中文If you’ve been to a printing industry trade show in the last five years, you’ve seen the pattern. The organizers put up a “sustainability” banner. They hand out a recycled-paper tote bag at registration. They panel a session with “Green Printing” in the title, where three people talk vaguely about paper sourcing for forty minutes.
And then, behind the scenes, the show generates massive amounts of waste, flies in thousands of exhibitors and attendees from across the world, and produces exactly zero measurable sustainability outcomes that anyone can verify. Lip service. That’s what it is. And everyone knows it.
What Real Sustainability Leadership Looks Like
FESPA—yes, the organization behind FESPA Global Print Expo and several co-located events—just demonstrated what actual sustainability leadership looks like. And if you’re running a trade show, or even if you’re just a printing company trying to figure out your own sustainability strategy, you should be paying close attention. Because FESPA didn’t just talk. They got certified.
For two years in a row, FESPA has achieved certification to ISO 20121 for sustainable event management. If you’re not familiar with ISO 20121, here’s why it matters: it’s not a self-assessed “we’re green” badge you print on your brochure. It’s a rigorous, externally audited standard that covers every aspect of event sustainability—from waste management and carbon emissions to social responsibility and supply chain transparency.
Getting certified to ISO 20121 is expensive. It requires significant organizational effort. It involves outside consultants, preparation for audits, and ongoing compliance monitoring. And—this is the key part—it makes FESPA publicly accountable. If they fail to meet the standard, they lose the certification. That’s real risk, and most event organizers aren’t willing to take it.
The Carbon Calculations That Actually Mean Something
FESPA also provides members with practical carbon footprinting tools and actionable guidance. Think about what that means in practice. It’s one thing to lecture exhibitors about reducing their carbon footprint. It’s another thing entirely to give them the actual tools to measure it, understand it, and reduce it in ways that are measurable and credible.
They’re also measuring their own year-on-year CO2e emissions. And here’s the impressive part: they’ve brought those emissions down between their 2024 and 2025 events. With a growing business—more exhibitors, more visitors, more freight—CO2e emissions could easily have risen. The fact that they went down is evidence of serious operational discipline.
The Contrast That Should Make Other Organizers Uncomfortable
Let’s talk about what everyone else is doing. drupa 2024 had some sessions on recycled paper and waste reduction. That’s good. But it was, by all accounts, largely lip service—panels that tick a box on a sustainability checklist without driving meaningful change in exhibitor or attendee behavior.
For drupa 2028? Nothing has been announced yet. Maybe they’ll try to do better. But right now, there’s no public commitment, no certification, no measurable framework that anyone can point to.
The London Book Fair follows a similar playbook. They run a few vaguely interesting panels on sustainability, but they don’t take a leadership position. No real sustainability actions that make a difference to publishers, sellers, authors, or readers. No tools. No certifications. No measurable emissions reductions.
Laurel Brunner, writing for the Verdigris Project (which produces these commentary pieces), puts it directly: “Apart from FESPA, events and exhibition organisers are mostly rubbish at leading the way towards improved sustainability for their communities. Tangible commitments and actions are very thin on the ground.”
Ouch. But it’s accurate.
Why This Actually Matters for the Industry
Sustainability isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s becoming a survival requirement. Regulations are tightening. Consumer expectations are rising. And for companies in the printing and publishing industries, improving environmental sustainability is directly linked to economic and societal sustainability.
If you’re a printing company and you can’t demonstrate real sustainability progress, you’re going to lose business. Brand owners are under pressure from their own customers, investors, and regulators. They need suppliers who can document and verify their environmental performance. “We recycle” isn’t going to be enough in 2026 and beyond.
FESPA’s approach—creating useful tools, funding research, supporting youth engagement programs, community projects—this is how you build real industry leadership. It’s not a marketing exercise. It’s an investment that yields returns in customer loyalty, sector reputation, and long-term business resilience.
The Competitive Advantage Nobody Else Saw Coming
Here’s what FESPA gets that drupa and London Book Fair apparently don’t: sustainability can be a competitive differentiator for events. Exhibitors and attendees who care about their own environmental impact (and that’s becoming most of them) will choose events that align with their values.
If you’re an exhibitor, and you have to choose between FESPA (ISO 20121 certified, carbon-measured, sustainability tools provided to members) and an event that hands out recycled tote bags and calls it a day—which one makes your sustainability reporting look better?
That’s not a close call.
What Other Event Organizers Should Do (But Probably Won’t)
The Verdigris commentary ends with a direct challenge: “Sustainability should be a key part of your future strategies, because it matters at the very least for the survival of the communities you serve.”
For drupa, for London Book Fair, for every printing and publishing industry event: get to work on ISO 20121. It’s a challenging ask. It requires real investment, real operational change, and real accountability. But it gives your event something genuinely valuable—credibility on sustainability that you can’t fake.
FESPA has set the gold standard. The question now is whether the rest of the industry will step up, or keep hiding behind recycled paper tote bags.
Source: FESPA / Verdigris Project
