On the 18th July 2024, The European Political Community Summit was hosted at one of the UK’s most quintessential historic buildings, Blenheim Palace. Identity were FCDO’s chosen delivery partner for this project, and Worlds Better were chosen to support Identity to lead sustainability within their project delivery team.
Sustainability was a high priority, with the aims of achieving ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management Certification, as well as PAS 2060 Carbon Neutrality.
Identity and Worlds Better worked with FCDO to obtain these certifications, by implementing processes, procedures and collating evidence to support processes. Referencing FCDO’s Sustainability Governing Principles, Identity developed an ambitious sustainability management plan and sustainability objectives keeping measurable initiatives on track and well managed.
Venue
UNESCO World Heritage Site, Blenheim Palace, was chosen as the venue for the European Political Community Meeting. Blenheim Palace has set themselves an ambitious goal: achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2027. Beyond that they will use their assets to capture nearly 250,000 tonnes of carbon helping other businesses achieve their goals. The Estate’s carbon footprint was measured at 32,000 tonnes in 2019 and they have already reduced that nearly 40% to just over 20,000 tonnes in 2023.
Blenheim Palace is on a path to becoming a net generator of renewable energy by investing on their estate in hydro, solar and biomass. This initiative not only meets the Estate’s energy needs sustainably but also contributes to the broader energy grid. The power for this event is from 100% renewable energy, some of which is generated on the Estate as little as 2km from the Palace.
Production
Identity’s objective was to hire as much as possible and reduce the amount of purchased and bespoke items produced. Hired infrastructure and furniture was brought in providing curated spaces for delegates, media and crew on site. The remaining small number of purchased/bespoke products and materials left over were given to EventCycle, then donated to local charities and organisations; successfully rehoming good quality carpet, flats, lamps, rugs, tables and bins.
Catering
Menus were carefully curated with sustainability and nutrition in mind for each of our different audiences on site. For staff catering, ‘meat free Mondays’ were implemented to reduce meat consumption, as meat has three times the carbon emissions than vegetarian meals. For delegate and media catering much of the food consumed at the event was produced on Blenheim Palace’s Estate through their regenerative farms and no-dig horticultural enterprises or sourced locally.
Waste
Zero waste to landfill is a key sustainability initiative for FCDO managed events. Implementation of this on site included mandating no single use plastics, encouraging crew and delegates to bring their own reusable water bottles, and all single use serveware used in crew catering were compostable.
A soft plastic recycling programme was introduced, encouraging supplier to dispose of soft clear plastics (such as pallet wrap and bubble wrap) in the allocated bins; these were then taken off site and recycled.
Food Waste
To further minimise waste to landfill and promote circularity, food preparation waste generated from crew catering was processed at Blenheim using the Palace’s own Ecobot via ‘Tumblebug’; converting food waste into compost for growing gourmet mushrooms on-site and other fresh produce for the Estate’s catering services. The Ecobot was used to dry, homogenise and sanitise 843 kilograms of food prep waste. This avoided the need to transport waste offsite by lorry and was turned into 200 kilograms of pellets, using Tumblebug’s proprietary process.
These pellets will be retained for use as a feedstock in Tumblebug’s CHP rotating batch pyrolysis process which is at prototype phase. The technology will deliver biochar, thermal energy and carbon capture. The biochar pellets produced will go on to be used for water treatment, land remediation, horticultural or agricultural use.
Tumblebug are developing an onsite solution for food waste, coffee waste, manure and green waste management which they plan to roll out to support local authorities, businesses and farms. Their solution has the ability to reduce emissions at all stages of our food system and improve soil security through production of regenerative growing mediums and fertilisers, as well as generate economic value for all stakeholders.
Positive Local Impact
To create a positive economic legacy locally to Blenheim Palace, local suppliers were prioritised to stimulate local, national and regional economic development; setting out to have 75% of the events supply chain be within a 100-mile radius of the Palace.
Overall, the European Political Community Summit at Blenheim Palace on July 18th 2024, set an excellent standard for sustainable event management. Through the collaborative efforts of Identity, Worlds Better, and FCDO, the summit achieved ISO 20121 (and FCDO organisational certification covering future events), and the project is well on its way to achieving PAS 2060 certification.
By focusing on sustainability across all aspects of event delivery, the summit not only minimised its environmental footprint but also created a lasting positive impact on the local community and set a precedent for future events.
Comments