Exhibition News Spring 2024 | Seite 7

NEWS
“ In over 300 speaking engagements , I ’ ve only ever been offered a heightadjustable lectern once . What ’ s worse is that only last year , I had to climb onto a stage because an organiser didn ’ t think to put a step there . I ’ d been asked what my dietary requirements were but nobody thought to ask about my access requirements .”
Shani Dhanda ( P10 )

71 %

Olympia Net Zero action plan reveals emissions need to fall by 71 %

Olympia London has published its action plan for achieving net zero by 2050 , as per the terms of the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge .
After signing up for the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge in 2021 , Olympia London took on environmental consultancy JRP Solutions to audit the venue and help plan the steps to becoming a net zero business .
Siân Richards , head of sustainability at Olympia London commented : “ We recognise we ’ ve got such a long way to go to meet our 2050 objective and we estimate we ’ ll need to reduce our emissions by 71 % by 2035 to achieve it . We ’ ve learnt that our Scope 3 indirect emissions account for 63 % of our carbon footprint so this will be a major area of focus . There ’ ll be lots of challenges and tough decisions along the way . However , our roadmap now sets us off on that pathway and gives us clear areas of focus .”
The Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge required signatories to publish their roadmap to net zero by the end of 2023 and report progress every two years .
Olympia London has been a driver of joint sustainability initiatives for many years through its ESG strategy , The Grand Plan . The venue reports annually on its sustainability status as well as providing each organiser with a post-event sustainability assessment report .
“ It ’ s a tough ask for country leaders to work together and find a way through the political , financial and day-to-day challenges to activate real change to achieve this goal . Similarly , it ’ s a massive challenge for individual companies to change their way of operating . The key factor in getting the industry to net zero will be collaboration on joint initiatives and sharing learnings ,” said Anna Golden , commercial director , Olympia London .
The amount that Olympia London plans to reduce its emissions by in 2035 .

16 million

The amount of people who are disabled in the UK , according to the World Health Organisation .

185,000

The number of tickets sold during Disney : 100 The Exhibition ’ s first run at ExCeL London .

132 %

The increase in Manchester Central ’ s visitors on the previous quarter , up 50,000 on the same period in 2022 .

£ 38,000

Raised by NEC Group for its nominated charity of the year , Alzheimer ’ s Research UK .
Spring — 07