Sustainability |
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work on more sustainable , something is sustainable or not . And our industry is not yet this ,” she says . Fiona Pelham of Positive Impact is a specialist focused on sustainability and events for many years . She has also been working on an initiative targeting zero carbon commitments for some time and says that over 50 events sector suppliers have made commitments in the last month alone . She also has strong views on the importance of focusing on this issue as the industry recovers . On more regulation , Pelham says : “ The world is likely to see increased regulation on anything which causes carbon emissions . If the work you are doing causes carbon emissions it makes sense to expect regulation .” Giving a |
specific example , she notes that Glasgow City Council recently announced that anyone ‘ booking ’ an event during COP26 in Glasgow would have to have a net zero carbon commitment as part of the Race to Zero . “ The Road to COP26 Event Sector Transformation is part of the Race to Zero and there is an opportunity to raise the profile of the events sector supply chain if trade bodies , media and spokespeople take action ,” Pelham says . RAI Amsterdam ’ s Mathas agrees on regulation : “ We are already seeing that happening ,” she says . But , she notes , “ the climate , like Covid , does not take national borders and regional differences into account . Rules or not , the report shows the urgency that every company must critically |
examine its own form of entrepreneurship and adapt it to the social challenges .”
Road to Zero Pelham has an ambitious vision of how things could evolve . “ Imagine if events could be delivered by a net zero supply chain and the carbon footprint of every event was transparently shared .” And that sort of leadership is clearly what the industry associations are hoping to provide in the lead up to the COP26 meeting and beyond . As I write this , there is an array of top global players including Freeman , Informa , RX , the Italian Exhibition Group , Javits Center , Koelnmesse , MCI and several others already registered as participants , and it looks set to have a significant impact .
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There is much to be done and it is to be hoped that the various initiatives which have been launched to help lead the events industry toward achieving serious net zero commitments can collaborate in as productive a manner as possible . This is too important an issue and time is too pressing to allow for prolonged debate on who should be leading . Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction here . EN
Paul Woodward
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SEC , the venue of COP26 |
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Autumn — 19 |