CRACKING CLIMATE WEEK IN NYC

WHY WAS I THERE?        

The back story is that my company, YOURGB, delivered some key events during COP26, and during our productions we spent time with a collective of incredible people leading the fight against Climate Change. Notably the brilliant Christiana Figueres. The content we were producing with Christiana and her peers made me urgently consider my industry, and our role within the challenge. Sustainability soon became one of our key values at YOURGB. Our focus on this area lead to us asking questions that we couldn't find the answer to. Namely - how much carbon do our events actually emit?

We innovated, developed and launched our Event Carbon Calculator, in close partnership with a science led organisation. It was created and is being constantly evolved to answer this question - and utilising it we can now measure and monitor carbon data, to enable us to reduce carbon emissions from the events we produce. It also allows us to transparently report event carbon emissions to our clients for them to include within their own Scope 3 reporting. In addition to this we offset unavoidable emissions meaningfully, and as such we are a certified Carbon Neutral Company.

Our level of care means we are actively aligning ourselves with like minded brands. One of these brands (one of our clients), is the primary reason I was in New York for Climate Week. I was meeting with our network there, our suppliers, extended team, contacts, and current CW sponsors to scope key opportunities, discuss challenges, and complete viability checks for Climate Week NYC 2025 activations.

I am so delighted that through our mission to prioritise Sustainability, we have been able to further our relationship with the awesome David Adshead and the incredible team Climate Group, who simply could not have been better hosts.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT        

Walking from Hells Kitchen, the awareness driving Climate Week NYC 2024 is impressive - billboarding and digital adverts - you know it's happening, and you know it's important. When approaching the venue itself, 'The Hub' of Climate Week NYC (The Glasshouse on 12th Avenue), you can feel excitement in the air.

As Climate Week is held in conjunction with the UN General Assembly (#UNGA79 for more content) there were blacked out cars and security everywhere in the city - Joe Biden, Narendra Modi and Emmanuel Macron were on the same street as us on opening day...

With a rabble of people waiting to gain entry to The Hub, there was (quite rightly) strict admission protocol to the venue. Identity checks, bag searches, the works. Worth noting however the experience wasn't akin to passport control at JFK - even the security staff were smiling at Climate Week.

After I was zipped up to the atrium in the lift, my events hat firmly on - I was immediately impressed with the slickness of the operation - in fact the whole event was incredibly well run, and very well attended, which are important considerations for Sponsors.

Sessions were well announced, started on time, guest speaker attendance on point, live camera relay, on demand access post event, live streaming across the globe, brand awareness, smooth audio visual, quality design... It was all on point. This is down to the awesome work of Mandy Simmons and her team, a job well done.

MY TAKE ON THE CLIMATE WEEK OPPORTUNITY        

In my opinion, regardless of your industry, it's seriously important to be part of this conversation. Also, if you want to position yourself and your brand as a thought leader in the sustainability sector - you need to be a guest speaker or sponsor at this event.

The line up is impressive - inspirational. With the show headed up by Climate Group's CEO, the wonderful Helen Clarkson , the message was clear. "It’s Time to think about the crucial decisions and action we need to start taking right now, to leave COP30 with the world in better shape."??

I had the great fortune to hear some of the world's leading Chief Sustainability Officers speaking their mind during the series of events I attended - and I was delighted to see there is quite the female force driving change within many global companies. These people are amazing - women like Nancy Mahon , the Chief Sustainability Officer at Estée Lauder, and Maria Pia De Caro , the EVP, Global Operations and Sustainability at Pernod Ricard - are recognising their company's responsibilities in the fight against climate change.

Everyone agrees - IT'S TIME. For context, In 2022, the IPCC calculated that greenhouse gas emissions would need to come down by 43% by 2030 to stay on course, an annual decrease of around 5%. But global emissions continue at their insane levels in spite of the rapid growth of renewables and the sale of electric vehicles. Coal and oil usage have gone up - which is mind blowing. Even the US, with its most ambitious administration on climate in history, only reduced emissions by 1.9% in 2023.

What I loved most about Climate Week NYC was that it wasn't just circular, cyclical "brand positioning" chit-chat or doom and gloom scaremongering - it's data discussion, with positive commitments being made publicly. There's accountability and action everywhere you look. For more details on this, and to learn about the 7 clear and logical tasks being asked of companies globally click here.

A clear take away for me was that Sustainability is being driven by consumers and investors. It's no longer a moral issue, it's very much a commercial one. The general POV recognises that there is a general perception that investing in sustainable measures will negatively affect profit margins, but the general evidence being shared suggests that the two are not mutually exclusive - and if anything, brands that don't advance sustainability will see an inevitable cooling off.

Climate Week in NYC is far reaching. It's widely supported and events pop up everywhere. I had the pleasure of attending CWNYC Sponsor Deloitte's Head Office events - with thanks to John O'Brien MD Sustainability, Climate & Equity. It was a joy to attend the Equality Lounge talks with The Female Quotient and listening to women like Denise Quarles , Head of External Affairs at Siemens, and Shyla Raghav Chief Climate Officer at TIME discuss the disproportionate affect of climate change on women & children across the globe.

