Case Study 1: Delivering Sustainable Outcomes for Sydney World Pride
Context
World Pride is an event that promotes visibility and awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) issues on an international level. The 2023 World Pride, in Sydney Australia, welcomed over 1 million attendees over 17 days and 471 Events. This included the largest Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Global First Nations LGBTQIA+SB festival program, and the largest LGBTQIA+ Human Rights Conference in the world.
Earthed Scope
Earthed’s director Jen Kyna worked within Sydney World Pride to deliver…
Guiding the development of sustainability-related content, messaging, activations and other event communications.
Stakeholder engagement, including internal workforce, event agencies, sponsors, partners, vendors, community and general public to optimise the sustainability performance of SWP/SGLMG events.
Sustainability Highlights
Development of resources to support sustainable action across the festival
How was this prioritised as an initial focus area - was there some kind of gap analysis, risk assessment process that said this was the best thing to leverage impact?
Sustainable supplier policy overview, (how was this created, aligned to any global standards?)
Which stakeholders were consulted with?
How information was presented to suit different audiences
How information was presented to suit different audiences
In person briefings and workshops with supplier groups
Video material
Printed material
Digital material, signage
Sustainable Advocacy
Providing advice to SWP in response to NSW state policy
Sustainable Leadership
Zero Waste to Landfill
Sydney WorldPride was determined to deliver Pink Salt’s fabulous dining experience free from waste to landfill. The team worked closely with suppliers to ensure appropriate waste management and sustainability initiatives were in place, including prioritising digital signage over printing, using reusable bobble ties and cable trays for production equipment and partnering with a food recovery charity. In a tangible way, guests were encouraged to get involved, with all menus printed on seeded paper they could take home and plant. Styling and décor was either rented or made from compostable materials. Through these efforts, Pink Salt proudly diverted 96.99% of waste to landfill. One contaminated recycling bin prevented the event from achieving the hoped-for zero waste result, but it was a significant accomplishment nonetheless, with event delivery collaborators inspired to continue the sustainable approach, reducing waste to landfill for future events.
Human Rights Conference Carbon Neutral Event
The Human Rights Conference was the centrepiece of the Sydney WorldPride festival, and the largest of its kind the world has ever seen. Held over three days, the program combined inspiring, world-leading LGBTQIA+ keynotes, panels, and roundtables with enlightening presentations, performances, and facilitated networking events.
We achieved a carbon neutral Human Rights Conference with 1,900 tonnes of CO2 total carbon emissions offset – Equivalent to the emissions from powering approximately 4,437Australian homes for a year. This was facilitated through a pre-event assessment to identify decarbonisation initiatives, including replacing all plastic water bottles with more sustainable options and distributing waste stream bins to divert waste from landfill throughout the event space. Unavoidable emissions were offset with high-integrity carbon credits from XX
