Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
Guidance on Completing your Sustainability Assessment
This sustainability assessment looks at the potential impacts of your event from an environmental, economic and social perspective. A template
assessment form follows this guidance.
There are six steps to completing your sustainability assessment:
Step 1 - Identify all event activities
Step 2 - Identify potential impacts and their scale
Step 3 - Develop your statement of intent
Step 4 - Develop your specific targets
Step 5 - Identify any action required
Step 6 - Evaluate the impact after the event
Step 1 - Identify all event activities
Begin by making a list of all the activities you plan to undertake before, during and after your event. Consider the energy, water, equipment,
transportation and waste requirements of those activities; the people involved in delivering or participating in those activities and the economic
factors affecting, or affected by, those activities. Make sure that you include activity that will reduce the negative impacts such as staff and
volunteer training and waste management measures you plan to undertake as well as activity that will have a direct positive impact. Examples
of those impacts are provided at Step 2 below.
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
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Step 2 - Identify potential impacts and their scale
Impacts might be environmental, economic or social and they can have a negative or positive effect. Think carefully about the area around your
event and whether there are any sensitive places, such as, close neighbours, hospitals or nearby watercourses that could be affected by the
activities you have identified. Impacts can depend on the size of the event or the number of people attending and can reach much further than
the immediate location in which your event takes place.
Environmental impacts might include things like:

Energy use and CO2 emissions

Other emissions, like smoke, catering smells, vehicle emissions

Water supply and quality

Land

Waste and litter

Materials

Noise

Positive impact of raising awareness of environmental issues

Positive impact of participation in reducing environmental impact such as recycling waste or cycling to the event
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
Economic impacts might include things like:

Increased trade for local businesses, such as, shops or taxi services

Award of contract for local trades to deliver elements of the event

Increased tourism into the area as people are attracted to the event

Negative impact on local businesses if footfall is displaced by the event, such as, out of town markets
Social impacts might include things like:
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Cultural awareness, such as, celebration of local heritage

Community cohesion and social inclusion

Health and fitness

Networking and partnership working

Equal opportunities

Displacement for local people from their usual routine or from accessing public places

Anti-social behaviour

Safety and security impacts
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Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
Step 3 – Develop your ‘Statement of Intent’
This step is your opportunity to make a broad commitment to improving the sustainability of your event and to outline some of the key
measures you will take to do that. You might like to include reference to your approach to striking the right balance across the spectrum of
environmental, economic and social impacts; that you will aim to reduce the negative and maximise the positive impacts of your event and
acknowledge the need to comply with regulations where this is the case.
Step 4 – Develop your specific targets
Having made your statement of intent, the next step is to break that down into achievable and measurable objectives. Once you have done this
you can also set some performance targets against them.
It’s worth trying to measure the most significant targets to help you gauge their scale, for example the number of vehicles expected, deliveries,
food miles, energy used and amount of waste. You can then track how well your plan is doing in reducing the figures, and report your
achievements in your publicity. You may not have time to measure everything in detail, but make a start with estimated figures, and increase
detail if it’s important; and as you learn more about where and how to get more accurate information.
Some examples of objectives might include:

Reduce traffic

Reduce impact on neighbours
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment

Prevent contamination of water courses (river, sea, groundwater, etc).

Leave the site in good condition
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Reduce energy use and CO2 emissions
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Calculate the event’s carbon or ecological footprint
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Reduce transportation mileage (delivery to and from site);
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Reduce the need for waste disposal
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Reduce water to landfill
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Food Safety and avoidance of contamination.
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Prevent nuisance to neighbours
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Build community engagement; promote benefits to local people.
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Maximise the value of the event to the local economy
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Promote healthy food: safe practices in food prep promoting healthy eating

Promote local food growers and suppliers.
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Step 5 – Identify any action required
You will need to define what actions will be taken as a result of your assessment and the commitment you have made that will help to make
your event more sustainable. Your actions need to be in line with the scale of the impact. The simpler it is the better, as you’ll need to use your
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
plan to inform and train other people. It is worth having this on your committee or team meeting agenda to maintain progress and ensure
everyone on the team is fully on board with the plan.
Step 6 - Evaluate the impact after the event
Sustainability management isn’t always as well-established or understood as other aspects of event planning. However, there are opportunities
to demonstrate real value in cost savings, risk reduction and reputation, as well as being an opportunity to engage the local community.
If you have taken the step of identifying some specific objectives in your sustainability plan, you can then measure how well you have done
after the event. Report your achievements and learning back to the team by creating an evaluation report. This report will also include other
data such as your visitor feedback survey data and a template can be found on BridgendBites.com/Events for you to download and complete.
Learning from what went well, and what didn’t go so well will help in planning future events and can go a long way in convincing the relevant
authorities, funding bodies, local business and residents to support your event in future years.
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
Sustainability Assessment Form
Event Details
Name of event:
Event organiser:
Description:
Date of event:
Venue:
Assessment Details
Assessed by:
Date of assessment:
Signed:
Date of revised assessment:
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
Statement of Intent
Specific Objectives
Targets (where applicable)
Template 7: Sustainability Assessment
BridgendBites.com/Events
Action Plan
Activity and potential impact
Positive or
negative impact?
Scale of impact
(Low, Medium or High)
Precautions already in
place
Further action required, when and
by whom