power of human connection and engagement.

  • As the world’s businesses increasingly focus on ESG reporting Positive Impact’s annual report (this document) meets the reporting requirements of a number of credible initiatives including the Race to Zero, The UN Global Compact and the UN SDG Acceleration Action reporting. This report also provides evidence for our implementation of ISO 20121 to a level of first party certification.

  • Positive Impact is a UN SDG Action Mobilising partner and created tools for the global event sector to join #unitetoact #act4sdgs campaign.

  • In 2022 Positive Impact continued a campaign in collaboration with EventGrads to support the next generation of event professionals to have access to credible resources.

  • In 2024 Positive Impact continued a volunteer non executive director advisory board and constantly approached potential volunteers for non executive directors to ensure a balanced board.

  • Since 2021 Positive Impact has delivered regular conversation opportunities between corporate Heads of Sustainability, Sustainability leaders including Sir David King and government departments and leading global events including COP, The International Olympic Committee, G7 and more.

By directing your supply chain to the free ISO 20121:2024 and Race to Zero resources available on the Positive Impact website, and encouraging them to use their voices to champion a sustainable event sector by becoming Positive Impact Ambassadors, you will be enabling the transformation of your supply chain in a way that supports and inspires and encourages their creativity.

The usual approach of mandating  measurement and other sustainability requirements in your procurement process may leave less opportunity for your value chain to innovate and identify new solutions to meet your needs.

Positive Impact CEO Fiona Pelham explains:

“Positive Impact is a purpose driven business, we exist to create a sustainable event sector, in other words to inspire Heads of sustainability to implement corporate engagement strategies which advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. During 2024 our focus has been on innovation to demonstrate that it is possible to do things differently; The Pavilion for People is a groundbreaking example.

The actions taken by Positive Impact educate a global community of the majority SMEs that are the supply chain for corporate engagement activities, collaborate with over 2,000 event professionals across over 60 countries who have committed to use their voices to champion sustainability and engages government, business and UN bodies to deliver support including policy for the creation of a sustainable event sector.

Our report is our annual opportunity to explore our impact and report on it, in a way that meets the requirements of SDG Action, UN Global Compact and The Race to Zero. 

Positive Impact’s values (leadership, responsibility, collaboration, communication, honestly, positivity and proactivity) shape our approach. We support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and take action. For example, since 2019 we have collaborated with UNICEF UK to create guidelines for the consideration of human and child rights when planning an event. These guidelines were included as an annex in the revision of ISO20121:2024 and during 2024 we continued to empower thousands of global event professionals to use these resources.”

 

Sergio Mujica, ISO Secretary-General welcoming people to the launch of revised ISO20121:2024 in summer 2024 and referencing the importance of  the inclusion of human and child rights considerations.

 

“Events bring people together. Human connection and engagement  is the enabler for the advancement of the UN sustainable development goals. In 2024 the Positive Impact team bought to life what a future fit approach could look like when we powered The Pavilion for People.

The potential future for the supply chain that enables human engagement is impactful and sustainable and Positive Impact exists to enable this future.”

Read more thoughts and insights from Fiona on her website.

This animation brings to life what engagement strategies advancing the SDGs could look like:

How Positive Impact delivered Acceleration Action

Engaging the Global Event Sector in the UN SDGs in 2024

Positive Impact’s Acceleration Action commitment was to:

 

Engage the global event sector so that by 2030 events are enabling inclusion and participation in decision making and accelerating progress towards the UN SDGs. (SDG16)

 

Positive Impact’s objectives to achieve this Acceleration Action were: 

 

Objective 1

Create and mobilize resources so the event sector is in action contributing to the decade of accountability (i.e. capacity building)

 

Objective 2

Engage with business and government at a strategic policy level to position the event sector as a route to achieving the UN SDGs (i.e. enabling policy)

 

Objective 3

Further the narrative of how building the future of how human engagement happens should be in line with the UN SDGs

 

For each objective we have included our 10 favourite examples of action in this report. To find out more information on our actions and impact, we encourage you to browse the website and our history page which is also developing into a virtual museum documenting the transformation of the global event sector.

