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Sustainability

Accelerating a sustainable future for people and planet

Accelerating and championing

Our mission

To collaborate with our colleagues and partners to develop innovative solutions that will ensure a more sustainable future for our events and the industries we serve.

Accelerate Sustainability

As a global events organiser, dmg events brings together industries and communities to drive growth, innovation and collaboration. By convening stakeholders in one location, our events create social and economic value while helping to consolidate travel. We also recognise our responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of our events. In 2021 at COP26, dmg events signed the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge alongside more than 500 industry peers. In line with this commitment, we have set an ambitious target to achieve Net Zero by 2050, using 2024 as our baseline year. The pledge also commits us to:

01
Publishing our pathway
02
Collaborating with our partners, suppliers and customers to drive change across the value chain
03
Measuring and tracking our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
04
Reporting on our progress

Our key focus areas

Drawing on our industry association UFI's reports and our own benchmarking studies, there are five key areas that we will focus on to achieve our targets:

Energy
Production & Waste
Food & Food Waste
Freight & Logistics
Travel

Energy

How our events can be powered efficiently and use renewable energy sources.

Production & Waste

How we can redesign our events with a focus on using sustainable materials and eradicating waste.

Food & Food Waste

How we source sustainable food options and eradicate food waste.

Freight & Logistics

How we can move goods efficiently to, from and around our shows and transition to net zero emission logistics.

Travel

How we can work with and influence partners in the travel sector to reduce and mitigate emissions from travel to events and from business travel generally.

Our key

Drawing on our industry association UFI's reports and our own benchmarking studies, there are five key areas that we will focus on to achieve our targets:

Energy
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Energy

How our events can be powered efficiently and use renewable energy sources.

Production & Waste
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Production & Waste

How we can redesign our events with a focus on using sustainable materials and eradicating waste.

Food & Food Waste
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Food & Food Waste

How we source sustainable food options and eradicate food waste.

Freight & Logistics
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Freight & Logistics

How we can move goods efficiently to, from and around our shows and transition to net zero emission logistics.

Travel
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Travel

How we can work with and influence partners in the travel sector to reduce and mitigate emissions from travel to events and from business travel generally.

Our pathway to Net Zero

Our ‘Pathway to Net Zero’ sets our milestones and ambitions and how we plan to achieve them, in order to achieve our ultimate Net Zero goal by 2050.  Following on from our baseline year, we have five key stages along our pathway:

2025 - Measure & Embed
2030 – Reduce
2035 - Replace
2040 - Remove
2050 – Net Zero

2025 - Measure & Embed

Our focus for 2025 is on understanding the full carbon impact of our operations, embedding reduction plans for the most material areas and engaging our stakeholders to support our net zero journey.
Milestone / Ambition Pathway
Improve the quality of our emissions audit by significantly increasing the amount of activity / volume data collected. Continue the development of processes to gather activity data from suppliers, venues and events teams, allowing us to fine-tune and stress-test our milestones further.
Ensure that all events have Sustainable Event Management Plans and post-show reporting in place. Training and supporting our show teams to build out their plans and reports, using the templates that have been developed.
Engage all material stakeholders (suppliers / venues) on our net zero journey and how they can support it. Delivering workshops for our key stakeholders.

Developing sustainability guidelines and options (and requirements, if appropriate) within our exhibitor manuals; providing sustainable logistics / production / shell scheme options, where available.

Developing sustainable supplier and procurement policies.

Delivering ongoing internal stakeholder education and training.

Rolling-out of our internal and external communication plan.

2030 – Reduce

Between 2026 and 2030, we will be focusing on reducing our environmental impact, through addressing emissions in all directly controllable areas of our operations and introducing requirements of our stakeholders to address other areas.  
Milestone / Ambition Pathway
Where available, utilise renewable energy at our events.  Where not available, events to have energy saving measures in place.

Working with venues to encourage renewable energy / energy saving options (where not already provided). Ensuring adoption of LED lighting, where available.
Aim for zero single use plastic from dmg events-controlled production at our events (unless required for hygiene / safety reasons). Introduce requirements for our suppliers (e.g. materials allowed on site and their disposal method)

Introduce guidelines for all other stakeholders.
Aim for reduction of waste materials from events to be diverted from landfill. For DMGE-controlled production – items to be reused (or donated), or at least recyclable.

Ensure all events have a waste management system in place.
Aim to halve our catering carbon footprint ‘per attendee’ through responsible sourcing and reducing related waste streams Implementing requirements for all events to have a strategy for optimising accuracy of ordering and lower impact menus.

