Vision: 2025, Julie’s Bicycle and Festival Republic presented the most successful Sustainable Event Summit to date, October 23rd, 2024. In this blog, SES 24 host and Vision: 2025 Steering Group member, Graham Brown shares the highlights and key takeaways from the day which saw over 200 event professionals and suppliers come together to discuss the key challenges in creating sustainable events and to hear from the suppliers and experts about solutions for 2025:

The Showman’s Show once again was gracious host, as we welcomed over 200 event professionals and sustainability specialists to an insightful day of outdoor event sustainability discussions, inside a stunning Evolution Domes venue.

The day began with a morning of workshop roundtables, with 80 invited guests divided into working groups to take deep dives into the challenge and solutions to providing sustainable Food & Drink, Power, Water, Travel & Transport and Water at events. Table leaders shared headlines with the room, whilst details of the conversations will be incorporated into the content  of the Show Must Go On 3:  Climate Transition Plan to 2030 for the Outdoor Events Industry.

A delicious, vegan networking lunch, supplied by Eat To The Beat, fueled delegates into the open-access conference afternoon. Food remained a theme, as Levy UK’s CEO, Jon Davies, set the tone for a positive Summit with an inspirational Keynote delivery: A Recipe for Change. He framed the important role suppliers have to play in driving the transition, giving detailed examples of Levy’s commitments. He highlighted that new products and service models require investment and that suppliers and organisers can and should work together with budgeting for innovative solutions to support transition.

Jon Collins (CEO, Live Music UK) chaired the first panel:Shaping the Future: A Climate Transition Plan for 2030. An insightful discussion followed with guests: Feimatta Conteh (Arts Council England), Andrew Lansley (Cheltenham Festivals), Vikki Chapman (Festival Republic) and Hannah Cox (betternotstop).

The new “Quick Fire” session, hosted by Chris Barrett, Content Director at Access All Areas Magazine, saw guests giving the packed audience rapid-fire awareness into this season’s hot topics. Richard Phillips, (Julie’s Bicycle), framed how the industry is mobilising to create a Climate Transition Plan to 2030.

• Paul Schurink (Showpower Global B.V.) revealed that technology and solutions around sustainable energy had proven their credibility, with the example of 50 shows on the Coldplay tour powered entirely by batteries.
• Bonnie May, (Eat to the Beat), shared a Sustainable Food Vision, revealing fresh approaches to brave, ethical leadership and changing people’s attitudes through ‘nudging’ their choices and being creative with menus, she explained how its ‘Sustain-ABLE’ -‘Ability, Brave, Leader, Ethical’ ethos is promoting sustainable food choices within everyday operations and delivery to create relatable and achievable options.
• Suzanne Bull MBE, (Attitude is Everything), described the why and how to include disabled people in live event sustainability by taking a more holistic approach, revealing new resources for the sector, centered around the new “No Climate Action Without Us”.
• Rowan Barnes, (Material Focus), delved into a modern problem-the capture and disposal of vapes at outdoor events, which have quadrupled in use since 2022.
• Sarah Moore, Onboard:Earth, the new name and brand for the charity ecolibrium, gave an overview of the tools to move low-carbon travel into the heart of live events culture and tackle event travel emissions, describing the importance of getting involved.
• Bryan Raven (d&b solutions) closed the quickfire sessions by introducing SustainSymphony software, a free-to-access platform enabling organisers and suppliers to capture and measure their ESG data.

The next panel: In The Headlights, was hosted by Chris Johnson (onboard:earth) with guests: Chris Thompson (‘You.Smart.Thing.’), Phil Hayes (Citizen Ticket), Anna Johnson (Anjuna Beats) and Zofia Plonczak (Junction 2 Festival). Travel represents a significant impact for green-field events, with panellists sharing insights from practical experience and research of collecting event travel data for footprinting.

The Green Supplier & Innovations Award was presented by Showman’s organiser Johnny Lance to Boss Cabins, whose presentation highlighted significant emissions reduction via their DeepGreen cabins, which just edged the fantastic progress made by fellow finalists Instagrid and Geo Pura in 2024. 

AIF Chair, John Rostron, introduced the final panel, saving the “Best of the Summer” to last,  with guests who led the way through the 2024 season with campaigns to reduce the environmental impacts of events. Guests Ray Gilmore, Sustainability Manager, Festival Republic & Live Nation Ireland, Claire O’Neill (A Greener Future), Pauline Bourdon (Team Love) and Jasmine Norton-Lyons (Latitude) made sure we ended a brilliant afternoon on a high, thanks to their positive stories, highlighting that every event can make its own important difference.

SES was only possible thanks to the input of great speakers, fantastically engaged delegates and our generous sponsors:Festival Republic, Evolution Domes, Eat To The Beat, Production AV, MTD Pure Water, Sunbelt, LS Events, Instagrid, Peppermint Bars & Events and ‘You.Smart.Thing’.

To get involved as sponsor for next year’s event contact Graham Brown graham@vision2025.org.uk.

Photo: The Shaping the Future Panel – from left to right: Hannah Cox (betternotstop), Vikki Chapman (Live Nation), Andrew Lansley (Cheltenham Festivals), Feimatta Conteh (Arts Council England) and Jon Collins (LIVE UK)

Photo credit: Georgia Brown @ BrownFoxComms