How Jolos measured the entire footprint of the Helmes internal event

Measuring the carbon footprint of an event provides an opportunity to understand which aspects of events should be given more attention to reduce their environmental impacts. Without measurement, it is unclear whether the focus should be on reducing the transport of goods, sourcing environmentally friendly awards, or increasing the share of plant-based food. Jolos, in partnership with Sustinere, has invested its fair share of resources in developing the carbon footprint measurement service for an event. Fortunately, Jolos has many environmentally conscious customers, and Helmes - Software Development Company was the first to take an interest in measuring the carbon footprint of an entire event. Katre Kahre, Sustainability Manager at Jolos, will talk more about measuring the event’s carbon footprint, the needs for it, and the data.

‘At the Helmes employee appreciation event, we carefully measured every detail, starting with the simplest things like electricity, water, and gas consumption, as well as the transportation of guests, crew, and goods, all the way to the footprint for food, drinks, decorations, menus, and awards,’ noted Katre.

How did we measure?

The assessment of the event’s carbon footprint was carried out using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Life Cycle Assessment is a comprehensive method for assessing the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its life cycle, and is regulated by ISO standards. In other words, it is the measurement of the environmental impact of the whole life cycle of a single item, from its creation to its destruction.

The aim was not only to measure but also to reduce the impact, so relatively few items or equipment produced specifically for the event were purchased.

The biggest challenge in measuring

One may be left with the impression that endless Excel spreadsheets and complex data processing may be the biggest area of concern. Katre, however, found that the main difficulty was in how to motivate people to make additional moves. It’s a bit unorthodox for cooperation partners to be required to provide information on the weight of the goods they are bringing to the event and how many kilometers they are driving.

For bigger changes, the whole sector should move in lockstep. ‘This topic is still new for our sector, so we need to do a lot of work explaining why we are asking people and businesses for data. At the same time, once the parties have understood why all of this is necessary, the feedback has been mostly very positive. It’s evident how important explaining is so that people better understand the aim of our questions,’ said Katre.

Data is the key

Food 

The result of measuring the carbon footprint of every food and component revealed that chocolate had the largest carbon footprint of all the foods at the event. Its environmental footprint is 175 times that of, for example, apples or carrots. The reason lies in the establishment of cocoa plantations, which leads to the destruction of tropical rainforests and the associated large footprint from the change in land use. 

Transport

Transport accounted for 51% of the total footprint of the event and had the largest environmental impact. Arrivals of visitors and staff were taken into account, as well as the transport of goods and services. The results showed that the environmental impact of transport on the footprint of an event depends mainly on how people get there. If half of the visitors had used trams, trolleys or bicycles to get to the venue, the environmental impact would have been 50% smaller. It is therefore important to give preference to locations that are easily accessible by public transport.

Energy

Energy was the third largest contributor to the event’s carbon footprint, accounting for 10% of the event’s total CO2. A possible solution would be for event venues to switch to green energy, which is about 92% lower than the CO2 of conventional electricity. This is a good example of how a commitment to sustainability can also be a competitive advantage.

Waste

In the case of sustainable events, greater attention is paid to waste management, as the production, transport, and provision of service for every item requires significant energy and water. However, when looking at the carbon footprint generated by waste, in general, waste accounts for almost the smallest share of the total footprint of events.

Towards the change with science 

Measuring the carbon footprint of an event provides the opportunity to rely on science in order to take concrete environmentally conscious steps at subsequent events. Relying only on a gut feeling, it may happen that a lot of effort is put into the production of environmentally friendly labels, but a much bigger impact could be achieved by changing the menu. The greatest value, however, lies in the fact that the conclusions drawn from data analysis can be used to raise awareness among customers, employees, and partners. When organizing environmentally friendly events, Jolos’s Sustainability Manager will produce a report on the event, which will not only provide numerical values but also comparisons with alternative options and practical recommendations on what can be done better to reduce the environmental footprint and how.

‘The better informed we are about the environmental impacts of our services and products, the faster the whole event supply chain will change, and that’s the change we want to make,’ says Katre.