Objective 1

Create and mobilize resources so the event sector is in action contributing to the decade of accountability (i.e. capacity building)

10 examples of action taken by Positive Impact to deliver impact and advance this objective in 2024 include:

  • Took action as Race to Zero Accelerator promoting the free-to-use 6 step programme to support event sector SME’s to make a net zero commitment and join the Race to Zero. This approach aligned with SME Climate Hub and Unicef UK materials and included resources tailored for the event sector.

 

Asking 100% of your event supply chain if they have joined The Race to Zero is a way to support your suppliers with free, credible resources which will enable them to take action in line with your own Race to Zero commitments 

 

  • Enabled more than 170 Small to Medium Enterprises (500 employees or less) from the event sector supply chain to make a net zero carbon commitment and join The Race to Zero. 

  • Created an interactive virtual area for the launch of the revision of ISO 20121:2024 supported by ISO, IOC and BSI and including resources so anyone in the event sector understand and implement ISO 20121:2024.

  • Created and launched a toolkit with BSI to enable major events to support their SME supply chain to implement ISO 20121:2024.

  • Delivered a third year of engagement with over 20 global universities to support them to share a pledge for event graduates to commit to using their voice to champion a sustainable event sector.

  • Continued to profile the Share a Positive Impact Campaign and provided materials to support  the global event sector to demonstrate sustainable best practice. This approach enabled peers to learn from each other.

  • Provided opportunities for action on International Women’s Day, Earth Day, World Environment Day, New York Climate Week and during the UN Summit for the Future.

  • Contributed to the UN Summit for the Future call for input and used the UN Pact for the Future as a reference point when creating new or updating resources.

  • Supported communities to share sustainable event resources with their communities including:  Climate Association for Associations, the UNFCCC Race to Zero accelerators, UN Global Compact Network UK and Unicef UK

  • Empowered the Positive Impact Ambassador community with opportunities to take action and use their voice to transform the global event sector. Read examples below.

    • Delivering presentations to their supply chain, clients, peers and communities, on UN and global business level sustainability initiatives, using a powerpoint and speaking notes provided 4 times a year.

    • Participating in the launch of revised ISO20121:2024

    • Volunteering to be part of the ISO 20121 systematic review process on committees with national standards around the world.

    • Contributing best practice to global events created by Positive Impact to raise the profile of ambassadors and the work they do

    • Participating in The Pavilion for People as an attendee or having the opportunity to share knowledge and/or invite their community to participate.

    • Trialing innovative technology

Objective 2

Engage with business and government at a strategic policy level to position the event sector as a route to achieving the UN SDGs

10 examples of action taken by Positive Impact to deliver impact and advance this objective in 2024 include:

  • Our CEO volunteered as chair of the Project Committee for ISO 20121, event sustainability management system standard and supported and encouraged over 8 national standard bodies and 8 liaisons to be part of the revision of ISO 20121.

  • To celebrate the launch of ISO20121:2024 we created an interactive activation for event professionals to access resources in multiple time zones and in different languages.

  • We gathered ISO and other national standard bodies to contribute to a session on how standards can influence policy and we continue to pro actively share this resource with policy makers.

 

The number of event sector carbon initiatives and claims continued to grow in 2024 and Positive Impact continued to communicate the importance of participation in The Race to Zero as the only credible approach. Event sector press started to raise questions about sector-led carbon initiatives and the first signs appeared that event industry associations may be acting to maintain status quo and missing the opportunity to evolve to be future fit.

The majority of corporate commitments to net zero are made with the Race to Zero campaign. Positive Impact is a Race to Zero Accelerator and provides resources so the global event sector can join the Race to Zero.

 
 

The over 10,000 companies in The Race to Zero now report on their scope 3 emissions including events.

