Originally published by The Drum, July 16, 2025
Author:
Tom Paston-Cooper, Sustainability Manager, Inizio Engage XD
Sustainability in the experiential sector remains something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, organizations are increasingly placing it front and center, making it a key priority in RFPs and deeming it a core consideration in briefs. At first glance, this is exciting and progressive, yet beneath the surface, there’s still major uncertainty about what meaningful sustainability actually looks like.
Brands want their experiences to be as sustainable as possible, but the reality is sustainability often means different things across different parts of the same organization. An organization’s central sustainability strategy often struggles to filter down through specific service lines and it can turn into a tick-box, rather than an embodied, strategic requirement. When experiential teams push agencies to deliver sustainable solutions, it’s not always clear exactly how they want that to play out in practice, leading to confusion and misalignment.
Another big caveat is cost. Sustainability has garnered the reputation of being a premium add-on. Even as everyday consumers, we’ve been conditioned to believe that sustainable alternatives come at a premium. A study from 2023 found that sustainable products are between 75-85% more expensive than conventional ones. These same premiums often translate into the B2B world, where difficult choices have to be made, especially in an environment where reducing margins is the norm.
The automatic assumption that driving positive change always comes with high costs is a dangerous and counterproductive narrative. It’s time to shift that narrative. Constraints, after all, often drive the most creative solutions.
ROI will always be the holy grail of any marketing effort. For experiential, that can be anything from footfall, dwell time, lead gen, etc… you get the idea. But it’s also about what lingers after. It’s this line of thinking that presents sustainability as a powerful differentiator in your arsenal, not just a ‘nice to have.’
One of the more undervalued aspects of sustainable event design is its ability to reduce risk. Regulations continue to become stricter and harder to follow, meaning organizations that fail to take sustainability seriously are leaving themselves exposed to legal, reputational, financial, and operational risk. Those ahead of the game, however, have proven they are, in fact, protecting their future. The sustainable pioneers are reducing the risk of bad press, stakeholder criticism, and scary compliance issues. Put simply, sustainable thinking is risk management.
ROI has never needed to come at the expense of sustainability. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Sustainability has the very real potential to drive ROI, just not in the immediate, obvious way we’re used to.
Events, by nature, are big and bold. They’re a chance to show and tell what your brand really stands for. If you can find a way to engage audiences meaningfully and demonstrate environmental stewardship without shouting from the rooftops, you’ve successfully showcased transparency and credibility. Together, this equates to very real brand equity.
The same goes for internal stakeholders. Talent attraction and retention are becoming increasingly linked to how companies behave on issues like climate. Sustainable event strategies, and those that strive to involve and educate employees, send strong internal signals that a business is doing its bit and actively driving positive change.
Sustainability and innovation in the events world are rarely paired together. But when you strip things back and rethink materials, logistics, and travel etc, project teams are pushed to be more resourceful and work more closely with suppliers. Some of the most creative event formats in recent years have come from trying to do more with less, and that way of thinking naturally aligns with sustainable design principles.
Where it gets really exciting? These innovations tend to stick. Once proven, they’re not just sustainable, they’re also scalable.
One of the persistent barriers to linking sustainability with ROI is the lack of ways to quantify it. While we have clear frameworks for financial return, sustainability metrics can feel inconsistent in comparison. The long-term value is harder to define and often results in the loss of opportunities.
But the world is changing, and new systems are being implemented. Many businesses are now approaching sustainability with the same focus and urgency as they do their finances. Platforms are increasingly able to quantify environmental impact alongside traditional KPIs, demonstrating ROI in more tangible fashion. And the smarter we get at integrating these metrics and the more we actively report on sustainability performance, the better the business case becomes. We’re already able to analyze metrics like carbon saved per attendee or cost savings from modular logistics, to paint an accurate picture of sustainability versus cost.
