Final Report of the Sustainability Team

Version 1.0

23rd August 2024

A team report of how the project was run including recommendations for future similar projects

Prepared by the Sustainability Team for the Lille Congress

Feel free to email the team with questions or comments at sustainability.congress24@sietareu.org

Target Audience(s):

  • Future Sustainability teams
  • Future Congress Organisers
  • Other SIETARs considering organising a Congress
  • Congress ’24 Organisers
  • SIETAR Europa Board
  • SIETAR Members

Chapters

Carbon Footprint Analysis & Report

Background to Team creation – Why and how?

Why did the project and team come about?

At one level the “why” is obvious. Climate Change and Environment Destruction are existential threats to life as we know it – we all have a responsibility to do what we can, however small, to mitigate the problems.

A SIETAR Congress inevitably causes a large Carbon footprint and has a sustainability and environmental impact. Short of cancelling the Congress the next best thing SEITAR can do is to minimise the impact of the event.

And last but not least the SIETAR Board include Sustainability as a key part of the long-term strategies of SIETAR Europa

How did the project and team come about?

In 2022 the SIETAR Board added a strategic goal of “Sustainability” for the organisation.  At the Board meeting in Warsaw in April 2023 Joe Kearns made a presentation to the Board on how this goal might be realised and included a proposal for the Congress in Lille. In consultation with the Congress Steering Committee Joe agreed to create a team to run a project to minimise the environmental impact of the Congress – see presentation

In July 2023 a call for volunteers was sent to all SIETAR Europa members and from this call we assembled a team of 8 people (see website). It should be noted that none of the team members had ever met in person and in fact none had met at all before the project! The project was conducted entirely virtually and the team only final met face-to-face in Lille. The high level functioning of the team in these circumstances is due partly to the quality and dedication of the team members but also to the importance of the topic at hand.

What did the Project Team do?

The team met, virtually as for all out meetings, for the first time on Sept 4th 2023.

We established our main objective as

To make the Congress in Lille in 2024 the most Sustainable and Carbon Neutral possible

….and later published a mission statement and a set of initiatives.  We also brainstormed a list of 58 possible ideas some of whom became part of the project.

It is important to note that we identified the need to leave a legacy for future Congresses so SIETAR and continue to minimise the negative impacts of a Congress. This report is part of that legacy.

Communications

Within the team: We decided to keep communications within the team simple. The primary team communication tools were

  1. WhatsApp for quick communication
  2. Email for more substantial communication
  3. Zoom  – while we relied on the Zoom account of one of our members to start with we eventually moved to the SIETAR Europa account which was much more suitable.
  4. Google Drive – for storage of all important documents. We maintained good discipline about how the data was structured appointing two team members to ensure that happened.

Note: We very specifically did not use Slack as our shared experience with that tool in other teams was sub-optimal. We also considered using a project tool like Trello but decided it would add an unnecessary level of complexity. We also looked into using a methodology called OKR – Objectives and Key Results and while we loosely based or objectives on the approach we did not adopt it as a formal methodology. Future Sustainability projects should look at their own appropriate project planning tools.

External Communication: We were helped greatly by the communications mechanisms of the Congress Steering Committee when communicating with members. In addition we created the following:

  1. LinkedIn Group We created a LinkedIn group to allow general discussion both on our project and the broader topic of Sustainability
  2. Mailing List on MailChimp. A mailing list was created to allow for direct mails to those interested in the project. Members could sign up via our website
  3. Email address: An email address was created to allow people to contact the team directly

Throughout the project we made regular communication with SIETAR members and potential delegates on actions they should take to:

  • Travel sustainably
  • Stay in sustainable accommodation
  • Encourage delegates to eat vegetarian

We took a few decisions early on that we believe proved to be key to the success of the project.

  1. We decided to divide the work into two phases A. Getting to/from the Congress (travel) and B. At the Congress.  We created two sub-teams to focus on the two areas but continued to work together to ensure continuity and overlap.
  2. It was clear from early conversations that our role was largely one of persuasion, coercion and education. This applied in particular to educating SIETAR members about the impact of choices they might make around travel, accommodation and diet.

In support of No.2 above we produced material and articles which we hoped would persuade delegates to make good choices for the environment. The various materials we created are available on our website as follows – most of these we made available 6 months before the Congress date

Travel advice – how and why you should reduce your carbon footprint – including links to various external websites

Accommodation – advice on finding sustainable accommodation

Articles (Team) : from January 2024 we published  series of articles written by the team members

Articles (External) : Alongside the articles written by the team we published articles on the general topic of sustainability.

