Landor LINKS'
The drive to decarbonise

Decarbonisation is in Landor LINKS' DNA...

 

As a publisher and events company, Landor LINKS was established to address policy and operational themes that are an integral part of the drive to decarbonise society.
 

It has a 30-year-plus pedigree in publishing and programming events promoting:
 

• Passenger transport

• Better land-use planning and transport integration

• Active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling)

• Zero-emission travel

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Why Landor LINKS is a sustainable events / communications provider and company

 

‘Landor LINKS is a carbon-aware event organiser. We seek to minimise the carbon footprint of all the events we organise. We carefully select venues and the companies within our supply chain. We strive to make it as easy as possible for our attendees and exhibitors to work together to minimise carbon emissions.’

 

Why carbon awareness is important

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Many of our sponsors, exhibitors and partners may be subject to carbon reporting rules, and that means they need to consider all the suppliers in their own supply chains – even small ones – and that includes us.

 

We can re-assure our suppliers, up and down the chain, that we have publicly committed to the voluntary reduction of carbon in our own supply chain.

 

This means we give extra scrutiny to how much material we print / collateral we create for events, our recycling policy, use of sustainable sources of food and drink at events, no single use plastics, avoiding flying and all non-essential travel, using public transport or active modes where possible, using local suppliers and minimising our carbon consumption wherever possible.

 

Carbon-aware business practice is required to address climate change

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The recent requirements for businesses to report carbon emissions is supported by the Paris Agreement, which is the international contract aimed at addressing climate change.

 

The 189 countries who signed the Paris Agreement have committed to take steps to reduce their carbon emissions in a global effort to limit global temperature rises to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2040.

 

UK-based large enterprises, publicly-listed companies, and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) are required to report their carbon emissions every year.

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Large companies have at least 2 of:
 

• a gross income of £36 million or more

• balance sheet assets of £18 million or more

• 250 employees or more

 

There are no current reporting requirements for small businesses. Some may benefit from doing so voluntarily, including those who:
 

• sell to larger businesses that must report emissions

• have customers that value lower carbon impact

• need to reduce energy and transport costs

• want to be prepared for future legal changes

 

Landor LINKS is aware of all four of the above points, for both its internal performance (event, publishing and online communications) and its management of third-party events.

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Mandatory carbon reporting in the UK

 

Greenhouse gas emissions are considered either “direct” or “indirect” emissions. They are categorised into three groups or “scopes” by international and national carbon accounting standards. 

 

Scopes 1,2 and 3 are the basis for mandatory GHG reporting in the UK. The term first appeared in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol of 2001.

 

• Scope 1 emissions— This one covers the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions that a company makes directly — for example while running its boilers and vehicles.

 

• Scope 2 emissions — These are the emissions it makes indirectly – like when the electricity or energy it buys for heating and cooling buildings, is being produced on its behalf.

 

• Scope 3 emissions —This category includes all emissions associated, not with the company itself, but that the organisation is indirectly responsible for, up and down its value chain. For example, from buying products from its suppliers, and from its products when customers use them. Emissions-wise, Scope 3 is nearly always the big one – events fit in here.

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Note on events

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Events have a substantial environmental impact, from production and transportation to waste. According to the University of Freiburg, each visitor causes an average of 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes CO2 equivalents in a three-day conference. To achieve the Paris 1.5-degree target, each person worldwide must emit 2.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents annually by 2030. This demonstrates how carbon intensive an event can be and how important it is to decarbonise this activity.

 

A one-day virtual event with 200 attendees results in carbon emissions equivalent to that of driving 3,300 miles or burning 1,500 pounds of coal. If held face-to-face, that same event would generate nearly 66 times more carbon emissions.

 

Therefore, companies must monitor and reduce their event’s carbon footprint. The GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard identifies events and conferences as a scope 3 activity that is not included in the list of scope 3 categories.

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General Landor LINKS carbon-aware initiatives

 

Venues

 

We only work with venues that have:

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• Active mode or public transport accessibility

• Sustainable catering policies

• Fair human resource policies

 

Waste

 

We use:

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• Reusable bamboo lanyards

• Paper badges where necessary (we’ve removed the plastic)

• No plastic bags

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Print

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We commit to:

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• Reducing or eliminating print products

• Working towards removal of paper programmes       

• Use no laminated products

• Our remaining publications now uses sustainable paper stock and vegetable dye inks – now standard for publications

• We recycle all print / event collateral

 

Food/catering 

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We use:

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• Vegetarian / vegan lunch options always available

• Tap water in jugs – no plastic bottles

• Independent local / growers / caterers (where possible)

• No paper / plastic disposable crockery or tableware

• Local suppliers where possible – going the extra mile to reduce miles

• Eliminate unnecessary paper use

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Couriers

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We use:

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• eCargo Bike Courier deliveries in London

• eVan deliveries outside of London
  Logistics: We use a car-sharing system to transport goods to and from venues where appropriate

 

 

Venues

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• We appraise the sustainability of all venues we work with

 

 

Energy consumption

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• Our office systems/tech have been purchased with energy consumption in mind – LED screens, removal of server room/air conditioning

 

Educate

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We have created Carbon Ambassadors to educate and inform participants. We talk about what we are doing to make a difference on our website and social media channels – this raises awareness and educates attendees