Sustainable and Inclusive Events
ETH members organise more than 3000 events every year. The new guides for "Sustainable and Inclusive Events" support organisers of ETH events in making a contribution to the climate goals of ETH Zurich and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Download: Guides for "Sustainable and Inclusive Events"
In the current "1st pilot phase of Sustainable and Inclusive Events", 3 guides are available for download (barrier-free):
Download1. Guide (PDF, 959 KB) for smaller internal events such as Bachelor's/Master's celebrations and networking events with aperitifs.
Download2. Guide (PDF, 1 MB) for larger, internal conferences, congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions at ETH locations.
Download3. Guide (PDF, 1.1 MB) for conferences, congresses, trade fairs and exhibitions outside ETH.
Sustainability of events at ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich pursues sustainability in its strategic guidelines. The 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals specify environmental, social and economic sustainability.
More than 3000 events take place at ETH Zurich every year, which have a significant impact on the university's carbon footprint. In particular, events with international participants have a high resource consumption due to travel and accommodation, which could be reduced by using hybrid forms, for example. For all events, careful planning can lead to significant savings, especially in catering, which is particularly important for smaller events.
Social issues such as diversity and inclusion are also key to the sustainability of an event. This includes issues such as the gender balance of keynote speakers, the compatibility of events with family life, and the accessibility of venues and programme content.
There is a need for support in planning and implementing sustainable and inclusive events
More and more people at ETH want to organise their events in a sustainable way. However, existing guidelines do not give guidance on what is "good practice" or even what goes beyond it.
Therefore, various ETH units (including ETH Sustainability, Campus Services, ETH Diversity, SGU, Community & Outreach and the Student Sustainability Committee) have been involved in formulating specific measures to support event organisers in planning and implementing sustainable events in line with the 2030 Agenda.
A sustainable and inclusive event is therefore an event that is organised in an environmentally and socially responsible manner within an economically justifiable framework.
Development of an ETH standard for sustainable and inclusive events
The development of the ETH standard is going through three pilot phases.
In the first, current pilot phase, 3 guides are being developed (2 guides for small and large ETH-internal events and 1 guide for ETH-external events). These 3 guides will now be continuously improved with the help of case studies. Suggestions for improvement can be submitted via the feedback form. The aim is to create a planning and implementation framework for sustainable events for all event organisers.
This phase started in October 2023 will last until around May/June 2024.
The aim is to gradually increase the visibility of the guides and sustainability measures at various interfaces in the event planning process. This means, for example, that the measures will be recommended in the event approval process.
In addition, it should be possible to obtain the ETH-internal sustainability labels "Sustainable Event Silver" and "Sustainable Event Gold" if a certain number of measures from the guides are implemented. In addition to the label, further communication materials will be made available. Further incentives are being discussed.
A tool is being developed to reduce the time and effort required for organisers to complete the checklist. It will also allow for (partially) automated labelling and simplified monitoring.
Such a tool can be used when an event is being planned with the support of the event team. However, it will also be available to anyone organising an event on their own.
In view of ETH Zurich's ambitious sustainability and climate goals, the formulated measures are to be integrated as an ETH standard into the planning and organisation process of events at various interfaces (e.g. permits, event checklists, etc.).
Frequently asked questions
Further information is available in the DownloadFAQ (PDF, 337 KB).
Help us improve the guides!
The first versions of the guides for sustainable and inclusive events are online. They are now being tested by members of the ETH community. Whether you are planning a networking event, a conference or a large event outside ETH: use the guides and feel free to give us feedback. This will help us to improve the guides. Thank you very much!
You can submit your feedback through . Thank you very much.
Further information
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