Setting up food donation and composting schemes, where possible.
Encourage all exhibitors to implement sustainable logistics plans. Requesting submission of sustainable logistics plans with stand plan submissions, where feasible.

Developing a list of preferred logistics suppliers who have made a net zero commitment.
Aim for 50% of employee and attendee travel to be offset, or using sustainable partners. Establishing offset partner.

Providing offset option for clients and our own travel.

Developing an approved list of sustainable travel providers

2035 - Replace

Between 2031 and 2035, we will be aiming to reduce our emissions further, through replacing goods and services with sustainable alternatives.  Our learnings from 2025 to 2030 will allow us to develop and fine tune detailed milestones, ambitions and pathways for this period.

2040 - Remove

Once our carbon footprint has been minimised as much as possible, we will look to begin to remove any residual emissions, utilising carbon removal programmes.

2050 – Net Zero

We aim to achieve net zero by minimising the impact of our full operation, as much as possible and remove all residual emissions.

Our pathway to

Our ‘Pathway to Net Zero’ sets our milestones and ambitions and how we plan to achieve them, in order to achieve our ultimate Net Zero goal by 2050.  Following on from our baseline year, we have five key stages along our pathway:

2025 - Measure & Embed
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2025 - Measure & Embed

Our focus for 2025 is on understanding the full carbon impact of our operations, embedding reduction plans for the most material areas and engaging our stakeholders to support our net zero journey.
Milestone / Ambition Pathway
Improve the quality of our emissions audit by significantly increasing the amount of activity / volume data collected. Continue the development of processes to gather activity data from suppliers, venues and events teams, allowing us to fine-tune and stress-test our milestones further.
Ensure that all events have Sustainable Event Management Plans and post-show reporting in place. Training and supporting our show teams to build out their plans and reports, using the templates that have been developed.
Engage all material stakeholders (suppliers / venues) on our net zero journey and how they can support it. Delivering workshops for our key stakeholders.

Developing sustainability guidelines and options (and requirements, if appropriate) within our exhibitor manuals; providing sustainable logistics / production / shell scheme options, where available.

Developing sustainable supplier and procurement policies.

Delivering ongoing internal stakeholder education and training.

Rolling-out of our internal and external communication plan.
2030 – Reduce
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2030 – Reduce

Between 2026 and 2030, we will be focusing on reducing our environmental impact, through addressing emissions in all directly controllable areas of our operations and introducing requirements of our stakeholders to address other areas.  
Milestone / Ambition Pathway
Where available, utilise renewable energy at our events.  Where not available, events to have energy saving measures in place.

Working with venues to encourage renewable energy / energy saving options (where not already provided). Ensuring adoption of LED lighting, where available.
Aim for zero single use plastic from dmg events-controlled production at our events (unless required for hygiene / safety reasons). Introduce requirements for our suppliers (e.g. materials allowed on site and their disposal method)

Introduce guidelines for all other stakeholders.
Aim for reduction of waste materials from events to be diverted from landfill. For DMGE-controlled production – items to be reused (or donated), or at least recyclable.

Ensure all events have a waste management system in place.
Aim to halve our catering carbon footprint ‘per attendee’ through responsible sourcing and reducing related waste streams Implementing requirements for all events to have a strategy for optimising accuracy of ordering and lower impact menus.

Setting up food donation and composting schemes, where possible.
Encourage all exhibitors to implement sustainable logistics plans. Requesting submission of sustainable logistics plans with stand plan submissions, where feasible.

Developing a list of preferred logistics suppliers who have made a net zero commitment.
Aim for 50% of employee and attendee travel to be offset, or using sustainable partners. Establishing offset partner.

Providing offset option for clients and our own travel.

Developing an approved list of sustainable travel providers
2035 - Replace
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2035 - Replace

Between 2031 and 2035, we will be aiming to reduce our emissions further, through replacing goods and services with sustainable alternatives.  Our learnings from 2025 to 2030 will allow us to develop and fine tune detailed milestones, ambitions and pathways for this period.

2040 - Remove
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2040 - Remove

Once our carbon footprint has been minimised as much as possible, we will look to begin to remove any residual emissions, utilising carbon removal programmes.

2050 – Net Zero
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2050 – Net Zero

We aim to achieve net zero by minimising the impact of our full operation, as much as possible and remove all residual emissions.

