Meet Lucy Strong, senior events executive in our Corporate Communications team and one of the cross-firm team of specialists behind our sustainable events challenge.
In this, the next in our ‘sustainability allies’ blog series, we talk to Lucy about her role in helping shape the new guide the firm has put in place to deliver more sustainable events. Sustainability is fundamental to our ESG strategy, which focuses on four priorities: corporate governance; people, inclusion and wellbeing; environment; and responsible business.
Over this series we will look at the impact the firm is having across all its ESG priorities through the eyes of volunteers – turning a spotlight on the fantastic work they are doing to help others and push forward our ESG goals.
To find out more about our ESG initiatives, take a look at our Sustainability report 2023.
Your name and role at Gowling WLG:
Lucy Strong, senior events executive, Corporate Communications team, Gowling WLG.
Tell us about the initiative you’ve been involved in…
I’m one of a number of people who’ve helped shape our sustainable events challenge – engaging our people to deliver meetings/events in a more sustainable way. The challenge is a new initiative but brings together the principles and best practice we’ve been gathering over time and puts them into a practical guide.
What did launching the challenge entail?
The new guide is the result of collaboration between many teams and individuals across the firm who are passionate about and/or specialists in a range of sustainability topics. Positioned under our sustainable events challenge, it sets out to help make every event or meeting better for people, communities and the planet.
The guide looks at all aspects of an event from food, travel, waste and resources, to suppliers, inclusivity, health and fairness. Under each area there are practical suggestions for making more sustainable choices, such as plant-based catering, understanding accessibility needs, using proactive suppliers and avoiding waste.
What inspired you to get involved?
I’m passionate about the environment and keen to learn what more can be done to protect it. I remember doing a project on climate change at school many years ago(!), which really struck a chord and highlighted the part we can all play in making positive changes and encouraging sustainability.
I’ve always kept that in mind and now, in my events role, have the opportunity to support the firm’s ESG-focused goals – something which led me to join our PLANET+ team and share the small changes I’d been making to some of our events to deliver them in a more sustainable way, and which could be adapted on a larger scale.
We discussed ways in which this insight into sustainable events could be shared firmwide and that’s when the sustainable events challenge was created. We wanted to produce a simple, easy to follow guide on what a sustainable event looks like, with the aim of encouraging our people to make a few simple changes when planning future meetings and events.
What are some of the key outcomes we’ve achieved?
Sustainable practices are growing across our events, and the in-house caterers in our UK offices support the same principles to continuously implement positive changes.
We are also sharing the guide more widely to help others take action, and will, over time, review the impact.
What has the feedback been like so far?
The feedback has been really positive from both external attendees at our events and our people across the firm.
I have found our attendees to have an increasing awareness of sustainable issues, compared with a few years ago. They regularly show an interest and ask questions about where our produce is sourced from, what suppliers we use and the sort of ESG policies we have in place. It highlights a desire from people to be more sustainable in everyday life in general, and to see events run in a way that positively impacts the environment.
We’re receiving really positive feedback from attendees about the many small changes we’re making to our events to help make a difference – for example, we’ve reduced our printing and no longer provide printed handout packs, all catering is locally sourced, fresh and in season, and the overall waste from an event is kept to a minimum.
Is there one highlight that stands out for you since running events in this more sustainable way?
One of our clients emailed me directly after hearing about our sustainable events challenge, saying she really liked the guide and, in particular, the way it breaks down all the key elements to consider and provides practical pointers. It led her to pass on the guide to others in her company that look after large-scale events.
It’s rewarding to hear this kind of feedback and highlights how we can all share in learning from one another in addressing the issues around sustainability and creating positive climate impacts.
Have you set yourself any other sustainable targets at home/work?
I try and incorporate positive changes into my everyday life to be more sustainable – whether that be at home or work.
I am now more aware of where and how things are produced, and always opt for the more sustainable option, whenever possible. Food is a passion of mine, for example, and I like to understand where it has been sourced, stored and supplied from before deciding what to buy. Similarly, I apply the same thinking to other everyday choices, such as when buying clothes or furniture even. This helps me to make more informed choices that are better for the environment and also positive from a health perspective.
By making lots of small changes, collectively, we can all encourage sustainability and create a better future for generations to come.
