CONVENE 4 CLIMATE 2025
As global social and environmental challenges continue to intensify, the question remains: How can the Business Events Industry accelerate its positive impact on society and the planet?
The 2025 edition of Convene 4 Climate continued this mission in Rotterdam on 17 October 2025, bringing together a curated community of global leaders, industry experts, and entrepreneurs from across sectors. Through high-impact presentations and collaborative working sessions, C4C 25 explored bold strategies and practical solutions that position sustainability not as a compliance requirement, but as a catalyst for innovation, shared prosperity, and regenerative growth.
Audience
114 participants – a carefully curated and pre-qualified group designed to bring together diverse global stakeholders.
Event Format
The format featured keynote-style presentations from leading organisations, interwoven with interactive working sessions.
The working groups were organised around three strategic themes:
Business model innovation
Cross-sector collaboration
Good technology and responsible use of resources and materials
3 x Keynotes with additional QA sessions
4 x Action working groups
6 x Peer circles led by industry experts
Outcomes
Participants co-created a set of actionable strategies, aimed at embedding sustainability at the core of business-event industry practices. These findings can be found in the C4C report.
The event underscored a paradigm shift: sustainability is increasingly viewed not as a cost or constraint, but as a catalyst for innovation, growth, and long-term resilience.
A strong call emerged for reframing the global sustainability narrative: from fear and limitation to hope, shared prosperity, and regenerative business models.
C4C 25 reaffirmed the potential of the Business Events Industry to lead, not just follow, on sustainability, uniting diverse stakeholders to drive meaningful impact.
Looking Ahead: Next Steps & Strategic Recommendations
To build on the momentum from Rotterdam, C4C intends to:
Conduct a strategic design meeting in January 2026 at Convening Leaders to determine which of the strategies and ideas that emerged form C4C 2025 to take forward into implementation
Launch the Sustainable Event Goals (SEGs) at IMEX Frankfurt 2026 — introducing a unified sustainability framework for the Business Events industry, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Establish a Global Advisory Board to guide C4C’s mission, deepen international engagement and strengthen the community of change-makers around the world.
Together, these steps mark the evolution of C4C — from an event into a growing global movement, committed to empowering the Business Events industry to lead in sustainable, inclusive growth for people, planet and future generations.
CONVENE 4 CLIMATE 2024
Consider the climate crisis: What will the Business Events Industry look like, and what will its broader positive impact on society be?
Convene 4 Climate started as an inaugural event brought to you by PCMA, the Strategic Alliance of National Convention Bureaus of Europe, and other collaborators, which saw the delivery of C4C in Barcelona from 30th Sept – 1st October 2024.
Audience
A highly curated, pre-qualified group of 110 participants to create the best possible mix to meet the objectives of the event and find solutions.
- 35% Planner/Organiser
- 35% Supplier/Partner
- 23% Adjacent Sectors
- 5% Media
Event Format
5 x Tech Demonstrations explored
The programme was built across 4 streams which laid the foundation and architecture for our talks and workshops across:
Technology – Data – Measurement
Skills – People – Mindset
Business Models – Risks – Growth
Innovation & Collaboration
4 x Compelling Ted Talk style keynotes set the scene for the day and invigorated all to engage in our collective challenge and collaborate around the solutions for transformation.
4 x Challenged-based workshops across the streams were developed, resulting in each stream delivering 3 possible tactics to be further explored and adopted.
Outcomes
Overall, 12 Tactics were developed by the participants and presented back. This set a foundation for further exploration of the tactics to support our first C4C report.
We onboarded and announced four new foundational partners who joined C4C to assist in advancing our mission. (Destination Canada, Failte Ireland, Marina Bay Sands Singapore & United Airlines)
By taking a circular event economy approach to C4C we transformed Convening EMEA’s main stage into the entire C4C event within 12 hours, reducing and reusing where possible all event equipment, resources, and production elements.
We announced that Convene 4 Climate was too important to be just an event and that we would evolve it into a global movement and platform for our community and adjacent sectors.
C4C was launched as a global platform, and the opportunity for the entire business events ecosystem to join the community was shared and continues to be across multiple communication channels.
C4C GALLERY
