By Lee Dalton, Roder UK
Many businesses across the events industry are finally waking up to the need for sustainability to be a basic cornerstone of day-to-day operations. However, there are still some who only pay lip service without meaningful or genuine action.
With the effects of climate change ever increasing, there is a pressing need for all of us in the industry to stand up and make significant changes to help protect not just the planet, but our industry for future generations.
As event professionals and suppliers, we should be aware of the impact our industry has on the environment, from product production to shipping, and of course, the events themselves, which see large numbers of people descend on one area at a time, consuming fuel and natural resources. It is our responsibility to lessen that impact wherever we can.
It’s Not Just Good for the Planet, It’s Great for Business
But (and here’s the secret), incorporating sustainable practices into your business plan isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for business too. Isla’s recent temperature check report asked event professionals what their main motivation was for improving sustainability performance and a huge 71% of respondents said ‘brand reputation and public image’ and 47% said their motivation was to ‘gain a competitive advantage’.
Having sustainability at the core of your business can be great for your brand reputation, and there are lots of schemes you can join to help shout about your work, like the Vision for Sustainable Events initiative and the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge. Signing pledges not only shows potential clients your commitment to sustainability, but it also encourages other businesses to follow suit.
At Roder UK, we’ve found that our clients are always really interested in the sustainability initiatives we introduce, and it can often become a great talking point for our sales team and for customer recommendations. Many of the events and festivals we supply our structures to also market themselves on their green credentials, and end users are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that those initiatives need to be implemented throughout the supply chain to make meaningful impact.
Cutting Carbon and Costs: The Economic Benefits of Sustainability
Not only does it show alignment with your values (and give you an excuse to drive cool electric cars!), but sustainable practices can also save you money. At our Roder UK base in Huntingdon, we’ve switched to renewable energy, and our entire site is powered by over two megawatts of solar power. Our electric telehandler is also powered through a solar hybrid generator to reduce the carbon emissions of our vehicles on site. This has had a huge impact on electricity costs, especially in the current energy crisis.
We’ve also switched to electrify much of our fleet, with 100% of our company cars now electric or hybrid. Everything that isn’t currently electrified in the fleet (HGVs and pickups are compliant with Euro 6 emissions standards.)
While the initial outlay of installing solar panels and purchasing electric vehicles can feel like a lot, we expect to see a saving of between £500-£100 per month on energy bills, and our diesel usage has reduced by over 1000 litres per month, and we know we’re significantly reducing our carbon footprint, doing our bit to help the planet.
Driving Down Emissions, One Journey at a Time
For event suppliers, transportation is always going to be a tough area to incorporate sustainability into, as by its nature, it burns fuel and is one of the most unavoidable parts of the business. However, Isla’s temperature check report cites staff travel (27%) and production transport (23%) as the two biggest contributors to event emissions, when not including audience travel, so it’s a key area for suppliers to look at when evaluating their sustainability goals.
To help reduce these emissions, many companies now have international bases to cut down on long-distance shipping, and lots of event organisers are turning to local suppliers or those using electric vehicles to help meet their sustainability goals.
At Roder UK, we recently supplied structures for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. This usually takes six truck journeys, and last year our Euro 6 diesel truck produced 236kg of CO2 per journey. This year, we worked with Voltloader, using their Volvo fully electric truck, which is charged from the grid and produces an equivalent of 80kg of CO2 per journey. That means they produced a total of 480kg of CO2e on this year’s deliveries, compared to 1,464kg last year, saving nearly a tonne of CO2e. That’s the equivalent of a month’s worth of emissions from an average UK resident.
The Road to Sustainability Is Simpler Than You Think
Making your business sustainable can sometimes feel overwhelming, unachievable, or even unimportant when juggling the demands of running a company and making ends meet. But I hope the information above shows that it doesn’t take a lot to make meaningful changes and that sustainable practices benefit both your business and the planet.
As the saying goes, “We don’t need one person doing sustainability perfectly; we need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” Now is the time to start.
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