AI has dominated headlines in business this year, but coming in at a close second is sustainability. The greater corporate world faces a fork in the road. After setting aggressive net-zero goals, companies are now scaling back or eliminating their pledges and investments altogether.

In events, tough conversations are taking place, too. In the Event Agency Business Outlook for 2024, which will be released at Agency Forum this Nov. 13 in New York City, agency leaders report that on average 30 percent of client RFPs ask for sustainable solutions. Agencies dedicate people hours to practice and ideate around sustainability, even if no one is ultimately willing to pay for it. 

But the biggest climate-related pain point, travel, appears to be evolving in our industry's favor. Travel related to conferences is up this year, with Deloitte research finding that six in 10 business travelers expect to go to a live event this year, “significantly ahead of all other trip types.” In a panel on decarbonizing business travel at the Fast Company Innovation Festival last month, Casper Overbeek, chief product officer at citizenM Hotels, said business travelers this year are booking longer stays to add more value to the trips they do take.

Fuel for thought for all you leaders, experience builders, and changemakers out there.

–Rachel Boucher, Head of Content, Event Marketer
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