Tommy Goodwin is Vice President for the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA), an association dedicated to the advancement of the business events industry. He leads ECA’s advocacy and member engagement work on behalf of the interconnected ecosystem of exhibitors, show and event organizers, suppliers, venues and destinations that comprise the global business events landscape.
MAD Event Management recently hosted the 2nd annual Sustainable Events Summit, which brought together leading industry associations, event organizers, suppliers, and more to share best practices and innovations in the growing field of sustainable event management.
As with many conversations about sustainability, especially around election time, politics and policy were front and center. Why? In 2024, 2,841 bills related to climate policy were introduced in state legislatures nationwide, with 312 of them becoming law. On Capitol Hill, 738 climate-related bills have been introduced thus far during the 118th Congress, with eight of those now in law.
While none of these targeted trade shows, per se, many of them have an impact on our industry. This ranges from federal spending on electric vehicle charging infrastructure (at various locations such as convention centers) to the new California regulation phasing out propane-fueled forklifts.
And regardless of the outcome on November 5, more legislation and regulation are on the horizon.
When it comes to sustainability, some have framed the 2024 election in terms of more regulation vs. deregulation. But that is wrong. In reality, what happens at the ballot box will not determine if there will be more climate policymaking, but rather where that policymaking will take place.
For example, an administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris would continue many of the climate-related polices of President Joe Biden. This would likely include more large-scale rulemaking by federal government agencies in Washington, DC that would be national in scope.
In contrast, a second administration headed up by former President Donald Trump would pursue an agenda that would roll back recent federal regulations, target climate-related tax credits, and re-withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement treaty on climate change.
That would shift climate policymaking to states and cities. This happened from 2017 through 2020, when hundreds of U.S. mayors vowed to uphold the Paris Agreement and California began phasing out the sale and use of non-zero-emission vehicles statewide. This would likely result in an even more tangled web of federal, state, and local rules that would increase compliance costs.
No matter who is elected this November, what should the trade show industry do to get ready?
The goal is simple: the industry must maintain control of its collective path to Net Zero. With so much political and policymaking uncertainty on the horizon, the only way to avoid legislative and regulatory risk going forward is to stay far ahead of the policymakers in Washington, DC and in city halls and state houses nationwide.
How? By doubling down on our industry’s collective sustainability work now!
Convenings such as the Sustainable Events Summit provide a roadmap. So, too, do whole-of-industry efforts like Net Zero Carbon Events and industry-association-led guidance and toolkits, including EDPA and ESCA’s Sustainability Guidance for Exhibition Stand Construction and IAEE’s new How to Guide to Sustainable Exhibitions.
By accelerating our shared journey to Net Zero, the trade show industry can stay ahead of the policymaking curve while contributing to a more sustainable future for our industry and planet.
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