London venue Central Hall Westminster has announced the launch of a new carbon calculator with Green Tourism, designed to help organisers easily estimate the environmental impact of their event. 

Central London’s largest conferencing and events centre claims to be the first UK venue to partner with Green Tourism on the initiative.

The calculator, devised from data provided by Green Tourism, will offer meeting and event planners a simple way to estimate the carbon impact of their event. They can then undertake a carbon offset to reduce the environmental impact of the event.

The carbon impact will be calculated by Central Hall’s events team as a financial sum, which can then be used by organisers to offset carbon elsewhere via a charitable donation.

The formula takes into account the size of the venue space versus the number of days an event is held. It takes into consideration the carbon associated with the venue itself and the energy and water used by the meeting space being hired.

After launching a pilot scheme in July 2016, Central Hall Westminster has decided it’s now in a position to roll it out in conjunction with Green Tourism as an option for all events at the venue.

The venue will be donating all money donated to offset carbon throughout 2018 to The Woodland Trust conservation charity. Its mission is to protect, campaign, plant trees and restore ancient woodland for the benefit of wildlife and people. 

Central Hall Westminster MD Paul Southern comments: “Following the success of our original pilot scheme, we are delighted to be the first events venue in the country to provide the option of a carbon calculator in partnership with Green Tourism. Central Hall Westminster is fully committed to promoting sustainability and we constantly aim to promote good practice in this important area. We want to help our clients and partners to be able to do the same.”

Jon Proctor, chief executive of Green Tourism, adds: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Central Hall Westminster, our first events venue, to launch their carbon calculator. Last year the venue achieved the Green Tourism Gold Standard Award for the second year running and this is the next step in achieving consistently high standards in sustainability.”

Further information on the carbon calculator can be found here.