One photo, 25 seconds: trade show ESG platform tim transforms exhibitors’ phone cameras into carbon footprint lenses
Las Vegas, 6th January 2026 – CES exhibitors can now discover their booths’ carbon footprint in seconds, simply by taking a photo with their smartphone.
It’s all thanks to an AI-powered measurement tool from the creators of tim (Trade Show Impact Manager), which is being unveiled at the show today to tackle the chronic waste of B2B events.
Users at CES can snap their display (or upload images), and see an on‑screen estimate within around 20–30 seconds. They can also get a more detailed assessment simply by entering their email and completing additional data fields.
- The app identifies around 120–140 materials that go into the booth.
- From this analysis, it estimates overall carbon impact based on booth size (cubic meter edge).
- The underlying engine is built on 10+ years of tim’s trade show sustainability data and tens of thousands of booth photos.
The AI tool is being launched on-site at CES by innovation pioneer Nick Marks, whose company PIE Factory built tim, and his new CTO Zak Homuth. Together the pair will capture and test data across booths, with the goal of providing the most accurate estimate of CES’s overall footprint since the event began in 1967.
Marks and Homuth plan to photograph every booth (or a significant sample) to estimate both the total footprint of all exhibits and the percentage of exhibitors that are unsure as to whether their booth is being reused.
Point. Click. Reveal.
Trade shows are major contributors to the planet’s carbon emissions due to the ‘build and burn’ approach of many exhibitors. In fact, the average trade show emits around 40 times more carbon dioxide than a typical music festival.
tim is already the first corporate-facing platform to measure, report and improve the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact of exhibitions, with clients including Amazon, Panasonic, Dolby, Pernod Ricard and CBRE.
Now, however, it is being transformed from expert-led manual analysis into an AI-based product that can analyse photos of trade show booths (single or multiple images).
‘Reframing ROI for trade shows’
Nick Marks, founder of tim, said there is currently “nothing within a million miles of it” in the market. He added:
“Existing trade show tech still measures ROI in very old‑school ways, by scanning business cards and manually grading leads for example. tim is reframing ROI for trade shows in 2026 to put sustainability and social impact at the centre, not just leads and sales.”
About tim
tim makes companies’ carbon footprint visible, and actionable. Designed specifically for exhibitions, it is the first tool to benchmark not only environmental factors such as waste, materials and carbon, but also the social and governance impacts of event participation.
Unlike generic sustainability platforms, tim is deliberately corporate-facing. It has been created for global brands, FTSE 250 companies, CMOs and procurement teams – not for agencies or organisers, and requires no specialist training. Clients simply submit their event details and agency information, and within a week receive a detailed, comparative ESG report.
Find out more at https://info.tradeshowtim.com/beta-program
About PIE Factory
PIE Factory is an independent creative agency committed to delivering purpose-driven experiences for global clients. Founded by Nick Marks – a pioneer in sustainable event practice and the founder of three international agencies including the first B Corp in the sector, PIE Factory exists to harness creativity and commerce in pursuit of a more equitable future.
For further information or to arrange an interview with Nick Marks or Zak Homuth, either on-site at CES or virtually, please contact gareth@fromallpoints.co.uk.