COVER FEATURE
Green around
the globe
Lourda Derry, director at Easyfairs – UK & Global, on trying to
maintain consistent sustainability standards on an international
scale
“I
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t does pose a challenge if you want
to go in for a sustainability award.
Seventy per cent of our shows are
international, and maybe half of those are
in venues that wouldn’t make our show very
sustainable, or that we could be proud of
sustainability-wise,” says Lourda Derry,
director at Easyfairs – UK & Global.
EN first spoke to Derry earlier in the year,
when we were looking into sustainability
in the exhibition industry for our July 2018
cover feature. That article was largely UK-
focused and looked at how businesses were
striving to improve their – in many cases
already stringent – sustainability policies.
But what about companies that operated
internationally? Was it possible for an
organiser to implement a consistent standard
of sustainability across shows which span the
globe?
“For me sustainability in the UK is a
talked about subject, and it’s been tackled
by venues,” says Derry. “It’s almost old news
in Europe. Most people and most stand
constructions are using a lot that can be
reused.
“We’ve expanded so much globally, and
we are now so entrenched in that mindset
of sustainability in the UK that it’s second
nature to ask venues. In, let’s say, China (the
US isn’t very good either) when you ask about
sustainability they really couldn’t
January 2019 | exhibitionnews.co.uk
care less. The hardest thing as a UK-based
organiser, in terms of our standards, is that so
many of us are working internationally and
we’re not able to apply those standards.”
In China specifically, decades of
exponential economic growth have resulted in
the country emitting spectacularly high levels
of carbon. Four years ago, Premier Li Keqiang
declared ‘war on pollution’ but, while some
progress has been made in terms of fuel usage
and regulation, there is still a long way to go.
And for international organisers working
on the ground in countries like China, it can
feel like sustainability is far from being a
priority.
“That’s the big challenge at the moment,”
agrees Derry. “If you’re running a show in
Shanghai, where people have to wear face
masks because of the smog, they really don’t
care about how sustainable a 200-exhibitor
shell scheme show is.
“When we’re working in a country where
it isn’t high on their list, I think the way that
we can approach it in the first instance is to
look at what we’re offering to the exhibitors.
If you’re being enthusiastic about shell scheme
packages, or something that can be
reused, that’s a good way of
lowering the carbon footprint for a show.”
Derry also emphasises the value of
identifying the venue best suited to an event’s
intended visitor.
“At Easyfairs we run national and
international shows but generally speaking
we launch shows that are in the heart of the
visitor market,” she explains. “If we look
at how sustainable that show is, and where
people are travelling in from, the carbon
footprint of the visitors it tends to be low.
“Even with a show in Birmingham, 70
per cent of our visitors come from the West
Midlands. London is the same. In places like
Shanghai that’s the same.
“The fact is, as an organiser that’s there
once a year or once every two years, you can’t
really force a venue to change how they deal
with waste, or what fuel they use. You have
to approach it in a different way until the
legislation changes in that country.”
When EN asks where change needs to come
from in the industry, Derry conludes the
venues need to lead the way.
“The venues have to play a huge part in
making your show sustainable,” she says. “If
you look at something like the NEC, they
have the infrastructure in place to facilitate
your show being sustainable.
“It’s a challenge and it starts with the
venues. Contractors are doing a pretty good
job, they’re probably in the same situation as
us in that they’re providing a service.
“As an organiser we’re judged on
something that we can’t necessarily control,
because we can’t influence
the infrastructure of a
developing country.
That’s the crux of
it.” EN