Another highlight was the main stage content - listening to CSO at Delta Air Lines Amelia DeLuca (worth noting an exceptionally engaging speaker) spoke passionately about the strides they are making in terms of clean aviation fuel, that we now know it works, and that it just needs scaled. I loved her key message, that quite simply, we shouldn’t have to choose between seeing the world, and saving the world.

It resonates with me in terms of the event industry as there is a tricky balance between supporting internationalism in events and championing sustainability. We've got to keep moving - our business is all about bringing people together, while we do the best that we can to keep carbon emissions down. The discussion reminded me about a closer to home conversation stemmed from Edinburgh Council banning Airlines from advertising or activating in/on any council owned property. All the while we recognise that EventScotland 's priority is to attract, bid for, and secure major sporting, cultural, and business events for Scotland. We actively push to bring millions of people to Scotland, more than half of them international visitors - that fly here. It's counter intuitive and sticky, and needs to be faced into.

Listening to Amelia talk openly about Delta Airlines and their contribution to carbon emissions, whilst talking through their work on sustainability and how it's being implemented across their flight experience. I found it to be an honest and strong example of doing the very best you can, within the industry you’re in. I think there are so many companies that resist even mentioning sustainability, because they know their practices or industry have a lot to answer for - but it's my opinion that everyone needs to do what they can, be brave and talk about it. I see that the fear of being labeled a greenwasher can stifle innovation and progress. I don't think we need perfect sustainability from some; we need imperfect action from many.

MY VIEW ON EVENT INDUSTRY SUSTAINABILITY TRENDS        

Carbon offsetting is still a tricky business. At YOURGB we understand that we are our client's Scope 3, which is why carbon measurement and reduction became an absolute priority for us. We are also carbon neutral, which means we offset any unavoidable carbon – and it can be problematic.

• Top line advice, avoid tree planting, unless you are paying to research biodiversity and pay for the continued protection of the trees indefinitely. ?

My trip to NYC will have created around 2 metric tonnes of carbon, in the simplest way of thinking (as measurements all depends of tree type, location, and working on the assumption that biodiversity was management and trees are fully protected) I’d need to plant two trees and protect them for 100 years, and guarantee they were never burnt down, to cover my carbon.

• The route for integrity in carbon offsetting seems to be around plastic offsetting where you pay to clean the ocean of plastic (real time benefits to wildlife) and having the plastic recycled back into the economy (repurpose & reuse). Read more about the incredible work of the company The Ocean Cleanup.
• We're seeing event locations being chosen because of their equidistance to delegates / rather than just going for the main hubs.
• Carbon management – a key service of my company, where carbon is tracked and reduced as the event is being planned - is wanted.
• Carbon neutral event accreditation – a build on carbon management, where our carbon tracking is then analysed by scientists and unavoidable carbon is offset responsibly and events are provided carbon neutral status - is wanted.
• Less tat – as the company that came up with the orange Aperol Spritz sunglasses back in 2012, I shudder to think about the effects of those 40,000 plastic sunnies YOURGB made had on the environment… We are seeing less of that for sure, thankfully.
• Food – we’re doing a lot of ‘menus within 50 miles’ approaches, and we’re seeing red meat disappearing off most event menus.
• Plastics – plastic water bottles etc – they are out - it's low hanging fruit but always surprising to see that they continue to be used.
• Live Streaming/Recording and editing are useful tools when looking to prioritise sustainability. Key services for us, we're seeing the demand swing back, because it's important to be able to bring people into the room that either can’t travel, or want to reduce their carbon footprint.
• Boats and trains over planes, and EV vehicles where you can – simple but effective
• Supply Chain – popping positive pressure up and down the chain in terms of sustainability, we include sustainability credentials of venues and suppliers we work with within pitches now.
• Requests for EV coaches and cars – car wise we are now in a good place with EV car fleets, but EV coaches are still a new technology and it’s a real gap in the market.
• Branding & event structures – there’s innovation around recyclable materials and effort being made in terms of how things are being made, and where they go afterwards.
• Re-use - we're seeing more brands and companies taking better care of their event assets. The days of chucking them in a warehouse to rot are going. We are now being given budget to clean, wrap, and store items for reuse.
• Reward & engagement – we’re seeing brands innovate around how they help their consumers support their efforts – for our work on the six nations for example we created huge, branded vending machines for our client, where consumers are asked to return their cup to win incredible prizes.
• Zero-Waste Initiatives - we're aiming to eliminate or significantly reduce waste at the events we produce.
• Energy Efficiency - we're utilising renewable energy sources wherever we can - the days of petrol fuelled generators are numbered.
• Keep up with innovation and seek inspiration - there are more and more products coming on that marry sustainability with creativity and experiential. We spend a lot of time researching and following industry updates in this area. Kinetic dance floors, static bike electricity production and bio fuels - the solutions are coming, keep in the loop with us to find out more.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article - for any further information please contact me at [email protected]