Andrew and Mark caught up with veSpace CSO, Chris Parnham, to chat through Sustainability and the State of the Nation on their podcast, The Space. Our Founder and CEO, Andrew Perolls, took on Chris’ sustainability questions, ranging from carbon emissions to legislation. Read Andrew’s responses or watch the podcast here.
With all the recent changes in government, do you think this will impact the approach to sustainability?
You know, it was a bit of an on-and-off relationship with conservatives and sustainability, whereas with the new administration, climate and energy were very much central part of their manifesto. So, I think there will be a more positive approach. And I think the key things that will change are that they are extremely focused on getting to zero carbon power by 2030, so you will see things like onshore wind farms, that sort of thing.
I think they will also want to get back to being leaders on the climate stage globally as well. Also, I think they will be reversing some of the climate rollbacks, an example being cars, which were going to be phased out in 2035 petrol, diesel, which is being brought forward to 2030 again, and they will be rewriting the nation’s Net Zero strategy.
Last year, the High Court was saying that the government was acting unlawfully by not having enough in place to make it happen. From that, I think we will see a different tone, more of an urgency towards getting things done. For example, hotels will see more of a focus, on energy efficiency, in the building makeup, and when it comes to events, things like public transport will be promoted more. You will see more people with electric vehicles, which means venues that have provision for charges and just generally, remember, 2030s when we as a country should have reduced our CO2 by 50% and so we are only five years away. It is going to be a lot more pressure as time goes on.
So, what are corporates requiring when it comes to sustainability, and what does that mean to agencies?
There is a lot more pressure as we get towards Net Zero targets having to be fulfilled with not too much time, and what we are seeing is some companies who have pledged to be net zero going in the wrong direction. Now, for many companies, travel is a high percentage of their carbon emissions. For some consultancies, it is about 80% so there is going to be much more emphasis on the supply chain, and that certainly will affect the travel and meetings industry and, stakeholders, consumers, and corporates.
They are really on this now, so I would add to that legislation. It creeps in, doesn’t it? Apart from the current legislation where large companies must report CO2 emissions, it is not very onerous. A lot of people will have heard of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which will require companies to give a lot more detail on every element of ESG, environment, social and governance. That will have to be a report which is audited yearly. So those things, I think, are going to put pressure on companies to comply in this industry. The ASA is also cracking down on greenwashing, so everybody has got to be very well geared up for that. Therefore, companies must have their own house in order, and make sure that they are looking after the customers as well, either by having people in-house who can help or by collaborating with companies like Greengage who can help on those specific areas.
How is sustainability certification for hotels changing?
At Greengage, we have a certification called ECOSmart and we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of hotels and meeting venues getting certified. And that is a good thing, particularly because I am afraid going back to legislation again, there will be a push for certification because of something the EU is doing called the Green Claims Directive. Now what that is about is three things. One is to promote sustainability, which is good. The second thing is to try to prevent greenwashing, and the third thing is to ensure transparency. So, what they are advocating in this law is substantiation of claims and certification of companies that are making the claims, and that must be a good thing. We’ve seen, for example, booking.com have their own grading system for sustainability in hotels, taking that approach out and swapping to an independent certification, because we certainly see that when it comes to corporates, when they’re choosing a hotel, they want to be sure that what’s being claimed is correct, and that’s what certification can do.
Putting carbon emissions aside, what else are hotels doing to become more sustainable?
So, there is always this big emphasis on carbon emissions. However, it is always good to remember the social part of ESG is important as well. I would say the other things that are important for a hotel would be their waste and waste management systems, making sure there is less food waste, which is a huge contributor to dangerous methane emissions. At the same time, trying to eliminate plastic. That is something I am so pleased to see in many events and for many hotels and venues, they are aiming for 100% elimination of plastic. In the UK, we get through thirteen million plastic bottles of water a year, and of that, half are recycled, and half go to landfill or disposed of on land somewhere. That is not a good thing. So as an industry, if we can tackle just that one thing, it would be good.
Other than that, making sure buildings are sustainable and that guest rooms are thoroughly reviewed because there is a lot you can do to eliminate plastic and make sure everything is sustainably sourced and so on. The food and beverage part of every event is important and ensuring that food is healthy and ideally locally sourced has an enormous impact. The final thing I will mention is making sure hotels are involving their guests. Not something that just happens behind the scenes, but people are actively involved in it through information, or just as simple as providing the option to not get your towel washed every day is a contributor to a more sustainable approach.
One thing you can measure is the CO2 that is produced by an event. How do you do that?
It is something which has become very much more popular and more important as companies realize they must be measuring every element of their operations and events are quite a large contributor. So, what you can measure is several elements of any event. Think about it, first, how you get there. Travel can be the biggest element of carbon emissions, then any accommodation emissions from the meeting, space, catering, electricity and gas, any event, materials, and waste. You combine all those things; they make up the carbon footprint of an event. So, what we do through the EVENTsmart software is enable that in the simplest way possible. Most people running an event do not want to be scientists in measurement, they just want something simple. Our principle always is to make it simple but make sure it is exactly accurate.
Looking into the future of sustainability, there is a lot more regulation coming down the line. But what else can we expect in the future?
Legislation is not a plus for most people. So, I would, I would just like to dwell a little bit on the positive really because I think when it comes to meetings and events like any industry, like any business, it contributes to the problem because everything has a carbon impact. But the events world is uniquely positioned to be highly influential. After all, COP28, and COP29, are events, so we have a responsibility and an ability to influence things that most industries do not have. When you look at the top three big-ticket items for events and the impact they have, they are energy consumption, travel and transport to an event, and waste. Hotels, event venues and event agencies combined can provide great guidance to coporates who want to do the right thing. I would say that, whereas having a sustainable event was something a bit quirky in the past, it is thoroughly expected now. What I see a lot more of is businesses incorporating this as part of the fun and the imagination of an event in a way that it was just seen as something we had to do now, it is something people expect and adds to the flavour of any conference.
Watch the full podcast here and get in touch with us to chat about any of the topics discussed.