Conference Matters 144

FIRST LEARNINGS

Six venues provide

a wealth of in

tant stakeholders are and what their needs are. For example, how to attract and retain the younger generations entering the labour market, or how to notify and accommodate local resi dents who may be inconvenienced by an event. Identifying these conflicting interests helps a venue deal with its environment in a transparent and responsible way. 2. Impact materiality ‘Materiality’ is used to determine the influence that an organisation’s decisions have on internal and external stakeholders. Of the companies in the benchmark, half identi fied the possible negative impact of their activi ties. However, none of them have included the company’s impact, whether positive or negative, in their management policy. One example is the use of sustainable materi als in stand construction, where collaboration between venues and suppliers can contribute to lower costs and a lower environmental impact. Positive effects are also acknowledged, such as promoting diversity and inclusion by equalising pay for internships at the RAI. 3. Financial materiality In addition to the impact on society and the environment, the effects of external factors on a venue’s financial performance are also taken into account, such as possible fluctuations in energy costs.

tainability, social responsibility and governance, rather than determining how well or badly a venue is currently performing. The baseline measurement offers very valuable insights and tips on how venues can jointly increase their positive impact. Key observations This article goes through the most important and remarkable aspects of the baseline measure ment. The main observation is that the participa ting venues are already doing well and have made real strides when it comes to sustainability and making an impact. Of course, there is still a lot of room for improvement. People have already shown progress in some areas because the subject is already well-esta blished in Dutch laws and collective labour agree ments. However, some issues that have been law in the Netherlands for a long time have not been regulated. We started with the more general business infor mation that influences a company’s sustainabi lity policy and measured the six most important aspects. 1. Stakeholder mapping An important finding is that not all venues have thoroughly investigated who their most impor PART I. GENERAL COMPANY INFORMATION AND POLICY

The baseline measurement of the VenueNL Sustainability Initiative shows that establis hing policies and objectives in sustainability, social responsibility and governance is still the main problem. As a result, current sustainability efforts remain underexposed.

By Angelique Lombarts & Elvira Wilthagen (ELAN – ESG in Hospitality)

The VenueNL Sustainability Initiative (VSI) was launched last year. Six founding venues joined the initiative of Publique, platform for live com munication, in collaboration with ELAN – ESG in Hospitality and GSES, the internationally recog nized platform for measuring sustainability per formance. Their goal, which was also supported by trade organisation CLC-Vecta, major bank ABN Amro and the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions, is to monitor and support the sus tainability efforts of Dutch meeting venues. Instead of focusing on who is the most sustai nable, the project examines collective progress, such as where advancements are being made in relation to the European Union’s ESG-CSRD benchmark. A baseline measurement divided into policy and actions was started in November 2024. Partici pants answered questions via the GSES platform on 14 sustainability aspects related to the Euro pean Union’s ESG policy. The aim is to show to what extent companies pay attention to the important themes of sus

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