What can I do to make an educational event more sustainable?
Healthcare conferences play an important role in continuing professional development, bringing people together to share knowledge, collaborate and inspire innovation. However, conferences also have environmental impacts through travel, accommodation, catering, exhibition materials and waste.
A sustainable conference is one that maximises educational value while minimising harm to people and planet. This means carefully considering whether travel is necessary, offering high-quality virtual or hybrid attendance, choosing venues that are easy to reach by public transport, reducing waste, providing healthy low-carbon catering, encouraging reusable materials, and measuring and reporting the event's environmental impact.
Sustainability should not stop with the venue itself. Conferences provide a unique opportunity to educate thousands of healthcare professionals about sustainable practice through keynote sessions, workshops and visible examples of good environmental stewardship. By embedding sustainability into both the content of the meeting and the way it is delivered, conferences can become powerful catalysts for change.
At CPDmatch we encourage conference organisers to follow recognised good practice, including the Holborn Declaration and the Pharmacy Declares Sustainable Conferencing Action Checklist, while continually seeking new ways to reduce environmental impact without compromising educational quality.
We understand that many of the recommendations represent a significant change from traditional attitudes to conference attendance but we make no apology. First, do no harm extends well beyond the bedside and must now include planet in addition to people. Conference organisers and attendees must be honest with themselves about the value of the event and attendance.
The CPDmatch Principles of Sustainable Healthcare Conferencing:
- Educational benefit should outweigh environmental cost.
- Hybrid attendance should be the default.
- Attendees and presenters should avoid unnecessary high-carbon travel.
- Venues should demonstrate commitment to sustainability, support their local communities/workforce and be accessible by public transport.
- Plant-based locally-sourced food should be the easy choice.
- Eliminate unnecessary waste and promotional materials.
- Encourage attendees to bring their own lanyards, badge holders and stationery along with reuseable drinks bottles and cups.
- Ensure the appropriate recycling waste streams are available.
- Conference communications should provide advice so attendees can minimise their impact.
- Aim to continously reduce impact if the conference is held regularly.
- Embed sustainability within the educational programme*.
- Leave delegates inspired to improve both patient and planetary health.
*We advise all conferences start with an opening plenary statement on actions which have been taken to minimise the event's planetary impact and why these steps are important.
Also see: How to Run Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Events and Conferences by the Liverpool Experience Campus.