This report is written for Heads of Sustainability to prompt the opportunity of collaboration with Heads of Events to create sustainable engagement strategies.

 

In 2024, we launched an opportunity for global leaders to share best practice of their implementation of ISO 20121:2024.

    • Collaboration with groups who support corporate sustainability, for example The Exponential Roadmap Initiative.

    • Regular events with UN Global Compact Network UK to support their corporate community to create a sustainable event strategy.

    • Gained CPD certification for education products which will support corporates to create sustainable engagement strategies.

    • Delivering a 48hr event during UN SDG Action week and 2 week event during COP29 suitable for corporate sustainability and event teams.

We also supported the systematic review of ISO 20121:2024.

    • CEO being the volunteer chair for ISO 20121.

    • Encouraging engagement of over 20 potential liaison bodies including event sector associations, UN bodies, major global events, major bodies with expertise in specific areas e.g. human rights.

    • Creating and distributing resources to support the liaisons to connect with their global communities to gather their feedback on the revision of ISO 20121.

    • Creating and distributing resources to build the capacity of event professionals to be part of the revision of an ISO standard.

    • Building the capacity of the over 2,000 Ambassadors from over 60 countries on how to be part of a revision of an ISO standard.

Objective 3

Further the narrative of how building the future of how human connection happens should be in line with the UN SDGs

10 examples of action taken by Positive Impact to deliver impact and advance this objective in 2024 include:

  • Delivered a trial of The Pavilion for People during UN Summit for the Future and UN Climate Week and co created an activation with refugee communities in Africa

  • Delivered The Pavilion for People for COP29 which had over 14,000 visits from over 60 different countries and was used and supported  by multiple communities including: Race to Zero, The Ocean Pavilion, The Faith Pavilion, The Peatlands Pavilion, UNEP, UNFCCC, SOLCO, Last Mile Climate, We Don’t Have Time, BSI and more.

  • Liaised with global journalists to bring to life what a new approach to COP events could look like.

  • Supported The Pavilion for People community to join global broadcasts live to over 5,000 people 

  • Participated in monthly meetings with Race to Zero Accelerators speaking up for opportunities to support the global engagement sector supply chain and shared resources with other members of The Race to Zero Accelerator community because events are a cross cutting theme across all accelerator communities

  • Shared resources on the opportunity to be part of the UN SDG Action Campaign during UN Summit for The Future and contributed to UN Summit for The Future calls for action.

  • Updated the ‘Share a Positive Impact’ toolkit and library and sharing with over 2,000 global Ambassadors from over 60 countries 

  • Delivered a series of event days with participation from over 60 countries including International Women’s Day, Earth Day, World Environment Day, New York Climate Week and UN SDG Action week.

  • Provided a global community of over 2,000 Ambassadors from over 60 countries with resources so they could speak to their clients, supply chains and peers about actions that could be taken to advance the UN SDGs through the delivery of events

  • Collaborated with over 10 amplifiers (communities outside the event sector supply chain) so they had the awareness and ability to express how events could be used to advance the UN SDGs

