ISO 20121 ( Event Sustainability Management System)

ISO 20121 is a management system stanard that has been designed to help organisations in the events industry improve the sustainability of their event related activities, products and services.  ISO 20121 is based on the earlier British Standard called ‘BS 8901 Specification for a Sustainability Management System for Events' which was first developed in 2007. Due to the high level interest in BS 8901, it was decided to create an international version of the standard to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics. In simple terms, ISO 20121 describes the building blocks of a management system that will help any event related organisation to: Continue to be financially successful, Become more socially responsible Reduce its environmental footprint 

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

Six important points to understand about the ISO 20121 Standard

1.     ISO 20121 is a "specification"The standard specifies the management system elements that an organisation has to have in place. All the elements described in the standard must be in place prior to the organisation being able to claim compliance with the standard.   2.     ISO 20121 is not a checklist The standard is not a checklist but is a more complex document that describes the elements of a management system that an organisation has to have in place. 3. ISO 20121 is difficult to understand Unfortunately, international standards such as ISO 20121 are written in a way that is often unintelligible to many people. Consequently, you may need help in interpreting the requirements. Our ISO 20121 Team has developed a Guide to ISO 20121 that provides a plain and simple step by step roadmap on how to meet the requirements of the standard. 4.ISO 20121 is about the management systemThe standard applies to the management system used by organisations in delivering their event related activities, products and services. It is the management system operated by the organisation that is compliant with ISO20121, not the event.  (Note: a management system is the set of interrelated or interacting elements that are used to establish policies and objectives, and the processes to achieve those objectives.) 5. ISO 20121 may require the adoption of new practices All organisations have a management system of some kind otherwise they would not be in business, it just might not be written down or thought of in the terms used within the standard. In our experience, most organisations are already doing up to 70% of what the standard requires. Hence achieving ISO 20121 may not require any radical change but is likely to require the adoption of new practices. 6. ISO 20121 does not set performance requirements The standard does not specify which sustainability issues to manage or what performance levels to achieve. What the standard requires is that an organisation has in place a transparent process through which it systematically evaluates the issues relevant to its operations and sets its own objectives and targets for improvement.

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