Acting Responsibly, Thinking Sustainably: By Word of Mouth’s journey to Carbon Reduction
By Word of Mouth (BWoM) is a luxury catering and event management company based in London, UK. Over three decades, it has created a full-service events company, developing the expertise to fulfil all requirements, enabling clients to achieve event goals and connect audiences through innovation, style, and exceptional food. The business has gained a reputation for being one of the best-known names in the events industry.
Sustainability has been encouraged at every level of the business, and this year, BWoM took its commitments to the next level by partnering with Positive Planet for bespoke Net Zero support. We recently sat down with Matthew Thornton, Head of Event Staffing at BWoM to learn more about the actions currently being taken by the company.
The Challenge
BWoM has always recognised the importance of shifting toward a more sustainable business model with an inhouse ‘Green Team’ to implement sustainability initiatives alongside monitoring waste and energy consumption. BWoM understands that adopting sustainable practices is not only the right thing to do ethically but also a smart business move in a world increasingly concerned with environmental impact. However, the journey toward net zero is far from straightforward.
One of the major hurdles BWoM has encountered is the inherent complexity in understanding and measuring the climate impact, as no two events are the same. The big challenge is to create a standardised approach that allows the team accurately to assess and reduce the carbon footprint across a diverse range of services.
As a highly bespoke business, one of BWoM’s main goals is to meet client requests and venue requirements more sustainably. Despite this commitment, the company has faced difficulties in achieving its sustainability goals due to a lack of clear guidance across the event industry. BWoM therefore made the decision to partner with a third-party consultancy to enable it to further its sustainability initiatives and establish a clear pathway to net zero.
The Positive Planet Solution
After some conversations, BWoM partnered with Positive Planet to increase visibility and guidance on its sustainability journey. The company looked to use Positive Planet’s expertise to encourage personal responsibility by educating the team, measure and monitor the organisation’s environmental impact, and create target-driven goals.
So far, the partnership has been eye-opening for By Word of Mouth’s employees. The organisation has greater understanding of the impact of its activities and now works with Positive Planet to plan reduction actions around these for maximum positive impact. The hands-on support has given the company a much clearer direction to go in, and its sustainability goals now seem more realistic with the involvement of wider stakeholders through different methods of education such as Climate Awareness and Carbon Literacy training.
“At By Word of Mouth, we have always been conscious of the impact of our operations on the environment and focused on ways in which we can minimise this. It was therefore very important to us to identify the right partner for our continued journey towards net zero and we invested a lot of time in finding tailored support that resonated with our values and sustainable goals.
The team at Positive Planet has been fantastic at taking the time to understand the specific complexities of our business. They have subsequently applied a clear and practical approach that involves the whole By Word of Mouth team, supporting us in measuring our emissions and implementing recommendations as to how we can minimise our carbon impact.’
Rick Perry, Managing Director, By Word of Mouth
The Benefits
With the ever-increasing focus on sustainability from By Word of Mouth’s client base and industry partners, the activities carried out within the partnership have given the company much more confidence and direction with sustainability conversations . Being able to discuss specifics such as organisational Net Zero targets and key carbon reduction initiatives has meant BWoM is facing its sustainability journey with a new found confidence.
By engaging its stakeholders through Climate Awareness Training, BWoM has harnessed its sphere of influence to tackle its scope 3 emissions, the toughest emissions category to reduce. Venue partners attending the internal course in February 2024 have since made their own commitments and are undertaking further sustainability training as a follow-on from their initial experience, highlighting BWoM’s wider positive industry impact.
Next Steps
With its inaugural Net Zero Plan developed in partnership with Positive Planet, By Word of Mouth has set and is actively pursuing ambitious targets: reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 100% and cutting procurement emissions by 30% by 2030. Several key initiatives are driving BWoM toward these goals, including:
- Switching to 100% renewable energy.
- Switching to electric to remove the dependency on gas.
- Developing an electrification strategy for current and future fleets.
- Implementing a sustainable procurement policy.
- Improving data quality by sending out annual surveys to key suppliers.
- Switching partners for more sustainable alternatives.
These carbon reduction initiatives are all part of By Word of Mouth’s overarching goal: to achieve Net Zero by 2037. To reach this ambitious target, the organisation will continue its collaboration with Positive Planet, focusing on engaging stakeholders, educating employees, and working together toward a more sustainable future.