Carbon Footprint Evaluation of the Business Event Sector in Japan

The business event sector expects large economic impact as MICE (Meeting (M), Incentive Travel (I), Convention (C), and Exhibition and Event (E)). Some guidelines for MICE sustainability include the requirement for carbon management (carbon neutral, measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon offset, etc.) as a positive contribution to mitigating climate change. According to the environmental guidelines for events updated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 2019, goods should be procured after considering the environmental load items and life cycle stages from the life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. In this study, we evaluated the business events sector, not only transportation but also accommodation of participants from overseas, as well as food and beverages, souvenirs and shopping, and entertainment and tourism expenses. These items were not included in the previous existing case studies. We evaluated the carbon footprint (CFP), calculated from consumption information using input-output analysis. In this study, the total CFP was 804.8 t-CO2eq (M, I, C-ICCA (Convention based on an international conference standard from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)), and E) and transportation (Transp, 56.0%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 13.2%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.0%), souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 10.1%), and food and beverages (FB, 7.9%). In the case of M, I, C-JNTO (Convention based on an international conference standard from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)) and E, the total CFP was 1714.4 t-CO2eq and transportation (Transp, 54.3%) contributed the most, followed by planning and preparation (Plan, 14.3%) and accommodation (Acc, 12.9%), food and beverages (FB, 9.2%), and souvenirs, shopping, entertainment and sightseeing (SE, 8.2%). From this result, the CFP of this sector was found to be due to transportation, planning and preparation, accommodation, food and beverages, and souvenirs. Sustainability guidelines recommend that organizers procure products that contribute to lower CFP, and it is considered good practice to provide participants with such product and service choices. The providers themselves also need action to offer low CFP products. Assessing changes in consumption items in future studies may help to calculate environmental impacts and sustainability.