The team at Broadsword have announced this week that they have achieved their goal of carbon neutrality.
MD, Anna Green said: “Climate change is now firmly on the event industry’s agenda and although reduction in waste and emissions is challenging for our sector, there is momentum, drive and commitment to consistently deliver sustainable events and reduce our impact. Broadsword kicked off 2022 ‘determined to do the right thing’ with renewed confidence and ambition to achieve carbon neutrality and implement a carbon reduction strategy by the end of the year. We’re delighted that we’re ahead of schedule!”
Broadsword have credited two organisations in particular that have been instrumental in their drive towards carbon neutrality.
Firstly, isla an independent body which has played a key role in bringing the events industry together over recent years, creating a powerful network, inspiring and accelerating change. It focuses on three core areas: zero waste, 100% renewable and carbon emission reductions. Broadsword joined isla in 2021, benefitting from the knowledge sharing, resources, training workshops and suggested approach to policies and KPIs.
Environmental consultancy, C Free have also worked with Broadsword to accurately measure the carbon footprint of their businesses and services. C Free has built a set of tools and algorithms to read through large data sets in order to understand the carbon emissions related to the operations of a business.
The process initially felt daunting, but as Anna explains, “We started by breaking it down into bite-sized pieces and setting our own deadlines. The first step was to calculate our carbon footprint for the previous year, with scope 1, 2 and 3 total gross emissions measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) as per the recommendation of international standards. This would be followed by carbon offsetting which involves the purchase and retirement of verified emission reductions (carbon credits or offsets). Each credit refers to the removal or avoidance of 1 metric tonne of CO2e. We were sure to support Gold Standard VERs as they’re the highest quality voluntary offsets on the market.”
Broadsword have also created a carbon management plan to include a commitment to a reduction target, based on the areas where the business is having the most impact.
Founder, C Free, Eddie Fitzgerald-Barron commented: “It has been a pleasure working with Broadsword on measuring their carbon footprint. We love working with forward thinking, fast moving businesses. We focused on their business operations where they can have the most impact in reducing their emissions. We were able to help them achieve their goal of carbon neutrality in a relatively short time period due to our use of modern data science techniques. Once all the calculations were complete, we shared options for carbon offsetting projects. Broadsword settled on investing in the Sidrap Wind Energy Farm Project, located in Indonesia – a truly fantastic initiative doing great things for the local community. The power generated by the project will supply the public electricity grid, with an expected net annual power supply of 253,00 MWh. I’m looking forward to continuing our work with Broadsword working on improving their impact on the planet.”
Anna commented, “It was hugely motivating to know where our verified carbon credits were going, but of course this is only the start. We are now implementing isla’s TRACE tool, to calculate the emissions of our event delivery more accurately, relying less on the spend based method as we move forwards. Education remains a key aspect of our sustainability strategy, as the team benefit from content and sessions delivered by isla, as well as EVCOM, Micebook and C&IT. Our partnership with C Free has been a key first step and extremely valuable, as they have shared their expertise and insight with us on a regular basis, guiding us at the beginning of our sustainability journey.
Broadsword are a live events and communications agency with offices in London, New York and Hong Kong.