Projects and Clients

My current focus is to help major projects and organisations implement effective and credible sustainability programmes. This includes identifying their environmental, social and business impacts, assessing reputational risks and opportunities, and advising them on how to integrate sustainability into their business processes, products and promotional activities. A key part of this approach is the development of bespoke sustainability management systems conforming to the international standard ISO 20121: 2012.

I have been working on projects in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America for event organisers, global sports organisations and corporate clients.  These include:

Sustainable Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) regularly contracts me to provide sustainability advice in relation to the Games and current Host Cities. Throughout 2015-16 I provided regular input to the development of the IOC’s first Sustainability Strategy, which takes effect from 2017.

I am an expert advisor to the IOC on the evaluation of the Candidate Cities since 2013, the year Tokyo 2020 was elected host city.  In 2014 I participated in the Sustainability and Legacy Working Group – part of the IOC President’s Agenda 2020 review process.

Sustainable Forum

Since 2015 I have been advising the World Economic Forum on the development of their Sustainable Forum initiative, initially in relation to sustainable operation of the Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. This includes the development and internal auditing of a sustainability management system in conformity with ISO 20121. The Forum achieved 3rd party certification to ISO 20121 in January 2018. In parallel with this, I advised the Forum’s principal logistics partner, Publicis Live, on developing their own sustainability programme. They also achieved ISO 20121 certification in January 2018 

Strategies for sports organisations

Since the beginning of the 2020s, I have noticed a marked shift across the sport sector on the need to address sustainability in a more strategic and practical way. This has led to assignments to develop corporate sustainability plans for World Rugby (published Jan 2022), Lawn Tennis Association (published June 2022), and in progress with England and Wales Cricket Board and the Premier League.  I also supported the development of Formula 1’s sustainability strategy and in 2022 my team developed their Sustainability Management System and produced practical guidance for Race Promoters.

Sustainable events

I have provided strategic and practical support, including in relation to ISO 20121 compliant sustainability management systems for UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in France, and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

In January 2020 in collaboration with Smyle, I led the sustainability work on Facebook’s special pavilion at the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

Currently, in partnership with Think Beyond, I am advising on sustainability for the women’s Rugby World Cup, England 2025.

In 2013-2014 I provided strategic advice through Gannett Fleming Inc (USA) and the King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia) for the Municipality of Makkah, who host the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.  The mission was to find sustainable solutions to managing the large quantities of solid waste arising from the peak period of the Hajj, in which up to 4 million pilgrims participate.

Other clients 

I have worked on a variety of event-related sustainability projects for, the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), the Association of Global Event Suppliers (AGES), IUCN, Apollo World Tour, The Economist Group and Smyle Creative.