Introduction
The first step on any journey of positive environmental impact is to find the right partner and framework to help you get there. With the events industry buzzing right now talking about all things sustainability, we wanted to find a partner who could both advise us on the right steps to take, as well as walk with us on the journey of change. And we found Planet Mark; one of the fastest growing social and environmental certifications and communities in Europe.
The Planet Mark Business Certification
When a company undertakes the business certification with Planet Mark, they go through a detailed scoping process to understand the upstream and downstream impacts of their business operations. For us at Noodle this meant looking at our event tech processes from sourcing to end of life, and then working with the experienced team of analysts at Planet Mark to measure scope 1, 2 and key scope 3 carbon emissions. This process allowed us to better understand where we can reduce, remove, and improve year on year. On average companies working with Planet Mark can expect to reduce their overall carbon emissions by 11% and 14% per employee!
The Planet Mark Business Certification is an internationally recognised sustainability accreditation given to companies who have completed the three step process of measuring their carbon footprint, engaging key stakeholders, and accurately and transparently communing their sustainability progress. No greenwashing here and plenty of learning along the way.
Why sometimes less is more when it comes to carbon
Whilst it may seem sexy to launch the latest plastic free, eco badge or to bring your event team to the latest eco resort or green venue, sometimes it really is the little things that matter. Certainly, taking the time to do your carbon homework can make a huge difference.
We are often asked by our clients to design, source, and create innovative eco RFID badges that shout ‘sustainability’ to attendees. However, these materials can often only be sourced from overseas and have production processes that can have a higher carbon footprint. When preparing for an event, we need to think about packaging, logistics, energy usage and waste to ensure that the technology and materials we are using are truly sustainable, not just marketed as such.
We are increasingly learning that this is a complex topic and one that we take the time to investigate so we can advise our clients on the best and most sustainable solution for their events. Sometimes less really is more and the real impact can be achieved by educating and supporting attendees and events teams to make better decisions for their environmental impact and their budgets!
We can only achieve positive environmental change together
How often have we heard the phrase ‘that together we are stronger’. Well, when it comes to making impactful sustainable change, this really is true. At Noodle we are a small and agile team of people working in multiple countries to develop and deliver innovative, sustainable event tech. But we can make a much bigger difference when we partner with our clients, agencies, and communities like Planet Mark to come together and tackle some of the tough sustainability challenges of our times.
In the coming year we will be convening conversations both online and on-life with people across the sustainable events sector to explore some of the tough topics like
- How to build sustainability into ever tightening budgets
- Attendee engagement and education to drive environmental impact
- The right sustainable event tech to drive attendee engagement and education
If you would like to join us exploring these topics, please reach out and let’s talk!
Conclusion
At Noodle, we partnered with Planet Mark so we can ensure that the sustainable event technology and services we offer are aligned with best practice and evaluated to deliver real environmental impact that our clients can trust. No BS, no greenwashing and hopefully no greenhushing either as we start to deliver a more sustainable service for our clients.
Why not join us on the journey? And join one of the fastest growing sustainability communities on our mission for a more positive future?