COVER STORY SUSTAINABILITY


Paul Bush, Director of Events, VisitScotland


We have a responsibility to provide events organisers with clear guidance on ‘net zero’


Scotland’s event agency on what it’s doing to help the industry go green


BY KEVIN O’SULLIVAN S


ustainability is hardly a new concept and as far back as 2010, Scotland’s national events agency was one of the first to start


championing the environmental assessment of events. Again in 2015,


the agency worked across govern- ment to produce an even more focused practitioner’s sustain- ability guide, which built on the learnings from a number of major events hosted in Scotland in quick succession, including 2014’s Com- monwealth Games. Much of that work has found its way into major sporting events in Scotland, and has resulted in everything from clothing made from recycled ocean plastic to compostable drinks contain- ers. Within that decade, however, global emissions have steadily continued to rise, and 2019 was a record polluting year, according to the UN. With the Scottish Govern- ment having declared a ‘climate


20 | EVENTSBASE | SPRING 2020


emergency’ and Glasgow hosting the UN’s COP 26 climate change summit in November, we catch up with Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, to see what role the national agency can play in galvanising the country’s event organisers to step up and meet the challenge of going green.


KEVIN O’SULLIVAN: What can you do as a national agency to support event organisers who want to act in a responsible and ethical way, and positively contribute towards ‘net zero’ carbon ambitions? PAUL BUSH: Environmental change is one of the biggest challenges fac- ing the events and festivals sector.


Alongside the desire to act respon- sibly, event organisers face the challenge from all sides to deliver events that are sustainable and environmentally responsible. Events applying to us for funding must outline their sustainability plans, including the measures they have in place to ensure negative impacts on the environment are minimal and evidence of the promotion of sustainable practices, for example using local suppliers rather than importing goods from afar. Given this criteria and our remit


to draw on Scotland’s assets includ- ing our natural and built environ- ments to deliver, through a One Scotland approach, a strong and dy-


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