Sustainability of the event — ERSCP 2027

International scientific conferences are an important meeting place for debate within academia. They are, however, usually associated with significant social, economic and environmental impacts — impacts linked both to the organisation of the event itself and to the travel of participants from across Europe and beyond to a single location.

The Organising Committee of ERSCP 2027 is committed to developing a dedicated sustainability strategy for this conference: Sustainability@ERSCP2027. Our goals for this strategy are:

• to define clear priorities and build a simple yet effective roadmap of sustainability practices for the event;
• to guide and engage our stakeholders — participants, staff, venue partners and contracted services — in making the conference more sustainable;
• to build on and extend the know-how on sustainability management developed by previous editions of ERSCP, so that this experience can benefit future conferences in turn.
  
  

How we are developing the strategy

We are structuring the development of Sustainability@ERSCP2027 around five stages:

1. Establishing a Sustainability Policy for the conference;
2. Identifying the potential impacts of the event;
3. Developing practices and measures to monitor and mitigate those impacts;
4. Producing practical guidelines to implement the strategy; and
5. Setting up a monitoring and reporting scheme to track our progress.
   
   

What we aim to deliver

Over the coming months, and ahead of the conference in June 2027, we intend to make available:

• Guidance documents for participants and for catering/suppliers, alongside the full Sustainability@ERSCP2027 strategy document;
• Training sessions to keep the organising committee and volunteers engaged and aligned with the strategy;
• Dialogue with suppliers and sponsors, so that they too contribute to putting the strategy into practice;
• A communication plan to share sustainability information — principles and practices — with participants before, during and after the conference (e.g. information sent ahead of the event, on-site signage and materials, and updates through our official channels).
  
  

Draft Sustainability Policy

The Organising Committee of the 23rd European Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production, ERSCP 2027, is committed to adopting and promoting sustainable practices throughout the planning, delivery and follow-up of the event.

Sustainability@ERSCP2027 will be built on three fundamental principles: inclusiveness, transparency and integrity. We aim to involve our main stakeholders — suppliers, participants, committee members, track chairs, volunteers and the local community — in relevant decisions, and to take their views into account. Clear, timely communication with stakeholders will be a priority, and we intend to put in place channels through which they can share their feedback. Our objective is to manage natural resources efficiently, ensure proper waste management, raise stakeholder awareness, support the local economy, and integrate sustainability criteria into every stage of conference planning — including the procurement of goods and services — while respecting environmental principles and social responsibility.

Through this policy, we also hope to leave a positive, lasting legacy for future ERSCP conferences, by building know-how that can support the effective implementation of sustainability principles in years to come.

This page will be updated as Sustainability@ERSCP2027 takes shape. Further details on the strategy, along with participant guidelines, will be published here in the run-up to the conference.