As events adapt to changing environmental and supply chain conditions, sustainability remains central to business continuity and risk management.
In this interview, ISLA founder and CEO Anna Abdelnoorexplains why sustainability is a critcial part of event strategy, what has shifted in the past year, and how event organizers can move beyond surface-level actions towards more resilient, future-focused event programs.
Key takeaways
- Sustainability is core risk management: In a landscape of extreme weather, price volatility and supply chain disruption, sustainability is fundamentally about business continuity, resilience and protecting event portfolios — not just carbon reporting or brand positioning.
- Climate disruption is a permanent operating condition: While some geopolitical and economic pressures may ease or fluctuate, climate impacts are on an upward trend. For any organization planning for growth or long-term stability, sustainability now directly affects balance sheets and strategic decisions.
- There’s a critical gap between leadership intent and planner reality: Many leaders acknowledge sustainability as a risk, but planners are still expected to “make it happen” without clear priorities, frameworks, tools, or time, creating an execution gap that stalls real progress.
- Effective sustainability is context-specific and data-led: There is no universal checklist for a “sustainable event.” The most impactful programs identify where their particular events generate the biggest impacts — often in travel, food and energy — and focus deliberately on those levers.
- Measurement is the starting point for meaningful change: Without data, teams default to visible but often low-impact actions. Measuring emissions and impacts enables smarter trade-offs, better stakeholder conversations, and a shift from blanket rules to targeted improvements.
Sustainability is one of the core event fundamentals reflected in Cvent’s 2026 Event Trends Report. This expert interview series explores why these fundamentals still matter, how they’re showing up in 2026, and what successful teams are doing to apply them more intentionally.
Why does sustainability remain fundamental to event strategy going into 2026?
“Sustainability isn’t just about environmental impact; it’s a risk management strategy.”
Sustainability remains fundamental because the conditions under which events operate have changed significantly. Extreme weather, price volatility, and supply chain disruption are no longer edge cases; they occur regularly and directly affect how events are planned and delivered.
As lead times shorten and costs rise, sustainability becomes less about reporting carbon figures and more about how organizations adapt their programs to remain viable. At its core, sustainability is about business continuity: managing risk, protecting supply chains, and building resilience into event portfolios.
While environmental impact is important, sustainability should be understood as a strategic discipline. Business leaders manage risk every day, whether financial, operational, or reputational, and sustainability belongs firmly within that conversation. In 2026, it must be treated not as a side initiative, but as a core component of an effective event strategy.
What has changed in the past year that makes sustainability especially critical for 2026?
“Climate disruption isn’t cyclical, it’s on an upward trend.”
The past year has reinforced a key reality: while geopolitical and economic pressures may fluctuate, climate disruption is not going away. Environmental impacts are increasing, not stabilizing, and that has long-term implications for the events industry.
While uncertainty may feel more familiar or predictable than it did in recent years, climate-related disruption continues to intensify. For event businesses focused on growth, stability, or long-term planning, this has direct consequences for balance sheets, whether or not those impacts are formally measured.
For individual planners, sustainability may not feel dramatically different day-to-day in 2026. But for those managing portfolios, scaling businesses or planning for the long term, sustainability is increasingly central to resilience and continuity. It is not a passing focus; it is a permanent condition of operating in today’s event landscape.
Where do people most often misunderstand or overlook sustainability?
“There’s a gap between leadership understanding sustainability as a risk and planners being able to act on it.”
One of the biggest blind spots is the disconnect between leadership perception and operational reality. Sustainability is often framed as an environmental or brand issue, rather than a business-critical risk. As a result, it is not always prioritized clearly or consistently from the top down.
Planners, meanwhile, are under increasing pressure. They are expected to deliver sustainability alongside long lists of competing priorities, often without the tools, training, or time required to do so effectively. Unlike health and safety, sustainability lacks a universally accepted risk framework to help teams identify and prioritize the most impactful actions.
This creates an execution gap: leadership acknowledges sustainability matters, planners know action is needed, but neither has clear guidance on what to do first. Closing that gap requires leaders to take ownership by setting priorities, providing resources, and embedding sustainability into everyday decision-making.
What does ‘good’ sustainability look like in practice for events in 2026?
“There is no one-size-fits-all definition of a sustainable event.”
Good sustainability starts with understanding your specific events and where their biggest impacts and opportunities lie. Whether you’re a planner, an agency leader or managing a global portfolio, sustainability needs to be tailored to your context, not copied from a generic checklist.
Some organizations are embedding sustainability by designing lighter, more modular event infrastructure. Others are using long-term measurement to identify where meaningful change can be made, whether that’s in travel, production, or energy use. The common thread is not the tactic, but the intent: using data and insight to guide smarter decisions.
Rather than focusing on visible gestures alone, good practice means identifying the levers that matter most for your events and pulling those deliberately. Sustainability is not about doing everything; it’s about doing the right things, consistently and strategically.
What are the first steps to strengthening sustainability in 2026 event programs?
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
The most important step is measurement. Without data, sustainability efforts become guesswork.
Measuring events isn’t just about reporting; it’s about generating insights that help teams understand where their biggest impacts sit and where change will be most effective.
Many organizers focus on visible actions such as reducing plastic or waste. While these steps matter, they often deliver far less impact than less visible decisions, particularly around food and travel. Without measurement, teams risk prioritizing effort over effectiveness.
Once data is in place, planners can move beyond blanket rules and focus on strategic improvements. Measurement enables smarter conversations with stakeholders, clearer priorities for teams, and meaningful progress over time.
What should people start or stop doing to improve event sustainability?
“Stop doing what looks good and start doing what actually works.”
One of the most common mistakes is focusing on visible but low-impact actions. Swapping plastic for compostable materials may feel sustainable, but often delivers little environmental benefit and can even create new waste challenges if the right infrastructure isn’t in place.
By contrast, decisions around food, travel, and energy typically have far greater impact, even if they feel less comfortable. Offering plant-based catering, for example, can significantly reduce emissions, yet it is often avoided because it is perceived as more contentious.
The shift required is simple but challenging: stop prioritizing optics, and start prioritizing impact.
Sustainability progress depends on evidence-led decisions, not assumptions. When organizers focus on what genuinely works, meaningful change follows.
Anna Abdelnoor is building the infrastructure for a credible, decarbonized events industry. Through isla and TRACE, she’s turning sustainability from a marketing claim into measurable progress by replacing confusion with clarity, and good intentions with data that actually changes decisions.
Explore more insights in Cvent’s 2026 Event Trends Report.
