ISO 20121

ISO 20121 is a management system standard that has been designed to help organizations in the events industry improve the sustainability of their event related activities, products and services.

In simple terms, ISO 20121 describes the building blocks of a management system that will help any event related organization to:

• Continue to be financially successful
• Become more socially responsible
• Reduce its environmental footprint

ISO 20121 applies to all types and sizes of organization involved in the events industry from caterers, lighting and sound engineers, security companies, stage builders and venues to independent event organizers and corporate and public sector event teams.Organizations that successfully implement the standard will be able to seek independent recognition of their achievement through a process called Certification.

As the standard requires social and environmental issues to be addressed, this can help to:

• Boost employee motivation, attract best talent and improve retention
• Enhance reputation and strengthen relationships with key clients, suppliers, partners and other external stakeholders who hold similar values
• Achieve costs savings with respect to material consumption, waste and energy
• Reduce carbon emissions over the entire event supply chain
• Strengthen the position of the organization within the community

Benefits of being certified to ISO 20121 ?

As ISO 20121 is simply a business management framework, adopting it can bring a number of internal benefits to an organization including:

• Clarity of purpose and strategy resulting in a more energized and aligned workforce
• More integrated management and joined up thinking resulting in improved efficiencies and stronger teamwork
• Simpler, clearer and more effective systems and processes
• it will enable an organization to differentiate itself in the marketplace and hence improve their chance of winning new business.
• Major public sector and private sector clients are referencing ISO 20121 in their tender documents as they work to ensure that their own sustainability policies are being implemented.

In time, demonstrating compliance to ISO 20121 is likely to become a minimum requirement for anyone wishing to operate in the events industry as event clients, sponsors, local authorities and other key stakeholders choose to work with organizations that have implemented the standard.