IET Venues calls for a Greater Focus on Sustainability in Events

London, 3rd October 2012: IET Venues, the premier family of venues across the UK, has today urged the events industry to have a greater focus on sustainability and to use existing resources more effectively. The call to action comes as IET Venues continues to demonstrate a commitment to environmental issues by offsetting three tonnes of carbon accumulated at last month’s ‘Square Meal Venues & Events’ conference.

Teaming up with Carbon Clear, an organisation dedicated to reducing the global carbon emissions by generating clean energy to displace fossil fuel electricity, IET Venues was able to calculate the total carbon emissions created by all visitors to its stand. The stand attracted over 200 delegates over two days, each of whom travelled a variety of distances. IET Venues collated the details of each journey, which included how each person travelled to the show as well as how far they had come, and converted the data into the resulting three tonnes of carbon emissions. That is equivalent to an estimated 8,400 miles travelled in a medium sized car – the distance from Aberdeen to Land’s End, six times over[1] . IET Venues then offset this carbon through Carbon Clear.

Sean Spencer, Venue and Facilities Manager, IET Venues said, “The availability of our global resources is an ongoing issue and we all have a part to play when it comes to preserving them. The events industry must contribute by using the resources we have in effective and efficient ways. IET Venues is committed to new and innovative approaches to sustainability and we hope this gesture will help raise awareness of the issue to our customers, and industry peers, and encourage them to do the same.”
IET Venues, part of the wider Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), will contribute towards a hydro-power project in Turkey. The project is spearheaded by Carbon Clear and reduces emissions by producing clean energy from flowing river water. This offsets the electricity generated by fossil fuels on the grid in Turkey and creates renewable energy instead. The project provides a range of social and environmental co-benefits including local employment and reforestation.

This follows other initiatives which have taken place across each of the venue locations in Glasgow, Birmingham and London. IET Glasgow: Teacher Building was recently declared carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust and the Green Tourism Business School (GTBS) while IET Birmingham: Austin Court was awarded a silver accreditation in the GTBS scheme, adding to IET Venues’ wider environmental portfolio.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:`
Anne Ligory/ Anne-Marie Lavelle
Rocket Communications
+44 (0) 8453 707 024
iet@rocketcomms.net

About IET Venues
The IET Venues Group is made up of 3 conference and events venues in city-centre locations across the UK – IET London: Savoy Place, IET Glasgow: Teacher Building and IET Birmingham: Austin Court. Each venue boasts a tiered lecture theatre, built-in technology with onsite support and bespoke options, free Wi-Fi throughout, catering options from fork buffets to fine dining and an experienced events team that organise and hold over 10,000 events per year. Each venue has 15-18 meeting spaces of varying sizes, which are adaptable and versatile to any event set-up with bespoke, transparent packages also available. IET London: Savoy Place and IET Birmingham: Austin Court also benefits from waterside locations and hold full licences for weddings, partnership ceremonies and receptions.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ietvenues.co.uk

About Carbon Clear
Carbon Clear is a leader in integrated carbon management. With offices in the UK, France, India, Spain, Turkey and the United States, we are one of the world’s largest providers of carbon advisory services and carbon offset credits.
Carbon Clear aims to shape and promote the low-carbon agenda. We are founding members of International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) and sit on the British Standards Institute’s steering committee developing the PAS 2060 standard for Carbon Neutrality. Carbon Clear is also a corporate member of the Institute for Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).
For more information, please visit: http://www.carbon-clear.com