At Step Connect2, we understand the growing importance of becoming more sustainable.

We are committed to becoming net zero both as a company and for all the events we organise.

We know that our journey to net zero will not be easy and we do not currently hold all the answers on how to reach our goals but by taking action - both big and small steps - we will eventually succeed. That is why we have appointed net zero champions within the business to lead us through this journey and make sure we are staying on track!

To help us on our journey to net zero, we have decided to create a clear three-part model to hold as our reference point and ethos throughout this process.

Challenge | Reduce | Offset

Challenge is the first step on our journey to net zero and plays a crucial role in changing the mindset of individuals and organisations to help enable change. Challenge means challenging perceptions, procedures, behaviours and attitudes to help identify new ways of reaching our net zero goals. This involves questioning many of the pre-existing practices and structures we adhere to, to probe if certain processes are the best ways of doing things, consider why we are doing them and whether they are needed at all. Challenging the nature of why we do things will lead to major improvements in efficiency and help enable our journey to net zero and what is needed to succeed.

It is necessary to challenge individual attitudes, to make sure everyone is engaged and committed on our journey to net zero and, by creating a clear approach on how to achieve net zero, we can accelerate this engagement process with individuals who are slower to adapt.

Reduce is the next part of our net zero ethos and means cutting carbon and energy usage as much as possible. Reduce considers some of the ideas gathered in challenging our beliefs and practices surrounding our journey to net zero and putting them into practice in order to actually reduce our carbon and energy consumption. To reduce effectively, we must look at how we can be more efficient both as a company and at our events.

Offset is the final part of our net zero journey and considers what to do with all that we cannot reduce. It is not possible to bring all consumption down to nothing, so to bring ourselves to net zero, we must offset the remaining carbon elsewhere.  Step Connect2 has partnered with Ecologi on our journey to net zero, planting trees to help us offset our remaining carbon in-house, whilst also planting trees for the energy used at the shows to help offset our event usage too.  

The next step in offsetting our remaining carbon footprint is to better measure our current consumption, to get a clearer understanding of what we have reduced and how much remaining carbon we still need to offset. This will better inform how we can continue this part of our net zero journey.