UK's ACC Liverpool Group achieves carbon neutral status

The ACC Liverpool Group in England has announced it has achieved carbon neutral status. The organisation, operator of the M&S Bank Arena, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and convention centre, undertook a number of measures as part of its commitment towards sustainability, including signing the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge and setting its own goal of Net Zero by 2030, in line with owners Liverpool City Council. The Group has been working with sustainability organisation, Carbon Neutral Britain, to measure its total organisational emissions and put a carbon reduction plan in place, offsetting its carbon footprint with credible, high-quality projects. Eddie dos Santos, director of operations and venue management, The ACC Liverpool Group, said: “It’s incredibly important that everyone works together to minimise the environmental impact of events and supports each other to do as much as we can. “It has been a huge team effort across the organisation and with the support of the city to develop and implement many measures in our drive towards sustainability.” Sustainability efforts The ACC Liverpool Group is currently replacing hot water boilers in the arena and convention centre with air sourced heat pumps after Liverpool City Council received £1.4m from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is delivered by Salix Finance, from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The project is expected to directly save more than 4,200 tonnes of carbon over the lifetime of the project in addition to reducing running and maintenance costs. Earlier this year, The ACC Liverpool Group achieved the Green Meetings Silver award provided by Green Tourism following an assessment that examined all areas of the business involved with delivering conferences and exhibitions. ACC Liverpool also became the first large-scale conference venue in the UK to join sustainable events industry body, isla. The organisation – which recently installed LED lights across the campus – aims to maintain zero to landfill status, support the development of super low carbon events and reduce single-use plastics. Dos Santos continued: “Even though we have been certified carbon neutral, this is only the first step of the journey. We are committed to achieving carbon zero by 2030, effectively reducing our emissions and the need for offsetting. We are currently finalising our roadmap and next steps towards achieving our 2030 Net Zero status.” Photo: Ant Clausen