MICEBOOK - POWER 50 GREEN CHAMPIONS COVER 1 - Flipbook - Page 17
Page 17
Neil Evans
Meg Strahle
Sustainability Consultant, The Bulb
As part of her role with The Bulb, Meg has
been an integral part of the team driving
a global sustainability strategy for a key
client account. Under her watch, the
agency was the first global experiential
agency to roll out isla’s TRACE carbon
measurement platform across the UK,
North America and Tokyo and she has
provided sustainability expertise across
multiple projects for household brands.
Her key goals as the sustainability
manager were to get teams excited and
engaged around sustainability on a global
level, integrate the teams and suppliers
into TRACE, and provide expertise to
influence and drive sustainability in
consumer activations globally. The most
important thing was to get teams to view
it as not just the right thing to do, but also
a creative opportunity.
With built-in support from senior
leadership across the different regions,
Meg established Sustainability Champions
in each region to give her support from
the bottom up as well as top down. She
produced and delivered TRACE training
across North America, UK, and Tokyo, and
the platform to teams in Madrid, Mexico,
Australia, and Egypt. She then engaged
with users, supporting on projects and
data collection, to get them comfortable
with the platform.
By giving the teams tools to understand
TRACE, this allowed them to approach
pitches and projects with innovative
materials and carbon footprint data, using
the platform itself as a decision-making
tool. More teams are slowing down to think
about the impact of their choices before
diving into the design phase and can now
convince clients to buy into the more
sustainable option.
Another success area Meg is proud of is
supplier engagement implementation.
She presented the strategy to 50 global
suppliers in 2022, and has hosted seven
workshops this year, engaging with 32
different supplier teams, presenting the
strategy and introducing TRACE with a
brief training. The participant feedback
has been positive and engaging.
Naomi Warmington
Co-Founder and Director, Nteractive
Senior Sustainability Manager,
Informa
Neil Evans and Matt Brownfield
co-founded Nteractive in 2010 and from its
inception, Neil has demonstrated a deep
personal commitment to environmental
sustainability. Following the pandemic, he
was inspired to accelerate the agency’s
sustainability plans, and launched the
Nteractive Better Choices Programme, a
comprehensive framework designed to
empower clients in making
environmentally conscious decisions that
enhance the overall brand experience
with a reduced environmental impact.
With an international career spanning
20+ years, Naomi has driven change
management programmes to educate
and empower through-out the supply
chain from exhibitors, contractors, venue
management and event organisers.
Identifying the need for change in 2016,
Naomi studied the Associate Certificate in
Environmental Management and was
awarded Practitioner Status with the
Institute of Environmental Management
and Assessment (IEMA). Coupled with an
MSC in Events Management, Naomi’s
ambition was and remains to educate
and empower the industry to deliver
climate-change results within the events
sector.
Naomi led the project team securing the
first Green Globe certification in the
Middle East for Venue Operations and has
designed and delivered countless training
courses and workshops taking her time to
mentor and support many within the
industry on delivering sustainable
solutions for the events industry on a
global scale.
In her current role as Senior Sustainability
Manager at Informa, she supports teams
on those areas in which they can make
significant contributions including
operations, the content and knowledge
Informa’s brands provide and the
communities in which they work.
She has supported Informa to secure net
zero carbon events status on a number of
events and is managing a team to
develop a roadmap for other events
wishing to pursue CarbonNeutral Certification across Informa, with the ambition to
white label the process and launch it to
the wider industry. The potential impact of
this is huge, given the scale of the
exhibitions industry both within Informa
and across the sector.
Naomi’s work in education also continues
and she is a valued contributor within the
Net Zero Carbon events Initiative. She also
gives her time in a volunteer capacity to
support change in the community
advising schools and local community
groups on how they can deliver sustainable results.
Nteractive’s initial focus involved
identifying impactful, immediate actions,
such as transitioning its energy sources to
100% renewable electricity and green gas,
saving 5 tonnes of CO2e compared with a
fossil fuel electricity tariff.
As part of The Nteractive Better Choices
Programme, the agency has committed
to an annual review to ensure continuous
improvement across the business.
Recognising the importance of carbon
measurement, Neil engaged the expertise
of Ben Quarrell from Sustainability
Simplified to help implement TRACE by isla,
which enables it to measure the carbon
footprint of client events. He has set a
target to reduce emissions by 50% on an
event-by-event basis by 2030.
All 101 full-time staff members dedicated
to event and sponsorship delivery have
undergone role-specific training,
including the implementation of TRACE by
isla. To ensure the feasibility of its
commitments, Nteractive has adapted its
company processes and introduced a
dedicated "Sustainability Objectives"
meeting at the onset of each project.
Recently, the agency developed
sustainability reports for AutoDesk and
HPE, providing them with visibility into their
events' carbon footprint for the first time,
along with clear recommendations for
future reductions.
Additionally, Nteractive is undertaking a
comprehensive audit of suppliers'
sustainability practices and training
suppliers on data collection and input
procedures necessary to measure their
carbon footprint accurately using the
TRACE platform. This collaborative effort
ensures that sustainability considerations
permeate throughout the supply chain,
promoting a more environmentally
conscious event industry.
