US-based events company Freeman and Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Glasgow are among the global organisations that have begun using the Net Zero Carbon Events Roadmap, recently launched at COP27.
The roadmap is designed to aid suppliers, venues, and businesses in their journey to becoming Net Zero by 2050. The roadmap is available as a full report with information on how to implement action to achieve Net Zero and as an executive summary.
Five action areas
It sets out a framework for measuring and evaluating progress and detailing five key action areas: energy; production and waste; food and food waste; freight and logistics; and travel.
Bob Priest-Heck (pictured right), CEO, Freeman, said: “We plan to lean into our partnerships to affect all five roadmap action areas, even those we don’t directly impact. As a producer of events, continuing our work against action area two [production and waste] will be our focus — to redesign events to be sustainable and waste-free.
“We’ve been measuring our impact since 2018 and reporting on our sustainability progress annually with this year’s report aligned against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We’ve made a strong start on our own Roadmap but know that working together amplifies our impact.”
Peter Duthrie (pictured left), CEO, SEC, said energy will be a core focus for the Glasgow venue, the host venue of COP26: “Central to achieving our net zero goal is the development of an ambitious energy strategy which will transition the campus to renewable energy.
“We’re also implementing efficiency measures including the use of LED lighting across our venues and taking further actions around water efficiency, green travel, supply chain engagement and waste management.”
Net Zero Carbon Events launched in 2021 prior to unveiling its pledge at COP26. It brings together event industry stakeholders globally, including conference, exhibition and event organisers, convention bureaux, venues and other suppliers.
Since its launch, more than 400 conference and events industry organisations from 55 countries have pledged to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. Every events organisation is invited to join and sign the pledge. Each signatory commits to support the goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
