Write a short policy for one event, then keep the numbers in a separate register. Adopting the wording does not need a measured baseline, and it is not an ISO 20121 requirement. An improvement target stays draft until you have entered a measured baseline and a numeric target for the same scope, period and unit. A first event can commit to collecting a baseline while that improvement target stays draft.

The policy says what this event will do, who it applies to, who reviews it, and what you will not claim. The register records the quantities. The task sheet still records who does the work. The procurement policy is the buying document. This page does not certify the event.

Write the policy wording

Use wording you can show. Adapt the names, the date and the limits. This is a starting text for one event, not a legal template and not a clause from ISO 20121.

This policy covers the named event only. It applies to the organiser and to the venue and caterers named for that event. The named owner keeps this wording and the commitment register, and reviews both on the review date. The register holds the quantitative commitments separately from this wording. Adopting this wording does not need a measured baseline. An improvement target in the register stays draft until a measured baseline, a matching unit, a comparable scope and period, and a numeric target are all entered. A first event may instead commit to collecting a baseline and leave the improvement target draft. This event will not be described as carbon neutral or certified.

Check any public sentence against the green claims guide before it is advertised. The sentence about what you will not claim does not replace that guide.

Fill in the register

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank file and type into that copy. Use the example only as a labelled pattern. There is no third instructions file. You type every cell. The spreadsheet does not choose a status.

Write one header row for the policy, then one row for each commitment.

The header names the event, who it applies to, the owner role, the review date, and what you will not claim. That header can stand while every number is still blank. A blank baseline is unknown. Do not invent one.

Each commitment is either an improvement target or a commitment to collect a baseline.

An improvement target needs a metric, a unit, the scope of the baseline, the period the baseline covers, and the target date. It is active only when the baseline status is a measured baseline, the baseline value and the target value are ordinary finite numbers, and they use that same unit. If the unit is percent, both numbers must sit from 0 to 100 inclusive. Anything else stays draft, including a target you hope to set later.

A collect-baseline row can be active when the metric, the unit, the scope and the period you intend to measure are filled, and the baseline value and the target value stay blank. That row means you will collect the baseline. It is not an improvement target.

Type policy on the header, active on a commitment that meets the rule above, and draft on an improvement target that does not.

Worked example: one fictional morning

The example is a fictional register for Northgate Studio’s supplier morning. The 40 percent baseline is a labelled count in that example. It is not a measurement from a real event, and it is not a figure to copy when your own count is missing.

Row What it records Status
Header Producer reviews the wording on 1 November 2026. The event will not be called carbon neutral or certified. Policy. No baseline is required.
Plant-forward share Main-course portions at the supplier morning. Fictional baseline 40 percent on 12 March 2025. Target 60 percent. Active improvement. The scope, period and percent unit match.
Food waste Venue food waste, in kilograms. No baseline value. Draft. The blank is not filled with a number.
Attendee distance Journeys to the venue, in kilometres, for the 9 April 2026 morning. Active only as a commitment to collect a baseline. No target is entered.

A percent of 140, a blank baseline on an improvement target, or a baseline from a different menu would stay draft. The register does not convert those into an active target.

Limits

The measured-baseline rule applies only to improvement targets that depend on a baseline. It does not decide whether you may adopt the policy wording, and it is not a requirement copied from ISO 20121. The priced standard was not used on this page.

An active target is your own target against your own baseline. It is not a measured result and not a certificate. Results belong in the post-event report. A waste commitment still needs the event waste plan before a stream is treated as accepted.

Sources