BS 8901, one of a wide range of sustainability and environmental solutions from BSI, was published in 2007 following discussions with London 2012 and in response to demand from the events industry.
To claim compliance with an organisation must define and implement its sustainability policy, monitor and evaluate the event against key performance indicators and eventually review the event, feeding conclusions back into the policy to positively affect future events.
"It's fantastic to see BS 8901 being implemented across high-profile events such as COP15," said Mike Low, director, Standards, BSI. "A large part of the standard is about addressing the environmental impact of an event so in this respect, it is highly appropriate that a conference on climate change is compliant.
"BSI continues to develop a wide programme of standards-based solutions, assisting organizations of all size and type to implement the strategy and processes necessary to help address climate change."
Work has now started on an international standard for event management. The proposal for the development of ISO 20121 was jointly submitted by BSI and ABNT, the Brazilian national standards body, as members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The first meeting of the international committee responsible for the development of the standard, to be hosted in London by BSI, will be addressed by Jan-Christoph Napierski, head of sustainability for COP15, and David Stubbs, head of sustainability for LOCOG 2012.
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