Creating a sustainability plan for an anime and roleplaying event : case: Tracon 2026

Abstract

This thesis was made for Tracon, a Tampere-based roleplaying and anime convention. Through the past 20-30 years Finnish con scene has grown and several large events gathering thousands of participants are held each year. As the conventions have grown, so has their need for sustainable practices. According to websites of three of the largest conventions Tracon, Ropecon and Desucon, a sustainability plan has not yet been made for a non-profit convention on this field. The author strives to make this a benchmark for future conventions.

An ESG approach was used in creating the sustainability plan. As an intercultural event, the ESG was extended to include also Finnish Ministry of Education OPH’s definition of cultural sustainability.

The actual strategy was compiled using ESG+Cultural sustainability practices deemed most relevant by the thesis author, some of which are already being applied but were included as critical parts of the strategy. The goals were assessed and developed using the thesis author’s expertise gained during environmental engineering studies and working with Tracon for several years. Research was also done on the topic of organisational responsibility using theses of similar topics.

The future research needs to implement and repeat the sustainability strategy in practical use to assess its adaptability. There also needs to be more research done on sustainability in Finnish not-for-profit conventions, as most current research is only done on for-profit events.