Where are we today

Sustainability Governance

  • Established a dedicated sustainability team to provide strategic oversight and support the integration of sustainable event management principles across our events.
  • Created a cross-functional Sustainability Working Group to drive collaboration, share best practices, and support the delivery of sustainability initiatives.
  • Implemented sustainable event management plans and reporting frameworks across our event portfolio to ensure a consistent approach to planning, measurement, and continuous improvement.

Environmental Responsibility

  • Developed a comprehensive Net Zero Roadmap with clear short-, medium-, and long-term actions to achieve our decarbonisation objectives.
  • Expanded sustainable stand and shell scheme options across key events to help exhibitors reduce material use and improve stand reusability.
  • Implemented waste management programmes to increase diversion from landfill through waste segregation, recycling initiatives, and material repurposing partnerships.
  • Joined Better Stands, an industry-wide initiative promoting reusable exhibition stands, and completed assessments across key events to improve stand reusability.
  • Embedded sustainability into venue and supplier selection through our sustainable procurement framework.
  • Collaborated with venue partners to advance renewable energy adoption, resulting in our flagship event, ADIPEC, being powered through Clean Energy Certificates.

Measurement and Reporting

  • Partnered with a carbon accounting platform to measure emissions, track performance, and identify hotspots.
  • Established processes to collect environmental data from venues and suppliers to monitor key sustainability metrics.
  • Produced event-specific carbon footprint reports to identify improvement opportunities and support emissions reduction.
  • Developed internal sustainability dashboards to visualise environmental performance and support data-driven decision-making.

Knowledge and Capability Building

  • Rolled out our Net Zero Roadmap across the business, equipping employees to support our sustainability goals.
  • Delivered engagement and education programmes to promote sustainable practices across our value chain.
  • Developed sustainability training resources, including e-learning, onboarding, and webinars.
  • Created a central sustainability hub providing access to guidance, tools, and resources.
  • Produced sustainability guidance for exhibitors to support more responsible event participation.

Collaboration and Industry Leadership

  • Contributed to industry sustainability initiatives, including the Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) initiative.
  • Collaborated with venues, suppliers, exhibitors, and industry peers to advance sustainable event practices, develop standardised data collection methodology, and drive sector-wide improvements.

Sustainability stories across dmg events

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Egypt Energy Show 2026 Better Stands Case Study: Delivering Circularity at Scale

Egypt Energy Show completed its first Better Stands assessment in March 2026 in partnership with Expotech, achieving impressive results. Over 55% of total event space achieved Gold standard, representing zero-waste, fully reusable stands. A further 10% achieved Silver and 25% achieved Bronze, with only 10% of stands identified as disposable.

Find out more
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IFAT Saudi Arabia 2026 – Waste Management & Circular Infrastructure Case Study

IFAT Saudi Arabia 2026 delivered a sustainability programme developed by Messe München and dmg events that aligned directly with the event’s themes of waste management, circularity, and sustainable infrastructure. Working closely with Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center and local partners, the event introduced new recycling pathways and demonstrated strong leadership in advancing Saudi Arabia’s resource management ambitions.

Find out more
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Abu Dhabi Global Health Week 2025 – Sustainable Catering Practices

ADGHW prioritised sustainable catering by partnering with local, organic vendors and implementing the SEHHI food program to promote healthy, environmentally conscious meals. Efforts included sourcing seasonal ingredients, offering plant-forward menus, reducing food waste through donations, and eliminating single-use plastics.

Find out more
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Big 5 Global’s Sustainable Practices - Carpet Recycling

Big 5 Global recycled 16,940 kg of event carpet in partnership with Enviroserve, converting it into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) to reduce landfill waste and carbon emissions. This initiative tackled a typically hard-to-recycle material and, supported by additional efforts, highlights the event’s strong commitment to sustainability.

Find out more
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ADIPEC 2024 Implementing Sustainable Best Practices

At ADIPEC 2024, dmg events achieved 100% renewable energy use through partnership with the venue and EWEC Clean Energy.

Find out more
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Accelerating the Circular Economy at NOG Energy Week 2026

NOG Energy Week 2026 partnered with Trash Monger to improve resource efficiency, increase material recovery, and accelerate the transition towards a more circular event. Alongside a comprehensive waste management programme, the event also piloted Better Stands for the first time, providing a practical framework for reducing waste through reusable exhibition stand design.

Get Involved

Contact us to find out how you can get involved in accelerating our sustainability roadmap.

Our memberships
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