Environmental management is common nowadays in most industries and the events industry makes no exception. In an increasingly standardized world, the first standard to systematically manage sustainability in events came quite late, in 2007. In Finland, EcoCompass environmental management system was first created for small and medium size enterprises and in 2012 – 2014 further adapted to suit events.

Because the way non-repetitive events are planned differs significantly from repetitive events, which resemble more continuous businesses, there was a need to assess EcoCompass´ suitability specifically for non-repetitive events. The research method was explanatory case study with the case being World Gymnaestrada 2015, a big, international gymnastics festival, which was organized in Helsinki in July 2015. Benchmarking to two other non-repetitive events was made. Data was acquired from interviews, participant observation and documentation made for the event.

Although World Gymnaestrada was able to pass the external audit leading to the certificate, some incompatibilities were identified resulting in improvement suggestions for two of the criteria, initial assessment of performance and final report, along with advice on how to make event management more suitable for EcoCompass. It was seen that starting the environmental work early, efficient communication and organizing a pilot event are the best ways to integrate EcoCompass into event planning.

Having the environmental management system was definitely beneficial for the event since it helped to concentrate the resources efficiently, guided the work and was an effective way to communicate about the environmental work to stakeholders resulting in very positive feedback from staff, participants and authorities. Therefore, EcoCompass is a very welcome addition to the event industry.