The BestCities Global Alliance is taking bold steps to redefine sustainability in the events industry. As a signatory of the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge, the alliance is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. By integrating innovative strategies and measurable goals, their Global Forum is setting new standards for sustainable event management.Setting Our Commitment: The Path to Net Zero
The BestCities Global Alliance is actively shaping a sustainable future for the events industry through its participation in the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge. As a signatory, the alliance has formally committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
We are using our annual Global Forum as a practical and influential platform to set new standards for sustainable event management, integrating innovative strategies and measurable goals to drive meaningful change. This report details our latest progress on this critical journey, showcasing transparent data and key learnings from our most recent gathering.
Emissions Inventory Global Forum Melbourne 2024
The Emissions Inventory was as follows:
Event Space Emissions
Total Emissions: 71.47 tCO₂e
Venue Areas:
– Level 2 Foyer, MCEC: 18.02 tCO₂e (19.3%)
– Boundary Line: 14.70 tCO₂e (15.8%)
– Horizon Room: 12.56 tCO₂e (13.5%)
– Aerial: 11.23 tCO₂e (12.1%)
– Others: 15.96 tCO₂e (17.9%)
Attendee Travel & Stay Emissions
Total Emissions: 53.76 tCO₂e
– Air (Long Haul): 44.64 tCO₂e (83.0%)
– Hotel Stay: 6.35 tCO₂e (11.8%)
Meal Emissions:
Total Emissions: 1.71 tCO₂e
– Mixed Buffet: 1.44 tCO₂e (84.6% of meal emissions)
Waste Management:
– Waste Generated: 433kg
– Waste Emissions: 0.5% of total event emissions.
Building on Our Benchmark: The 2025 Global Forum in Dublin
The 2025 Global Forum in Dublin represents our first opportunity to implement targeted strategies based on the Melbourne benchmark, including optimizing the event duration and selecting a location with different logistical advantages. Building on the foundation established at the 2024 Global Forum, the Dublin event marks our first annual review and a direct implementation of key learnings. This iterative process of measurement, analysis, and improvement is central to our strategy.
The key sustainability metrics for the Dublin event are as follows:
• Event: BestCities Global Forum 2025
• Location: Dublin
• Duration: 3 Days
• Attendees: 59
• Total CO2 Emissions: 74 tn
• Total Trees Planted: 450
This overview provides a high-level snapshot of the event’s environmental footprint. The following section offers a detailed emissions inventory to ensure full transparency.
Dublin 2025: A Transparent Emissions Inventory
A detailed emissions inventory is essential for maintaining transparency with our partners and for strategically identifying the most impactful areas for future reduction efforts. This section provides a comprehensive breakdown of the total carbon footprint from the Dublin Global Forum, categorized by the primary sources of emissions.
Travel and accommodation consistently represent a significant portion of an international event’s carbon footprint. The primary sources within this category were:
• Air (Long Haul): 75.4%
• Air (Medium Haul): 9.6%
• Air (Short Haul): 7.2%
• Hotel: 6.6%
• Other: 1.2%
Food and beverage choices have a direct impact on an event’s emissions. For the Dublin forum, the breakdown was as follows:
• Mixed Buffet: 81.2%
• Beer: 6.3%
• Tea / Coffee: 5.8%
• Wine: 3.0%
• Soft Drinks: 2.7%
• Other: 1.1%
The energy consumption of venues and the management of waste are key operational factors in our emissions calculation.
• Wicklow Hall CCD: 28.4%
• Croke Park: 12.5%
• Exam Hall TCD: 12.3%
• Liffey Corner EPIC: 2.5%
• Higgins Suite: 2.0%
• Robinson Suite: 2.0%
• Waste: 40.3%
The lifecycle of promotional materials contributes to the overall footprint.
• Clothing: 89.6%
• Lanyards: 10.4%
While promotional items were a minor contributor to our overall footprint, this category represents a change from our 2024 benchmark event, where no promotional items were produced. We will evaluate the impact and necessity of such items for future forums.
Understanding this detailed inventory allows us to formulate a robust and credible compensation strategy to address these unavoidable emissions.
Our Compensation and Mitigation Strategy
Our sustainability strategy follows a dual approach: we compensate for unavoidable emissions from our events while actively developing strategies to reduce them in the future. For the Dublin Global Forum, we have compensated for a total of 73.84 tonnes of CO2. This is achieved through direct investment in high-impact United Nations Certified Emissions Reduction (CER) programs, ensuring our contributions are verified and effective.
The specific project we supported is a renewable energy initiative in China, which features 48 wind turbines that produce 49.9 megawatts of clean energy. This investment directly displaces fossil fuel-based energy production, contributing to global decarbonization efforts.
In addition to carbon credits, we embrace reforestation as a complementary, long-term climate solution. Through our partnership with Trees4Travel, we plant trees to help rewild our planet. This approach combines immediate, certified carbon offsetting with a tangible investment in future ecological health, ensuring we take comprehensive action on both immediate and long-term climate goals. To quantify the impact of these evolving strategies, the following section provides a direct comparison between our Dublin 2025 event and our Melbourne 2024 benchmark.
Measuring Our Progress: Dublin vs. Melbourne
A core principle of our commitment is the transparent, year-over-year analysis of our performance. By comparing the 2025 Dublin event to the 2024 Melbourne benchmark, we can gain critical insights into the effectiveness of our sustainability strategies and identify areas for continued improvement.
| Metric | Melbourne 2024 | Dublin 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | 4 Days | 3 Days |
| Total Attendees | 55 | 59 |
| Total CO2 Emissions (tn) | 149 tn | 74 tn |
| CO2 Emissions per Attendee (tn) | 2.71 tn | 1.25 tn |
| Total Cost for Compensation | US$2,265.00 | US$1,125.00 |
| Compensation Cost per Attendee | US$41.18 | US$19.06 |
The dramatic 53% reduction in per-attendee emissions is a direct result of strategic modifications implemented following our Melbourne benchmark. Key contributing factors include reducing the event duration from four days to three and selecting a location that minimized long-haul travel for a significant portion of attendees. These results validate our iterative approach and prove that targeted operational changes can yield substantial environmental benefits.
Our Unwavering Commitment to the Future
The 53% reduction in per-attendee emissions between our Melbourne and Dublin forums is not just a statistic; it is a clear validation of our data-driven sustainability strategy. This achievement reinforces our unwavering commitment to the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge and sets a new, more ambitious benchmark for our future events. We will continue to innovate, report with transparency, and collaborate across the industry to achieve our goal of net zero by 2050.
BestCities Global Alliance is a proud support of the Net Zero Carbon Pledge for the Events Industry.
The BestCities Global Alliance action plan breakdown and annual reporting grid can be found here.