The Positive Impact Community 2024

Lisa Chapman
Lisa Chapman is an event sustainability consultant, strategist, and facilitator, dedicated to...
Read more
England
Laura Arnold
I'm an Event Grad
Laura is a passionate events graduate specialising in sustainability, aligning with the EU's...
Read more
Cork
Ellie Wardell
Sustainability Consultant for the UK Sports Events Industry
Read more
England
Maura Zhang
Founder, Welldom Inc. and Co-Founder, Synergy Destinations Maura is a Caribbean born travel...
Read more
Dan Schneider
I specialize in driving sustainability initiatives within the events industry by integrating...
Read more
New York City, NY
Mohammad Nour Almonier
I excel in managing high-profile events, including environmental and sustainability-focused...
Read more
Dubai
Alejandro Bacot
I'm an Event Grad
Professional with Over 13 Years of Experience in Sports, Commercial, and Environmental Management....
Read more
Santiago Metropolitan Region
Molfa David Ibrahim
I'm an Event Grad
I am Molfa David, a Sudanese refugee currently residing in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. My journey...
Read more
Turkana
Bharat Gourav Dash
I am a Climate activist at Odisha, India. Working for Rural area youths giving them climate...
Read more
Odisha
Odette
Odette Ferrer, BA in Political Science and International Relations (CIDE) in Mexico City, is...
Read more
Ciudad de
Martin of Stargazers Eco Experience
I'm an Event Grad
Ireland
Laura Notarbartolo
CEO at Italian Special Occasions DMC & EVENTS Laura Notarbartolo was born in Rome to an English...
Read more
Roma
Lisa Keogh
Owner/Operator JustRuns Events
Read more
Manuel Neubauer
I'm an Event Grad
Hesse
Kat Winfield
Event professional of over 15 years working in venues and client side. Passionate about supporting...
Read more
Spasenija Kika Puric
Spasenija Kika Purić is the Head of MICE at Montenegro Stars Hotels Group, a pioneering company in...
Read more
Montenegro
Lars Lensink
Sustainable Development MSc student at Utrecht University, writing a thesis on environmental impact...
Read more
Noord-Holland
Camilla Pavan
Project manager with experience in planning and managing large-scale and high-level events for...
Read more
Berlin
Nur Syuhada Binti Ibrahim
I am committed to integrating sustainable practices into every aspect of our event management...
Read more
Kuala Lumpur
Grace Cameron
Sustainability Analyst and Project Coordinator passionate about collaborative projects that enhance...
Read more
Pittsburgh, PA
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During 2024 the beneficiaries of the Acceleration Action were:

  • Over 2,000 Positive Impact Ambassadors, event professionals from over 60 countries.

  • Over 40 Global Corporates and 4 amplifiers to corporate communities (supported on how to use their event strategy to advance sustainability commitments and UN SDGs with education and collaboration opportunities)

  • United Nations bodies including: UN Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN SDG Action Campaign, UN Environment (UNEP), UN Global Compact Network UK, and UN Development Programme

  • Over 170 small to medium event companies who joined The Race to Zero

  • 180 companies supported with materials, co created with Unicef UK, to be able to consider human and child rights when planning an event

  • Over 20 universities willing to support their students to use their voices to champion the creation of a sustainable event sector through the Positive Impact and EventGrad initiative

  • Over 14,000 community who visited The Pavilion for People from over 60 countries

  • Over 10 national standard bodies and over 12 liaison bodies

In comparison, in 2017, the beneficiaries of Positive Impact’s work is represented in this visual:

 
 

As stakeholder engagement becomes an increasingly important step within the delivery of sustainable engagement, it is important to understand who is impacted (both positively and negatively) from your company actions.

What Now: The Future for Engagement Strategies

How will the global event sector transform and be recognised as a essential contributor to achieving the UN SDGs?

This animation gives a glimpse into a potential future for corporate engagement strategies:

 

This short animation will give you an understanding of where you can start strategically implementing a sustainable engagement strategy

 

Why are we using the term engagement rather than saying events?

In June 2022 The Race to Zero criteria was updated to include:

“Within 12 months of joining, align external policy and engagement to the goal of halving emissions by 2030 and reaching global (net) zero by 2050”

The term engagement includes every type of event: meetings, conferences, AGMs, product launches, team training, reward programmes, sponsorship and more. Engagement can be understood as every time your stakeholders engage with your brand. Your stakeholders could be your customers, supply chain, local communities and more. Using the term ‘engagement’ is in line with the Race to Zero Criteria which CEOs and Heads of Sustainability have committed to meet.

 

Transformation caused by materiality and procurement

Imagine if the first step in delivering an event was a materiality exercise with stakeholders to understand the potential positive and negative event impacts, in other words how the event could advance the UN SDGs.

