Sustainability experts call for 100% renewable energy at venues

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On 7th September 2022, Hire Space ran their ‘Venue Talk’ event at London town house 41 Portland Place, which showcased their new hybrid equipment and streamed panelists. One important panel discussion tackled the issues around sustainability within the events industry and gave advice to venues on how they can enhance the sustainability of their spaces and events. Speakers included Mark Bannister, Production & Operations Director at Toucan Agency, Carina Jandt, Co-founder of Event Cycle, and Duncan Reid, CEO of Reset Connect.

The panellists strongly recommended venues switch to 100% renewable energy as soon as possible, and that they measure their carbon emissions. Venues must also find ways to reduce their energy usage, such as installing solar panels, dimmer switches and separating their venue hire pricing from their electricity pricing to encourage organisers to take greater responsibility when planning events.

Duncan Reid, CEO of Reset Connect, also suggested switching to a Power Purchase Agreement, where you can buy electricity as a cheaper fixed rate long-term, as well as writing to local MPs and pointing out the challenges venues and businesses will face due to paying high energy prices.

The panel also discussed repurposing event materials so nothing goes to waste. The speakers recommended that organisers and venues identify charities or organisations in the local community that could use surplus event materials, including food waste.

Mark Bannister said: “We found during the organisation of COP26 that by literally placing sustainability at the top of every meeting agenda, positive change happened.  Hire Space together with the venues represented in the room are clearly keen to do the same and help our industry steer a course towards Net Zero.”

You can read more about sustainability in the events industry on Hire Space’s Sustainability Content Hub.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.

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