14-19 Introduction

Download: 14-19 Guide to GetGreenGo™
(File type: Adobe Acrobat document, File size: 1673kb)

The challenge for us all

Unless we change the way we use our planet's resources, the outlook for humanity is not good. We are consuming the Earth's resources faster than it can replenish them. Our dependence on fossil fuels is leading to potentially disastrous global climate change.

We need to use resources in more sustainable ways. Could you do this for a school event?

How BSI standards can help

BSI British Standards (BSI) is the UK's 'national standards body'. Our standards help businesses and other organizations to make safe decisions, build on best practice, and maintain quality.

Standards help organizations to act in more sustainable ways.

The new British Standard, BS 8901, is designed to help the events industry become more sustainable. It challenges the industry to use resources more wisely, to preserve them for the future.

The UK event industry makes a real impact on the resources we use in the UK.

In 2012 the London Olympics will be the largest event the UK has ever seen. During the games 50,000 athletes and officials, 140,000 staff and volunteers and 500,000 spectators will visit the massive Olympic Park every day. Making the 2012 Olympics sustainable will be an enormous challenge and London 2012 strongly supports the creation of the new standard.

Leading events' organizers, including Lord's Cricket Ground, Seventeen Events, and Live Nation - the world's biggest concert promoter and organizer - worked with us to pilot the draft standard. Their insights helped us create a standard that the whole events industry will be able to adopt, and which will help make a real difference to the environment.

Find out more about the new British Standard, BS 8901: 2007 Specification for a sustainable event management system with guidance for use.

Why you are important

An event at your school might seem tiny compared to the London Olympics. But there are over 30,000 schools in the UK, and each one holds many events each year: parents' evenings, concerts, sports days and fairs.

We can all make a difference: if every school can make its events a little more sustainable, these small changes will add up to a big change for the better.

Your challenge: make one of your school's summer events a sustainable success!

To get started, open or download the Student Guide
(File type: Adobe Acrobat document, File size: 1673kb)