Imagine if corporate procurement required stakeholder engagement and measurements. 

Materiality and procurement are two likely influences on the future of corporate engagement strategies. Read the definitions below to understand more about what this approach could look like.

  • The transformation of the global event sector ie the supply chain that delivers human engagement could include a shift from budget and time focus, to materiality focus.

    In other words i.e before deciding the event budget or approach steps would be taken to understand what is material including what the positive and negative event impacts could be. The event would then be designed around those findings.

  • The starting point for a company CEO to assign budget, time and strategic commitment to any event related activity (sponsorship, exhibitions, meetings etc.) could be a collaboration with the Head of Sustainability on what is material for their corporate engagement strategy.

    Learn about the UN Global Compact's reporting framework

  • Carbon reporting of events will become the norm and without the ability to report on how events are enabling the advancement of other sustainable development goals the carbon intensive nature of human engagement will become the factor that shapes how and when events take place.

How Positive Impact plan to deliver Acceleration Action to Engage the Global Event Sector in the UN SDGs in 2025

Positive Impact’s Acceleration Action commitment, objectives and themes will remain the same as 2024 with an increased focus on innovation.

 

Acceleration Action commitment:

Engage the global event sector so that by 2030 events are enabling inclusion and participation in decision making and accelerating progress towards the UN SDGs. (SDG16)

 

Objectives to achieve this Acceleration Action:

  1. Create and mobilise resources so the event sector is in action contributing to the decade of accountability (i.e. capacity building)

  2. Engage with business and government at a strategic policy level to position the event sector as a route to achieving the UN SDGs (i.e. enabling policy)

  3. Further the narrative of how building the future of how human connection happens should be in line with the UN SDGs (i.e. innovation)

 

The following impact is possible based on Positive Impact’s objectives: 

  • Increased strategic use of ISO standards within the global event sector including industry associations

  • ISO 20121 used globally and ongoing sharing of best practice

  • Event Sector companies (including SMEs) are supported by a Race to Zero accelerator with resources to join the Race to Zero and by a Race to Zero partner to monitor progress

  • Opportunities for the event sector contributing to conversations that will create sustainable change including regulation and policy change

  • Opportunities for the event sector showing leadership as a sector transforming to be sustainable

  • At least 3,000 event companies in The Race to Zero and at least 1,500 (including SMEs) submitting annual reports to The Race to Zero

  • Between 4,000-7,000 Ambassadors being supported to innovate and advance the narrative of how human engagement happens

The beneficiaries of this impact could be:

  • All countries who have made a commitment to engaging with the SGDs. 

  • The global event supply chain which is majority small to medium enterprise (Source: Event Industry Council). 

  • The over 26 million workers within the global event sector who are majority women (Source: Events Industry Council and Leeds Beckett University)

  • The over 1.5 billion participants who attended business events in over 180 countries in 2019 (Source: Event Industry Council).

  • At least 20 of the world's most important corporations who can plan up to 1000 events in a year. 

The themes of the Acceleration Action will be:

  • Capacity building 

  • Innovation 

  • Enabling policy

Information on how this report meets United Nations Global Compact Communication on Engagement reporting requirements and UNFCCC Race to Zero Reporting Requirements

  • This year Positive Impact’s Acceleration Action Report is also being used as a  Communication on Engagement for the UN Global Compact. 

    This section is a guide to where information needed for the UN Global Compact Communication on Engagement can be found:

    Statement from the CEO

    See “Positive Impact CEO Fiona Pelham explains” within Positive Impact: a Purpose Led Organisation

    Information on our policies and procedures which demonstrate the action Positive Impact has taken and plans to take in the Global compact areas

    See Positive Impact: a Purpose Led Organisation.

    Positive Impact implements ISO 20121:2024.

    Our policies can be found at the bottom of this page.

