GES launches ESG Progress Report

We’ve had a burning ambition to further reinforce our ESG commitments for some time. We’re proud of how far we’ve come in the past few years but we’re always mindful that we can do more. So, when we appointed our first-ever Head of ESG, Kate Holliday, in late 2023, we saw this as an opportunity to take stock and inform our plans for our ESG roadmap.?

Following months of data analysis and assessment, Kate has developed a far better understanding of our achievements in the field and identified areas in which we - as a company as well as an industry - can improve the effect we have on our surroundings and the wider world.?

She’s looked closely at what we can all do to ensure our commitments are not just powerful but achievable and meaningful too. From this work, she has identified three main areas that we need to consider and address:

1. Data is a huge challenge for the industry, but it also presents a huge opportunity.

It’s no surprise that gaps in data make effective reporting extremely difficult and Kate calls on the industry to better support the cause. By its very nature, the events industry can be diverse and disparate, and this has a huge impact on how we measure and report on things.? Across the spectrum of events there are a plethora of different businesses assessing different?kinds of data. For example, at any one point you can have the venue, agency, client, production company, and graphics company all taking data, none of which is standardised. This leaves you with stakeholders measuring any number of varying outputs, using different apps, ISO levels, and potentially employing their own metrics.

Bearing in mind, that a company like GES has some 250 suppliers, all doing things differently, and who in many cases are required to meet corporate standards that are not for discussion or debate.

It’s therefore fair to say, this produces a challenging backdrop, against which we must try to work together to produce a clear end goal. We need parties to collaborate and find common ground when it comes to data insights, as this could provide us with massive data sets, across sprawling industries, and from different perspectives. Then, real change can be tracked, measured, and implemented across the breadth of the industry.

2. There are increasing opportunities to expand community engagement and exciting ways in which businesses can contribute to social change.

We want to ensure that when we discuss ESG, those conversations go beyond environmental sustainability and instead include social sustainability and the tangible impact events can have on communities.

While venues and production companies are mostly static, events themselves are often transient. This means they consume waste, carbon, and the like, before essentially moving on.?The notion of legacy and social good addresses the responsibility to leave behind good, not just trails of waste and carbon footprints.

By acknowledging the importance of legacy we ensure that the ESG conversation isn't just about waste and recycling, it's about responsible?business and community engagement. We want to look at ways in which we can leave a positive lasting impression on the communities we touch and there is enormous potential to make a difference.

3. Innovation and technology – and the speed at which we develop and evolve technology will dictate the speed at which we can make change. We lean heavily on technology to solve our existing problems and we need it to keep apace, while also investing in data to highlight its worth.

An area of focus for Kate and her team has been ‘flooring’. Event flooring has always had a significant impact on waste and in turn carbon output. So, Kate and her team have spent time drilling down into the details and better understanding the impact of specific flooring and questioning the data that has, until now, informed our choices.

From her work, we now have a far greater understanding of the impact of specific products we use and the difference our innovative sustainable solutions can have on carbon emissions. Stats such as this educate clients and create compelling business cases for the innovations we make and their potential for positive change.

Technology and innovation isn't just about 'event tech' it's about invention and new ways of doing things, which in the world of sustainability can range from designing low grade plastic hoardings or creating recyclable banners.?

Essentially it takes investment, not only in the products themselves but also in the data that proves their worth. GES continues to invest time and energy into innovative new solutions, and we see it as our responsibility to continue innovating and helping the industry to move forward.

View our ESG Progress Report here.