At the congress

Most of the Sustainability Team attended the Congress and we planned a number of initiatives to make ourselves and the project visible to attendees

  • Badges: we designed and wore a badge at the Congress attached alongside the Congress badge. While quite a bit of work into that idea it most of the delegates didn’t notice it!
  • Project announcement:  It had been agreed with the Congress Committees before Congress that one of our team would have an opportunity to make a short speech about the project. This did not materialise and opportunity to make the project more visible was missed
  • Daily announcements:  there were regular announcements about the Sustainability Survey and the need to fill it out. In spite of the good intention of these announcements they tended to get lost in other announcements

The biggest challenge at Congress is that delegates are understandably more focussed on the actual activities of the Congress. So while many delegates do have a keen interest in matters to do with sustainability their attention is drawn  to more immediate matters. This, in the end is a more general problem across society.

Carbon Footprint

Click here to go to the comprehensive analysis

How sustainable was the congress?

The venue of IESEG in Lille was an ideal venue for an organisation seeking to optimise the Sustainability of the event. The physical venue itself was designed to minimise environmental impact and there is a team at the university dedicated to running the institute as sustainability as possible. Click here to learn more about IESEG in Lille.

The SIETAR Sustainability sought to create a working relationship with members of the IESEG Sustainability Team but in spite of numerous attempts this relationship was not established. We feel an opportunity was missed in this regard.

Catering

  • All attendees received a free re-usable water bottle. People could fill them up at various water fountains on site which eliminated the need to purchase single use mineral water in plastic bottles.
  • Coffee breaks included a recyclable paper cups, re-usable crockery and recyclable glass bottles and cartons for cold drinks.
  • Even though there has been recent publicity about processed vegan and/or vegetarian food not being as green as we imagine, many studies still show that vegan and vegetarian diets have a much lower carbon footprint compared to an omnivorous diet.   

After encouraging the congress committee[1]  to think about ‘going veggie’ for the conference, here’s what was put in place. Vegetarian options for:

  • the opening reception
  • the final party
  • at the university restaurant at lunchtimes.

Based on our survey of 74 people, 58% of the meals ordered were vegetarian

A score of 3,86/5 was given for how easy it was to find vegetarian food at the venue

Accommodation 

We provided general advice on our website to help attendees choose sustainable accommodation.

Based on our survey of 74 people, 18,5% (25 of the 74) chose accommodation with Sustainable credentials

Miscellaneous

  • No badge lanyards were offered to attendees – lanyard badges are usually made from plastic and are not environmentally friendly. Instead, attendees were asked to bring their own, knowing that most people have at least one at home they could re-use. This worked and eliminated the need to invest in this ‘single-use’ plastic product.

Conclusion: The Congress was undoubtedly run in an extremely sustainable way due in no small part to the focus of IESEG and Lille University on sustainability. However since it was not possible to have direct contact with the local team we do not have any data on, for example, how local the sourcing of catering was.

Learnings & Recommendations for next Congress

Involve the Sustainability Team Early in Planning

Integrate the sustainability team (or one person in charge) into the initial stages of Congress planning, including the venue selection process. This will ensure that sustainability considerations are embedded from the outset.

Make the planning of sustainable aspects an integrated part of the organization team. This integration ensures that sustainability is a core focus throughout the entire planning and execution process of the Congress, not just a nice-to-have.

Strengthen Commitment to Sustainability

Address concerns about the strength and authenticity of the Committee’s and the wider SIETAR Community’s commitment to sustainability. This involves having open discussions and setting clear, measurable sustainability goals.

Ensure sustainability is central to all communications and actions, not just an afterthought. This can be achieved through visible leadership support and clear policy statements. For example the link to Sustainability Team activities should be very prominent on the Congress Website and not just another menu item.

Hold a debate within SIETAR to address potential concerns about greenwashing. Determine if the commitment to sustainability is genuinely strong enough or if it appears superficial.

Improve Communication Channels

Facilitate easier direct communication between the sustainability team and Congress attendees, for example, by providing the team with access to tools like MailChimp.

Address the low subscription rates of the LinkedIn Group and Mailing List (currently around 30+ each). Enhance promotion and make these channels more engaging and informative.

Include sustainability communications on the main Congress website and LinkedIn group, treating them as integral parts of the event rather than add-ons.

