Meetings with a mission: The Unitarian Universalist Association's systematic approach to advance sustainability

Abstract

Practical wisdom in the conference‐planning field suggests that green, or environmentally responsible, events result from adherence to various best practices, such as eliminating paper, reducing packaging, and recycling. Sustainability standards such as ISO 20121, however, propose a more systematic way of identifying the sustainability issues that stakeholders care about—such as accessibility, climate change, waste avoidance, and health—and setting continuous improvement objectives to address these priorities through planning decisions. Whereas the former approach is largely tactical, the latter is more strategic, and presents opportunities for associations to drive mission‐based principles through their event supply chain and demonstrate performance against values that matter to members. The experiences of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which has been systematically integrating sustainability into planning logistics for its annual General Assembly since 2005, underscore the value of using events as a tool to transform business and association practice in support of sustainability.