Helping GES turn event data into client-ready carbon insight

The Challenge

GES needed a better way to provide accurate, event-specific carbon reporting for its clients.

As a complex events business delivering more than 300 events each year, GES held large volumes of operational data across different areas of the organisation. Clients were increasingly asking for clear reports on the carbon footprint of their specific events, but producing that level of detail was difficult, time-consuming and resource intensive.

Before working with CarbonQuota, collecting the data for an individual event report could take around 20 hours and up to three weeks. GES needed to simplify the process, improve data flow and create a more consistent way to report event emissions to clients.

The business was looking for a partner that could support both event-level reporting and wider corporate reporting requirements. A key factor in choosing CarbonQuota was the ability to connect CarbonQuota’s platform with Clarity through an API, making it easier for data to move between systems and be turned into meaningful reporting outputs.

One of the big selling points for CarbonQuota is that it does an API between itself and Clarity, which means it’s a lot easier for the data to flow between the two businesses in order for us to get the report that we want.

Kate Holliday

Head of ESG Operations, GES

Creating event-specific carbon reports

CarbonQuota worked closely with GES to understand the business, its event operations, its materials and the way data moved through its systems.

The solution enabled GES to upload event-specific information from its stock platform, align that data with emissions factors through the CarbonQuota platform and generate detailed carbon reports for clients. This gave GES a clearer, more repeatable process for turning operational event data into credible carbon insight.

This was not a simple off-the-shelf reporting exercise. GES is a complex business, and the project required a detailed understanding of how the company operates. CarbonQuota’s team spent time with GES, visited sites, reviewed materials and worked collaboratively to build a solution that reflected the reality of the business.

Results

GES can now provide clients with event-specific carbon reports approximately two weeks after an event. For a business delivering more than 300 events a year, this is a significant step forward in speed, consistency and client value.

The reports show clients the footprint of their event and help create more informed conversations about how future decisions could reduce emissions. Rather than simply reporting carbon after the event, GES can use the data to support better planning, stronger collaboration and more practical reduction strategies.

The work is also supporting GES’s wider net zero ambitions. By helping clients understand the impact of their choices, GES can influence decisions across the event supply chain, including the decisions it makes with its own suppliers.

We’ve really taken the data and turned it into digestible content that we can then share and then make informed decisions on.

Key Outcomes

Event-specific carbon reporting delivered approximately two weeks after an event
A more efficient process for turning operational data into client-ready reports
Better visibility of event-level emissions across a complex business
More informed conversations with clients about carbon reduction opportunities
Stronger collaboration across the event supply chain
A scalable approach to support more consistent reporting across the industry
Raising the standard for event carbon reporting

GES has already received positive feedback from key clients, who have been impressed by the quality of the data now available to them. Because GES is one part of a wider event ecosystem, the methodology is also helping clients encourage more consistent reporting from other service providers.

This has helped position GES as market-leading, particularly across EMEA. The business has taken complex event data and turned it into digestible content that can be shared, understood and used to support better decision-making.

With all of that information and with all the data collecting, we can collaboratively create a really informed strategy moving forward and work together with the CarbonQuota team to really identify how we can make significant reductions in our emissions.

Looking ahead

The partnership has created a strong foundation for the next stage of GES’s carbon reporting and reduction strategy.

With a deeper understanding of GES’s business, materials, event operations and data requirements, CarbonQuota and GES are now well placed to work together on a more informed strategy for reducing emissions and future-proofing reporting.

The CarbonQuota team went the extra mile in order to solve our problems.