Howdid you come to be a sustainability advocate?
What sustainable changes have you implemented in Refinitiv’s events? Pre‐Covid, I had developed a global sustainable events policy that applied to all of our large‐scale, proprietary events globally. Examples of this work include: going plastic, paper and merchandise‐free at our events; introducing a sustainability questionnaire for our venues; using mostly digital branding; working with local suppliers and social enterprises; donating leftover food to food banks; composting food waste; and increasing the number of plant‐based options in our event catering. Our events target a primarily local audience, and we encouraged delegates to take public transport to our event to minimise our transport footprint.
Seeing first‐hand the devastating impact of human action and consumption on our environment never ceases to shock me. I am an avid scuba diver and witnessing the devastating impact plastic pollution has had on marine biodiversity has only served to increase my commitment to sustainability and biodiversity conservation. Why should event planners care about sustainability and creating sustainable events? Any organisation committed to sustainability and to mitigating their operational carbon footprint must also walk the talk when it comes to reducing carbon emissions associated with their events. It’s clear that events are a huge source of energy consumption, waste generation and transport emissions. Events are also key to the external positioning of companies and can be a vital communications platform to prove their commitment to becoming more sustainable.
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