Wildscreen envisions a world where natural world storytelling is inclusive, accessible and impactful and where nature is protected and thriving.
We connect people with nature through storytelling and democratise the creation of and access to nature’s stories.
Our actions need to reflect this mission and that our shared responsibility to safeguard the natural world needs to be reflected within Wildscreen and be integrated into everything we do
On the 15th of November 2021, Wildscreen delivered Communicating COP26. The event brought together a range of industry experts to deliver a series of sessions to inform and inspire delegates with actions they can take to help protect the planet.
Our panel sessions, interviews and conversations used accessible language and involved speakers working across the world to conserve nature. We reflected on and discussed the key themes of green finance, youth and public empowerment, nature and sustainable land use, practical solutions, natural world storytelling, indigenous wisdom and leadership.
It was important for us to continually assess the environmental impact of Communicating COP26 and make sure that every action we took ensured that the effect our event had on the planet was minimal
We took a number of meaningful steps in the run up to Communicating COP26 to minimise the impact of the event and monitor the environmental footprint.
Delegate travel is a huge contributor to an event's impact, and has been know to make up 80% of the entire event footprint. To reduce this, we actively encouraged attendees to utilise public transport, car share where possible, walk or cycle.
Attendees were surveyed on their travel habits so we could get a clearer picture of our delegate travel footprint. We are very pleased to say that 76% of delegates surveyed utilised public transport, cycled or walked to Communicating COP26. See the full stats below!
All delegates were encouraged to carbon balance their travel before, during and after the event.
Online Delegates
We also collected data from our online delegates, who attended from 21 countries around the world!
The majority of delegates accessed the platform via a computer, see the breakdown below;
In total 11690 minutes of content was watched on our online platform, Swapcard, equating to 3.42kg of CO2
Energy Usage
To help us establish the footprint of our event we worked closely with the venue to measure the energy used on the day. This data will help us to to monitor our journey to minimise the impact of our events, letting us know what actions result in the lowest impact. We are also using the data to carbon balance Communicating COP26.
Sustainable Action
By opting for e-tickets over paper we reduced our potential ticketing impact by over 1000%
A fully plant based meal was served to delegates and water refill stations were readily available to encourage use of reusable water bottles
We eliminated single-use items from the event, opting for reusable name badges and partnering with CanCan to provide delegates with coffee in reusable, circular life cups!
Ahead of the event we ensured the venue had recycling facilities in place and that anything that could be recycled, would be
Community Photography Exhibition
Wildscreen proudly featured this series of photographs by local and indigenous artists who kindly provided their powerful, and emotive work for this inspiring exhibition focusing on Community.
Indigenous communities are in a constant fight to protect their ancestral land, and the forests which they have a deep knowledge and empathy. They are the guardians and the protectors of these vital ecosystems. Their stories are a essential component to the survival of our planet
To minimise the footprint of the exhibition we hired ArtPost's to display the stunning series of images. We are working hard to continue the exhibition by hosting it elsewhere within the South West, prolonging it's life and subsequently reducing it's impact.
Print Sales
Selected prints from the exhibition were made available to buy in the weeks following the event. We ensured that the materials and ink used were of the highest environmental standard.
Profits from the sales were given back to the photographers and communities who contributed their work.
Our Partners
ecolibrium is a live events industry response to the climate crisis.
As Communicating COP26's official they provided us with resources, tools, advice and inspiration to reduce travel emissions and invest in climate solutions – supporting ecosystem protection, regeneration and clean energy generation.
Read more about why ecolibrium think carbon balancing should become the new normal here.
Endangered Beer have the planet at the heart of their brand. Each of their beers is named after an endangered species and 10% of the net profits goes directly to their chosen charity, Born Free, who fight for the survival of endangered animals survival.
Like the rest of our partners, they have sustainability at the heart of what they do, exclusively sourcing all hops and malts from the UK and using FSC certified boxes and biodegradable packaging tape. They even use recycled labels on their cans.
Merchandise
We did not produce any merchandise for Communicating COP26 in order to minimise impact.
Instead Triodos, one of our event sponsors, provided a small amount of practical, deadstock merchandise, such as pens and notepads, for delegates to use should they need it.
Unused merchandise was collected by Triodos after the event to be used elsewhere in the future,
