At its Centennial Olympic Congress in Paris in 1994, the International Olympic Committee recognised the importance of the environment and sustainable development.

Since then, the IOC has worked to promote sustainable development and caring for the environment through its Sport and Environment Commission and its work with the organisers of the Olympic Games.

This commitment was underlined, with the launch of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)'s Event Organisers Sector Supplement (EOSS), a free framework for event organisers to report on their sustainability, whose creation was supported and part funded by the IOC.

Advisory Role

This new supplement, which is an amended and expanded version of GRI's sustainability reporting guidelines, has been supported by the IOC from the outset of its development and it is being recognised by the IOC as a suitable framework for sustainability reporting in events. In addition to providing funding, the IOC was also on the advisory board overseeing the new supplement, where it was joined by representatives from London 2012, who, together with representatives from Vancouver 2010, also formed part of the EOSS working group.

Helping to Measure and Report

Following the creation of a sustainability report for the UEFA Euro 2008, it was felt that the creation of a GRI reporting framework for event organisers would encourage more events to report in a consistent way, and enable organisers and report readers to understand the impact of events. This idea was shared with the IOC and London 2012 who supported the aim to develop a reporting framework so the impact of all types of events could be compared. A working group and advisory group were then formed to develop the GRI EOSS. The reporting framework sets out the principles and performance indicators that organisations can use to measure and report on their economic, environmental and social performance.

A Framework

The EOSS can be used by an event organiser or by other bodies involved with the management of the event (including corporate, governmental and non-governmental bodies) to report on their sustainability performance before or after the event has taken place, and can also be used by the event organiser to report regularly on multiple or one-off events. It provides a reporting framework that enables event organisers to provide qualitative and quantitative information on their sustainability performance, covering the complete project life cycle of an event from bid or tender to planning, execution and, finally, post event.

All Shapes and Sizes

The new GRI EOSS has been created for events of all sizes and types and can be used in locations all over the world. These events can range from business to sporting and cultural events, such as exhibitions, meetings and festivals. The GRI framework has already been used by both Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 to report regularly on their progress.