About Us
As of February 2025, Positive Impact has a community of almost 2,000 global event professionals, over 40 corporate Head of Events, over 40 Corporate Head of Sustainability, over 160 SMEs with a Race to Zero commitment, over 5 memorandums of understanding with United Nations bodies.
For almost 20 years not for profit Positive Impact have been providing engagement, collaboration and education to create a sustainable event industry. You could describe Positive Impact as the ‘critical friend’ of the global event sector.
In 2023 we began to focus on bringing needed innovation to life by supporting two projects:
Technology to make it easier for your event to have a positive Impact
Positive Impact is the only event sector body to be a Race to Zero Accelerator, UN SDG Action mobiliser and to have education certified by the world’s largest and leading CPD accreditation working across all sectors, so our education is accessed by heads of marketing, HR and sustainability.
Our funding comes from everywhere and nowhere, and every penny, cent or yen is used to advance the event sector so every time an event happens the UN Sustainable Development Goals are advanced and events are recognised as ensuring 'participation and inclusion in decision making’ (UN SDG16).
This is a timeline of Positive Impact's journey and the creation of a sustainable event industry. It reflects initiatives from:
The United Nations
Positive Impact
CEO Fiona Pelham
Key developments in the creation of a sustainable event industry.
Exploring the role of the event sector in SDG 5, target 1: Ending all forms of discrimination agains women and girls everywhere
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Positive Impact hosted a free webinar on 8th March 2024 to explore the role of the event sector in SDG 5.
Exploring the event sustainability standard ISO 20121 on the future of events and gender equality
On 8th March 2023, to celebrate International Women’s Day, Positive Impact hosted a webinar with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the UN Global Compact Network UK.
Exploring the role of gender equality in creating a net zero carbon future and what this means for your event strategy
To #breakthebias in line with International Women’s Day, corporate event planners were invited to an exclusive salon* on 22nd March 2022, exploring the role of gender equality in supporting their event strategy to advance sustainability commitment and the UN SDGs.
Breaking the bias on International Women’s Day
To celebrate International Womens Day 2022 and to empower you to use your voice to #breakthebias in the event sector, Positive Impact created a basic toolkit.
Exploring the role of women in achieving carbon targets
Positive Impact and UNFCCC Secretariat celebrated International Women’s Day with a unique exploration into the role of women in achieving carbon targets.
Exploring the power of female leadership and human interaction
Aligned with SDG 5: Gender Equality and the UN Women’s theme for International Women’s Day 2021, a select community of global corporate event planners joined an experiment to explore the power of female leadership and human interaction.
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2020 with our Girls Creating campaign
In 2020, Positive Impact celebrated International Women’s Day with our annual Girls Creating Campaign. Positive Impact facilitated a webinar, interviewed leading female CEOs and encouraged people to share stories of women in their lives who have inspired them.
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2019 with our Girls Creating campaign
In 2019, Positive Impact celebrated International Women’s Day with our annual Girls Creating Campaign. Positive Impact held a webinar and created an interview series with leading women in the event industry.
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2018 with our Girls Creating campaign
In 2018, Positive Impact celebrated International Women’s Day with our annual Girls Creating Campaign. Fiona wrote a blog on how the importance of women in making history.