    Human rights

    See Action taken for our Objectives for Positive Impact work with UNICEF UK 

    Environment

    See Action taken for our Objectives for the actions Positive Impact has taken to engage with SMEs in the event sector to make a net zero commitment through their accelerator programme. 

    Labour

    See Positive Impact: a Purpose Led Organisation for information on Positive Impact interns and training programmes. 

    Anti-corruption

    See Positive Impact: a Purpose Led Organisation for policies and procedures in place, such as no supply chain, which prevents corruption. 

    See Action taken for our Objectives which measures the outcomes of all Positive Impact’s activities throughout the year. 

  • This year Positive Impact’s Acceleration Action Report is also being used as a Race to Zero Transition Plan.

    This page includes Positive Impact’s detailed response to Race to Zero reporting requirements

    Positive Impact has pledged to halve emissions by 2030 and to be net zero by 2050.

    Positive Impact’s carbon footprint in 2023 was 14 CO2 Tonnes.

    Positive Impact’s carbon footprint in 2024 was 4.31 Tonnes.

    This was calculated using the normative business carbon calculator provided by SME Climate Hub. This calculator will be withdrawn in January 2025. The report content refers to January 1st 2024 - 31st December 2024.

    Actions taken in the last 12 months:

    Positive Impact made our net zero carbon commitment via the SME climate hub 

    See Action taken for our Objectives to view the leadership Positive Impact has taken to support the global event sector to make a net zero commitment and advance their just transition. This includes:

    • Positive Impact CEO and team members were invited to speak at over 20 events in over 12 different countries and for each invitation Positive Impact asked ‘Could this presentation be delivered virtually as we can not travel to an event to speak that does not have proven return on investment/impact’. 100% of events we were invited to speak at we only participated virtually.

    • Positive Impact declined participation in an award ceremony where our CEO was awarded the Standard Maker Award and the event attendees were informed ‘Fiona is not here to collect the award due to the carbon footprint that would be created. Next year we commit as an event to have a virtual participation option’.

    • As chair of ISO 20121:2024 revision Positive Impact CEO championed virtual meetings which avoided the carbon footprint of over 40 international travellers to attend 3 meetings 

    • Positive Impact supported our community of global event professionals through educational resources on identifying the optimal way to enable human engagement and avoid circumstances where an in person event with carbon impact may take place because ‘that is the way it has always been done’. 

    • Positive Impact engaged the global event professionals on how to use extensive stakeholder engagement prior to the event using Unicef UK human and child rights guidelines. This means the intention and medium of the event could be explored and unnecessary carbon impact from events  avoided.  

    • Positive Impact powered The Pavilion for People which achieved over 14,000 visits from people from over 60 countries during COP29. This is an example of an innovation that could support a just transition

    • Positive Impact supported the creation of EventSustainability MVP which provides credible support for event professionals to be sustainable 

    See a detailed response to Race to Zero reporting requirements.

    Proposed activities departing from business as usual over the next 12 months (Our Actions):

    1. Focus on supporting the use of technology to innovate on solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the global event sector and ensure a just transition so all voices are heard and participating in global events

    2. Communicate the carbon footprint during any face to face business activities so the carbon impact is known by all stakeholders with the intention to provide a new perspective and inspire innovation. Communicate honestly and with integrity so the Positive Impact community are empowered to recognise greenwash

    3. Build capacity to support the transition to a sustainable event sector with a foundation of ISO 20121:2024 

    4. Participate in SME, Scope 3 and service supply chain initiatives

    Governance arrangement around these activities:

    Strategic lead is Positive Impact CEO Fiona Pelham and Actions and Measurement lead is Charlie Banks.

    Positive Impact's next plan will be released in December 2025 following an impact review for Positive Impact annual Acceleration Action Report. 

Actions you could take today instead of reading this report

If you would  like to support the creation of a sustainable event sector and build the future of how human engagement happens here are 3 actions you could take today:

If you would like to provide feedback or suggestions to the Positive Impact team please email info@positive-impact-events.com