In this era of rising costs and stagnant budgets, attention is shifting from sustainability to cost-cutting, according to new recent surveys.

Is sustainability becoming more of a nice-to-have than an essential in today’s cut-throat, cost-shaving environment? That would in fact appear to be the case, according to two recent industry studies.

“Perhaps the biggest and most surprising change in this year’s report is the reduction in importance of sustainability as a key decision factor, with this tracking around 1.5 points lower on average across the U.K. and Europe,” said the authors of the 2024 International Planner Sentiment Report from The Business of Events. In that study, sustainability ranked at the bottom of the 10 factors it tracked, while cost and value for the money surged a point higher for planners in the three regions tracked. The survey included 1,000 respondents from corporate event planners, association planners, event agencies and incentive and reward agencies in North America, Europe and the UK.

The dominance of cost and value for the money isn’t surprising, given the still-increasing costs of hotels, airfare and most of the ancillary costs associated with planning meetings and events, particularly food and beverage and AV.

Rising costs and inflation also were the top concern for 95% of respondents to a recent Snapshot survey from the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE). Almost half also cited concerns about global instability from the political elections being held around the world in 2024. Surprisingly, value for the money landed right in the middle of the destination selection criteria rankings — destination appeal topped that list — when it comes to must-have absolute requirements for incentive event destinations. Sustainability came in last place, behind the ability to have all participants treated equally and with respect, luxury, 5-star accommodations, the ability to cater to all generations, a leisure/resort setting, city/culture, outdoor healthy activities, and car/train accessibility.

Only 12 of the corporate event planners cited a growing urgency around climate change/climate justice as a major factor in their incentive travel planning. “Given global concerns around climate change, is it surprising to find sustainability in last position when it comes to destination selection?” asked SITE, which published the report with support from Hilton.

Perhaps not. When The Business of Events asked why sustainability appeared to be becoming less important for meeting and event planners, the researchers found that, “While sustainability is still considered an important issue, we believe that while there is a degree of ‘sustainability fatigue’ due to the level of focus on this topic over recent years, there is also a feeling that the need for strong sustainability practices, especially within venues, has made it become more of a utility requirement, and therefore expected, rather than something which is seen as value added.”

In at least one area, however, there does still appear to be an appetite for increased sustainability practices: Reducing food waste, a problem to which meetings and conventions tend to contribute more than their fair share. According to a recent survey of 553 meeting planners about their attitudes toward food waste prevention from the World Wildlife Fund, more than half said preventing food waste was a very high priority. Another 58% said that they would be “significantly more likely” to use a venue in the future if it proactively offered possible food-waste solutions.

The problems in this instance, anyway, aren’t that food waste prevention is more of an expectation than a value add, according to the WWF study, which was sponsored by Deloitte. Instead, it found the biggest inhibitors were fears of not having enough food — or enough time to discuss the issue with their venue. Respondents also cited a lack of awareness of food-waste issues; resistance to change; prioritization of image, sales, and profitability over sustainability; perception that the food-waste issue is liberal or politically charged; and, not surprisingly, cost issues such as the ability to meet food-and-beverage minimum requirements.

Ultimately, the WWF study concludes that perhaps food waste should become more of a utility requirement, saying that “partnering with planners on preventing food waste at their meetings and events represents a critical best business practice for meeting venues. While some venues may feel constrained by the need to increase revenues by selling as much food as possible, the data suggests any revenue depreciation would easily be offset by increased preference share in the future.”