At the EICC, good sustainability practices underline everything we do. As well as helping our clients to create climate-friendly events, we strive to be a responsible organisation ourselves, and to set the standard in the events industry for greener gatherings.
Where did the idea for an EICC Impact report come from?
The EICC started offering individual impact reports to event organisers in 2022, providing data around the utilities used, the carbon footprint of their chosen menu, management of any waste created, the sustainability level of signage, and the impact of any social activities. When I joined the EICC last year, I thought why aren’t we doing these reports for ourselves? So I set about collecting all the data we had from the past 10 years to collate our own Impact Report. Armed with all the meter readings and event data, we could see the big picture of how we were doing in 2013 compared to now. In that time, our venue has expanded and we’re doing twice as many events, but we’ve been careful to ensure our environmental impact is minimal.
Can you share some of the operational changes the EICC has made to reduce its carbon footprint?
The nature of the events industry means heating and lighting are always going to be the biggest contributors to our carbon emissions. By meticulously monitoring the building management systems (BMS), we’ve made a huge impact on reducing our emissions. We look ahead at event schedules and tailor the building’s heating and cooling system to the areas being used at specific times.
We're also replacing the back house lighting with LEDs which are linked to sensors so they only come on when required. That means we won’t have to worry about people forgetting to turn off the lights as they leave a room (a common occurrence in buildings the world over!).
While we are always improving our practices, prioritising sustainability is not a new thing for the EICC. My role has existed since the venue opened in 1995, as has the Green Team, which is made up of 12 departmental representatives from across the business. This kind of internal focus on sustainability was very rare among venues and organisations in the 90s and early noughties. EICC was the frontrunner in that respect.
It’s clear there is a lot of focus on sustainability internally, but how do you work with clients to create responsible events?
Step Change is our overarching sustainability program, which includes our Event Impact Reports, a Desk to Door travel planner for delegates and the Climate Action Contribution, which is our partnership with RSPB Scotland.
"We’ve found that 85% of people using the travel planner are choosing the lowest carbon route"
The emissions associated with delegate travel is always going to be a tricky area to control but what we do is inform people of the most sustainable travel options available to them. Powered by You.Smart.Thing, our Desk to Door travel planner allows delegates to enter their destination and find the lowest carbon methods of getting here and back. Think of it like Google maps but ranking routes by CO₂ emissions rather than journey time.
We added the travel planner tool to our website in August last year, and we’ve found that 85% of people using the platform choose the lowest carbon route. While most of those are delegates from within the UK, we’ve had people from all over the world using it - as far as New Zealand and Japan!
The Climate Action Contribution is an opportunity for our clients to give something back to the environment, with a £1 donation per delegate (or 50p for a dinner guest). It’s not much per individual but it can make a big difference to our chosen carbon mitigation cause – RSPB Scotland’s peatland restoration programme at Forsinard Flow Nature Reserve in the North of Scotland. At this point, in September 2024, I’m proud to say that we have raised around £70,500 for the project.
How do you reduce the volume of waste associated with events?
Food waste is typically a big problem in our industry but our catering partner Leith’s works closely with each client to help keep waste to a minimum and to highlight the lowest carbon menu options. As well as serving local and seasonal dishes wherever possible, we will always aim to serve appropriately-sized portions and advise against buffet-style catering, which tends to result in more waste.
This focus on encouraging sustainable menus helps to reduce the volume of waste from the start, then we strive to ensure whatever waste we do have is dealt with in the most responsible way. We work with a company called Olio which redistributes any edible leftover dishes to the local community via an app. It’s an amazing initiative, users can browse all the meals available in their area and then collect their chosen meal for free. We’ve donated over 730 meals this year so far.
“We work with a company called Olio which redistributes any edible leftover dishes to the local community … We’ve donated over 730 meals this year so far.”
Any inedible food waste is turned into energy and biofertilizer using aerobic digestion, which is effectively like a big stomach! We actually work with four waste management companies to ensure that nothing goes to landfill. Waste oil from the kitchen is refined into Biodiesel. Glass waste is turned into aggregate or insulation wool, and any other waste that is not recyclable is turned into energy for the grid.
People sometimes have doubts about where waste really goes so we recently organised for our Green Team to visit one of our waste management partners. It might not sound like a fun day out but everyone was fascinated to see how the waste is sorted and processed.
Why do you think it’s important for the EICC to be doing all of this and to set a good example?
First of all, it's the right thing to do. As an organisation, we believe it’s our moral responsibility to tackle climate change. It's something that affects us all. The earth’s temperatures are steadily increasing – this can be seen just by looking at our own building management system, which shows the cooling requirement has increased over the 30 years the EICC has been operating. Thankfully, most people are very aware of the importance of acting now. More and more organisations ask us questions about our award-winning sustainable activities, and more venues are starting to apply similar sustainability efforts.
Since we published our own Impact Report, other venues have reached out to ask us how they can learn from what we’re doing at the EICC. And I’m very happy to tell them. Sustainability's a challenge for everybody. If we find something that works, then we're happy to shout about it. After all, we’re all in the same boat – or more accurately, on the same planet!
Six easy ways delegates can reduce their carbon footprint
*Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2013