Enhance Data Collection and Communication

Ensure that travel data and other relevant sustainability metrics are collected during registration. This data is vital for assessing and improving our sustainability efforts for future Congresses. Develop strategies to increase participation in initiatives like the Carbon Footprint Survey, which struggled to gain attention despite announcements.

Update the registration process to include explicit permissions for attendees to receive information and requests from the sustainability team. This can improve engagement and data accuracy.

Improve Collaboration with External Sustainability Experts

Address missed opportunities in connecting with sustainability experts at the University, despite numerous requests. Strengthen these collaborations in future events to leverage their expertise.

For the next Congress, consider hiring professional help to effectively communicate the sustainability message. This investment could significantly improve engagement and perception.

Enhance Project Team Engagement and Attention

Invest more time in the early stages to form a project team, ensuring seamless integration and effectiveness throughout the planning and execution stages.

Consideration should be given to allowing the Sustainability Team have a face-to-face meeting at the venue a few months in advance of the Congress. This might seem like a negative in terms of carbon footprint but the benefits to the team would be enormous any environmental impact is small in relation to the impact of the Congress itself

Allocate focused time slots for team members, minimizing conflicts with other commitments and ensuring the project is a priority.

Improve task delegation within the sustainability team. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities can enhance efficiency and accountability.

Summary:

Big Picture Motivation of the SIETAR Organization

As already mentioned,  taking sustainability seriously and avoiding impressions of greenwashing is necessary to create a compelling narrative that motivates SIETAR members on the importance of sustainability.

Highlight the broader impact and relevance of sustainability beyond SIETAR. A SIETAR commitment to be certified by the ESG could be a valuable opportunity.

By implementing these recommendations, we can ensure that sustainability becomes an integral and effective part of SIETAR Europa Congresses, reflecting a true commitment to environmental responsibility and inspiring wider community engagement.

Appendices

The points below are particularly relevant for any future Sustainability Team

Appendix A – What was done well

(Note that some of these points are also covered in the body of the text)

What went well

  • We initiated the project! Proposal to Board and Congress Committee was made in early June 2023
  • Commitment – we all committed to devote time to this work. It is notable that an appeal to SIETAR members produced such a strong committed team.
  • We brought multiple skills and experience to the team
  • Articles – we wrote a series of articles and published regularly. We also shared external articles of importance
  • We joined the congress committee as part of the team attending all meetings (see below also)
  • We created a website where we were able to share important information. This was an important vehicle for sharing our vision and a means to persuade Congress attendees to “do the right thing”. This website will continue as the SIETAR Europa Sustainability site
  • The Share drive was well managed and useful
  • We created a survey to help measure Carbon Footprint
  • We worked as a team entirely virtually – never having met in person, any of us! This is a tribute to the professionalism and commitment of the team members. Our meetings happened regularly, every two weeks and we rarely missed one. Of course not everyone could attend all meetings we always had strong attendance.
  • Actions and decisions were recorded. We did a good job on ensuring these were available to all
  • Our suggestion about free water bottles and no new lanyards were adopted and were a big success
  • We created a mailing list to communicate with people
  • We created a LinkedIn Group
  • The early division of the team between “getting to/from Congress” and “At the Congress” was correct.

What could be done better?

  • Need to have the sustainability team involved much earlier in the planning of the Congress- maybe even in the selection process for the next venue – ACTION ITEM
  • Sustainability should be central to ALL communications – not an afterthought
  • We should work to ensure data collection on travel etc is linked to registration
  • Make sure registration includes explicit permission from the attendees to receive information and requests from the Sustainability Team
  • Make it easier for the Sustainability Team to communicate directly with Congress attendees – e.g. access to MailChimp.
  • The LinkedIn Group and Mailing List were not very well subscribed (about 30+ in each)
  • Do we need a debate about whether SIETAR is guilty of greenwashing? Was the commitment strong enough? Sustainability should not be an add-on.
  • At Congress, it was really hard to get attendees to pay attention to the Carbon Footprint Survey in spite of announcements. While this is understandable as Congress delegates are focussed on networking and attending workshopes etc., maybe there is more that could be done to make the sustainability topic more “visible”
  • All Sustainability team members had other commitments – unavoidable but maybe we could find ways to have focussed time slots where the project is priority?
  • We need to create a Big Picture motivation for SIETAR members – why this is important! (this is not just a SIETAR problem)
  • IDEA – for the next Congress, should we engage professional help on communicating the message? Pay someone?
  • The complete failure to link our team to the sustainability people at the University was a missed opportunity. This was in spite of numerous requests both before and during the Congress. This was a big disappointment