Seventeen Events, the environmentally friendly event management agency behind the Observer Ethical Awards, will be trialling the draft of BS8901. Other organisations included in the trials are Live Nation (trialling the Live Earth concert) and the Manchester International Festival.

Seventeen will be assessing the sustainability of it’s work for the Guardian and Observer areas of the Innocent Village Fete, which took place on 4 and 5 August in Regent’s Park, London. By monitoring the sustainability of the events it runs, Seventeen can suggest small changes, that over the life of a project, add up to a big difference in the footprint of the event.

The trial gives Seventeen an opportunity to showcase its talents at producing green events without compromising on style, or hiking the price up. And Andrew Williams, director, commented: “It’s a great chance for us to be able to prove that we can walk the ethical walk as well as talk the talk. Having a recognised standard like this is a great thing for the event industry as a whole but it’s particularly relevant to Seventeen given our area of expertise.”

Sara Rhodes, head of sponsorship and events at Guardian News and Media, added: "We're delighted to be working with Seventeen on our sponsorship of the Innocent Village Fete. We chose to work with them because of their professional and creative approach, their understanding of the Guardian and Observer brands and the priority they give to an environmentally friendly approach to all areas of event management."