How to measure emissions from Events

What counts as Events

Activity data associated with events the organisation organises or purchases — covering event energy use, event-related travel, catering (food and drink served at the event), and event waste — recorded across a range of units depending on which component is being measured. Excludes routine business travel and catering unrelated to a specific event, which are recorded under their own dedicated entries.

Events is unusual among purchased-goods and sector-specialist entries because it is genuinely multi-component: a single conference or client event can generate energy use (kWh), travel (passenger.km), catering (kg or litre of food and drink items), and waste (tonnes or Unit), all under one umbrella entry. Rather than recording a single blended 'event' figure, break the event down into its components and select the closest matching unit and sub-type for each — catering items in particular have specific food and drink sub-types (for example coffee, beer, biscuits) that should be used instead of a generic events average where itemised catering data exists.

What activity data you need

Collect the most specific physical unit available. Unit definitions are in Appendix I — Description of Units.

• kg
• kWh
• litre
• m3
• tCO2e
• tonne
• room.night
• Unit
• $ Spend
• £ Spend
• minute

Which emission scope it falls under

Events activity data typically maps to Scope 3 Category 1 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Common sub-types

• Beer: Global average
• Biscuits: Global average
• Bread: Global average
• Butter: Global average
• Cakes: Global average
• Cereals: Global average
• Coffee: Global average
• Crisps: Global average

Common questions

We hire an external agency to run our conference — how do we get component-level data?

Ask the agency for an itemised invoice or event-wrap report covering catering, energy, travel and waste separately; many event-management platforms produce this breakdown by default, so request it at the contracting stage rather than after the event.

Should catering at a one-off client event be recorded here or under Food and drink?

Use the Events entry's catering sub-types (e.g. coffee, biscuits, beer) for event-specific catering, since this keeps event impacts consolidated; use the general Food and drink entry for routine, non-event catering such as staff canteens.

How do we handle attendee travel to a multi-city roadshow event?

Record attendee and staff travel using passenger.km or spend under the Events travel component, sourced from your event-registration or travel-booking platform; if travel was booked through your normal business-travel process, check for double-counting against that entry.

What if our venue only gives us one bundled invoice with no breakdown?

Use the closest whole-event proxy unit (spend or tCO2e if provided) as an interim measure, and request an itemised invoice for future events, since a single blended figure is less accurate than component-level data.

Does venue energy use count separately from our own site energy?

Yes — energy used at a third-party venue for your event is recorded under the Events energy sub-type, not against your own owned-site electricity or gas entries, since you do not own or control the venue's energy supply.