We all want our favourite destinations to remain as beautiful in 100 years as they are today. That’s the principle behind the proactive sustainable tourism strategy that guides the initiatives of Sports Events Montréal — and part of what has classed Montréal as a top sustainable tourism destination in North America according to the GDS Index.
Sustainability experts at your service
Our community-oriented approach brands Montréal as a harmonious destination: a city where the coexistence of residents and tourists is gloriously, harmoniously integrated. Part of that is to help sports event professionals plan more sustainable events. With our assistance, having a real positive impact at destination has never been so easy.
Sustainability should be an integral part of the strategy and budget of any event from the outset — not just an item on a checklist. Sports events leaders can use their platforms to communicate, before, during and after their events, the importance of eco initiatives with transparency — as Tennis Canada has done in the context of the National Open. It is incumbent upon us all to activate change as agents of a sustainable future.
The team at Sports Events Montréal has been called upon to advise as experts on sustainability. Recently Vincent Dumas, Sports Market Manager for Sports Events Montréal, participated on a panel discussing sustainability in sports at the national Sport Events Congress, organized by Sport Tourism Canada.
There was a fascinating panel with Micah Desforges, founding CEO of Tribu Expérientiel, the Montréal sports promoter behind such lauded urban sports festivals at JACKALOPE and the newer APIK, a freestyle ski and snowboard event that takes over Montréal’s downtown core in March. Desforges stressed the importance of environmental issues on sporting events with a concrete example: his APIK event last year was hobbled by unseasonably warm temperatures, a clear impact of global warming.
Let’s make change easy
With the help of Sport Events Montréal, you’ll get excellent guidance for holding next-level sustainable sporting events. We collaborate with local partners including organizing committees, promoters and federations to spread sustainability initiatives throughout local sports. We also work with the Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables that can help prove you’re making a positive impact by getting your sporting event officially certified as sustainable.
Our Guide to Best Practices for Sustainable Sporting Events offers expert guidelines and concrete, tangible recommendations for planning and holding sustainable sports events. Whether you’re a seasoned planner or someone new to the industry, you’ll find a wealth of detailed information about how to make your event more sustainable.
A city with sustainability chops
Montréal was the first city in Canada to join the Global Destination Sustainability Index, and has maintained its raking of first place in North America on the 2023 Global Destination Sustainability Index, an internationally recognized body in sustainable tourism. Over 40 new destinations were added to the ranking this year, including 19 in North America, but Montréal was the only North American city to rank among the top 40.
Montréal also came first in the 2023 annual Sustainable Cities Index put out by Compare the Market, based on the fact that 99.95% of energy used in the city coming from renewable sources. Our Sustainable Montreal Plan 2016-2020, in particular, was recognized — it is a collaborative effort from over 200 local organizations.
So, with our help, we hope you’ll take a page from Smash Festival and aim to get certified sustainable by the CQEER. Change is within our grasp.
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