Sustainability forms one of the key pillars of Olympia Events’ corporate strategy, explained Siân Richards, Head of Sustainability at Olympia Events.

In 2017, a team of passionate people from across the company came together to form a sustainability working group and strategy. “We call it The Grand Plan,” she said. “Its goal is to leave a positive impact through all that we do. It spans our three areas of focus: Community, Environment & Collaboration.”

The team has committed to make a positive net impact on the environment and encourages its clients and partners to deliver sustainable events. To that end, in 2021 Olympia Events became one of the first signatories of the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge.

One of this year’s Grand Plan objectives was to pilot measuring the carbon footprint of an event. The Laithwaites Wine Festival 2024 was identified as a great opportunity. The team discussed the proposal with the client, and they agreed to collaborate.

Some 5000 consumers attend the show which hosts 128 exhibitors with an exhibition floor area of over 6,000m2 in the Olympia National hall. The exhibitors are primarily wine producers and retailers that sell their products via Laithwaites.

Green Circle Solutions was commissioned to undertake a carbon footprint calculation to measure the impact of the event and look for areas of improvement for future events.

“GCS did more than expected. We initially thought they would come onsite and provide a few recommendations, with the carbon footprint measurement taking place next year, once recommendations had been implemented, but, of course, being as thorough as they are, a much more detailed report and analysis was created which is really useful,” said Siân.

Unsurprisingly, some 96% of emissions were attributed to visitor travel in line with the Net Zero Carbon Events (NZCE) initiative findings that this is one of the key areas that organisers need to focus on along with production and waste. Of the remaining emissions, 39% were attributed to venue energy and 16% to food and beverage, also reflecting the NZCE findings and two of the areas already being targeted by Olympia Events’ Grand Plan.

Due to the nature of the event, only a small proportion of emissions came from infrastructure, as the majority of stands are modular and are reused each year.

“A key learning was to start capturing data such as visitor travel at the earliest possible opportunity. The only way to gather meaningful data from visitors, on mode and distance of travel, is to make it mandatory when they buy a ticket to the show.” said Siân.

“It was a worthwhile exercise. We will take the recommendations in GCS’s report and use the lessons learned to help clients improve the sustainability of their events,” she added.

This is a key milestone in Olympia Events’ forward-thinking sustainability strategy.

The next step in Olympia Events' Grand Plan is to hone individuals’ sustainability objectives. “We are looking at each role, trying to make objectives simpler and more relevant to show employees how they can more meaningfully contribute. For example, a car park attendant can help by asking drivers to turn off their engines if they are running their vehicles unnecessarily to pump up their aircon or heating,” she added.

In summing up, Siân said: “As a venue there are certain areas that we control and others we cannot. Whilst we do have influence with our direct clients, the event organisers, as we go down the chain through to their exhibitors and contractors, then sub-contractors, we have less influence. It can be quite a complex supply chain, but we are committed to working with clients as far as we can to improve sustainability overall.”

“Collaboration is key; we cannot drive change on our own,” she added.