Event planners can download and use the Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit for productions of any size or sort, from half-day sales meetings to week-long conventions.

Sporting events might not seem like a great place to learn how to reduce climate impacts. But the best ideas of innovators in sports are applicable to many other kinds of events, even those where fans don't chant and wave signs.

Some of the best ideas for sustainable events are now summarized in a "toolkit" available for any organization to download and use in planning a green event, such as a meeting or conference.

The project is called the Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit. It's a collaboration between the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology in Switzerland and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games. AISTS and VANOC rolled out the toolkit at the World Conference on Sport and the Environment this week.

The Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit is a how-to guide for event organizers. Each chapter outlines one phase of the process. Organizers can adapt the toolkit and check off action items as they are completed.

Organizer's guide and checklist

Organizers can use the toolkit as a checklist. There is space to enter the lead person for each objective, and to check off action items as they are completed.

Additional resources are available on the project's wiki, and linked within the toolkit's main Adobe Acrobat document. The toolkit also encompasses the best practices identified by ISO, the Global Reporting Initiative, the International Olympic Committee, British Standards and the United Nations Environment Program. Applicable standards (such as ISO or GRI) for each phase are referenced by title.

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Eight steps to a green gathering

The process put forward in the toolkit is broken down into eight chapters. Event organizers can tailor those eight phases to suit the event.

In the chapter on venues, for example, there are objectives related to site selection and construction. Unless you're building a new LEED-certified arena for your next sales conference, this objective probably doesn't apply to you. But the majority of that chapter is valid advice for any meeting. It includes choosing centrally located facilities to reduce travel times and distances for attendees, and selecting energy-efficient venues with daylighting and natural ventilation.

There are pointers for energy management during the event, reducing waste, being water efficient, using public transit options, and serving healthy food.

The toolkit also includes objectives for sustainable procurement, managing noise, hiring locally, seeking sustainable sponsors, and respecting anti-smoking regulations.

Marketing a sustainable event

The toolkit devotes a chapter to marketing and communications. The idea isn't to just boast about your event's greenness, but rather to promote sustainability at the same time. There are ideas for integrating the marketing of sponsors and suppliers.

It's important to be environmentally conscious even in these communications -- reducing paper use by using e-mail, for example. Word of mouth is virtually pollution-free and you can get it from your employees, attendees, volunteers and local government.

And, of course, honesty is the best policy. If people wave signs and chant at your event, let them be inside cheering your company, not outside on the street decrying you for greenwashing.

Online resources:

"AISTS Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit and Wiki"