LÉVÉNEMENT, the leading professional association for the French events industry, has just published a groundbreaking practical guide: "Carbon vs. Events". Benchmarks, methodology, tools… We break down what matters most — and what it means for Climeet.
The Events Industry Can No Longer Dodge the Carbon Question
Organising a conference, a trade show, an incentive trip or a product launch: all of it comes at a cost. Not just a financial one. Every event generates greenhouse gas emissions — from attendee travel, suppliers, décor, catering, and on-site energy consumption.
For a long time, the events industry operated without really measuring this impact. Not out of bad faith, but simply because the right tools didn't exist. A standard carbon footprint assessment, designed for a factory or a head office, doesn't translate directly to a one-off event with 800 guests and three different suppliers.
That's exactly the gap that LÉVÉNEMENT set out to fill, bringing together a multidisciplinary working group — event agencies, ESG consultants and carbon experts — to produce this practical guide. And at the heart of the work: a rigorous benchmark of the carbon footprint calculation tools available on the events market.
The Carbon "Crash Test" for Market Solutions
The approach is ambitious and methodical. Here's how it worked:
- Solution identification: member agencies flagged the tools they use or are familiar with.
- Candidate selection: a questionnaire was sent to vendors to confirm that events represent a genuine area of activity for them — not just a secondary market.
- Independent audit: a freelance carbon expert specialising in events and sustainability tested each solution against an identical practical case study. Same fictional event, same input data, for truly comparable results.
- Audit report: each audited solution received a detailed report. The guide publishes a summary of the findings.
What makes this work credible is precisely this effort at standardisation. Comparing carbon tools without a shared case study is like comparing apples and oranges. Here, everyone plays on the same field.
What the Audit Reveals: Not All Tools Are Created Equal
Unsurprisingly, the benchmark highlights significant gaps between the solutions tested. Differences that touch on:
- The completeness of emission categories covered: some tools overlook entire categories (logistics, waste, emissions from indirect suppliers…)
- The quality of emission factors used: are they up to date? Properly sourced? Relevant to the French context?
- Usability and support: a solution can be technically solid yet unusable without extensive training
- Traceability and transparency: can you understand where the numbers come from? Can you defend them in front of a client?
The report's message is clear: having a carbon tool is good. Choosing the right one is better.
Climeet in the Benchmark: A Score That Speaks for Itself
And this is where things get particularly interesting for us.
Climeet is among the solutions audited — and achieves one of the highest scores in the entire benchmark.
That's no coincidence. Climeet was designed from the ground up for and with events professionals. Here's what concretely sets it apart from the other solutions on the market.
Reliable, recognised measurement. Climeet is the only tool on the market compliant with both the Bilan Carbone® methodology and the GHG Protocol — the two international frameworks that set the standard for carbon accounting. In practice, this means the figures it produces are defensible, auditable and widely recognised — which matters enormously when presenting them to a client or including them in an ESG report.
Immediate ease of use, no carbon expertise required. The interface was designed for events teams, not environmental engineers. The result: the tool is intuitive, guided and accessible to everyone — a project manager can use it from day one without any heavy training.
Automated data collection. No more tedious manual data entry. Climeet enables rapid data collection from suppliers and attendees, significantly cutting the time spent consolidating information and reducing input errors.
Built-in reduction recommendations. Climeet doesn't stop at the diagnosis. The tool automatically generates eco-design recommendations tailored to each event — a genuine lever for moving from measurement to concrete action.
Scenario comparison for better decision-making. Change the venue, reduce flights, choose a local caterer: Climeet lets you model different scenarios and visualise the carbon impact of each choice before committing to it. A valuable decision-making tool right from the planning phase.
Continuous improvement and decarbonisation tracking. Ongoing improvement is built into the core of the tool: Climeet lets you track how an event's carbon footprint evolves over time, measure the progress made and identify where further efforts are needed.
Skills development, included. Climeet comes with an integrated e-learning module and offers personalised coaching. Teams aren't left to figure it out alone: they're supported in understanding carbon concepts, interpreting results and advancing their decarbonisation journey.
For agencies and organisers looking for a serious solution without drowning in technical complexity, this benchmark confirms exactly that: Climeet is among the small group of tools genuinely worth recommending to the industry.
Why This Matters Right Now
The pressure on responsible event management no longer comes solely from organisers' personal convictions. It's coming from multiple directions at once:
- Clients and commissioners (companies, institutions) are increasingly embedding CSR criteria into their tenders. Having a carbon footprint for your event is becoming a commercial differentiator.
- Regulation is evolving. Non-financial reporting requirements are gradually extending to mid-sized and smaller companies. Event agencies are not immune from future obligations — better to get ahead of them now.
- Attendees themselves are paying closer attention to the consistency between their employers' CSR commitments and the concrete practices at the events they attend.
In this context, having a reliable carbon tool is no longer a "nice to have" reserved for the most forward-thinking agencies. It's fast becoming a professional standard.
In Summary
The LÉVÉNEMENT guide finally delivers what the industry has been waiting for: an objective, independent and sector-specific assessment of the carbon footprint tools available. For agencies and organisers still hesitating to take the plunge, this benchmark is an invaluable compass.
And for those looking for a concrete tool — validated by experts, built for the realities of the events world: Climeet's score in this benchmark says it all.
Measuring your carbon footprint is the first step. The good news is that there's now a tool truly up to the task.
Want to try Climeet or find out more about our approach? [Get in touch / Discover our solution →]