In Europe, much of the infrastructure supporting events was designed for a climate that increasingly no longer exists. Photo Credit: iStock/Olivier DJIANN
For years, the meetings industry has discussed climate change through the institutionalised language of sustainability.
Which is to say, how the climate is changing – and how it is affecting meetings and events – hasn’t been discussed much at all. Instead, the industry has focused on 2050 targets, the UN SDGs, food waste, recycling of materials, and single use plastics, etc.
While these topics are, of course, important, they are somehow ‘missing the moment’.
Extreme heat is already a thing, with Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, already experiencing more frequent, longer and more intense heatwaves, as a result of climate change.
Right now, wildfires are raging across France and Spain threatening lives and livelihoods. Over the last two months hundreds of meetings and events have been cancelled and postponed due to the relentless heat.
Across Europe, conferences and exhibitions help to shape cities – not just in terms of 'visitor spend' but through supporting industrial strategies and economic development. Yet much of the infrastructure supporting these events was designed for a climate that increasingly no longer exists.
Many of the industry's most prestigious venues occupy Victorian civic buildings, medieval guildhalls, Georgian assembly rooms and listed country houses. They remain spectacular settings for awards ceremonies and gala dinners. They are also increasingly challenging places - during the summer months - in which to spend any amount of time in business attire.
Unlike venues in Dubai, Las Vegas or Singapore, cooling has rarely been viewed as a defining part of the guest experience in Europe. While modern public buildings and chain hotels tend to have air-conditioning (not all of it great), general installation across Europe (20%) remains significantly lower than in the US (90%). And people are starting to notice.
At the end of June 2026, a major congress in Lille organised by professional congress organiser Kenes Group coincided with temperatures approaching 40°C. More than 6,000 delegates attended the event in conditions that, organisers say, stretched the local infrastructure to its limits.
According to Kenes, air conditioning was limited or unavailable across many hotels, restaurants and public buildings. Cooling systems at the venue struggled under pressure, while heat-related power cuts affected parts of the city and interrupted some congress activities.
Demand for drinking water exceeded available supplies, while delegates and event staff experienced significant fatigue and dehydration. The annual charity run associated with the event was cancelled following government restrictions on outdoor sporting activities.
Although, thankfully, no serious medical incidents occurred, the experience also showed how extreme temperatures can create operational disruption far beyond the venue itself.
Climate resilience
Hotels, transport providers, restaurants, cultural attractions and public infrastructure all contribute to perceptions of an event. A convention centre may perform flawlessly, but if delegates spend evenings in uncomfortable hotel rooms, find themselves dripping with sweat at a cocktail reception, or face significant transport disruptions caused by heat-related infrastructure failures, the overall experience suffers.
Iva Popper, Kenes marketing manager, said planners could no longer treat extreme heat as ‘a rare or unexpected disruption’ and that ‘climate resilience’ would ‘increasingly become part of event planning, alongside security, accessibility and sustainability’.
She said backup power systems, shaded rest spaces and heat-response protocols may soon become standard requirements for major events, particularly during summer months.
And rather than simply hoping for the best, she said: “Venues and destinations can support organisers by being transparent about the limits of their infrastructure and demonstrating that their cooling, ventilation, electricity and water systems can cope with unusually high demand.”
Read the full article: Too hot to handle? What Europe's heatwaves could mean for the sector | Meetings & Incentive Travel