A Midlands events specialist is helping some of the world’s biggest companies attend the Cop27 UN climate summit.
Associate Events has supported nine UK and global business attending the key event in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Managing director Alister de Ternant said the businesses were using the platform to promote their net zero work and support global climate targets.
He said his Leicester-based business has grown in recent years through its work with organisations and events such as the Leicester Business Festival – currently underway – the annual Team Leicester delegation to the MIPIM property conference in Cannes, the Ministry of Defence and various corporate and independent clients.
Brands it has worked with over the years include Google, Apple, YouTube, Sony and Audi. Mr de Ternant said it was now achieving multi-million pound annual turnovers with plans to take the team up to 22 staff in the New Year.
Companies it is working with at COP27 include CGI, one of the biggest IT and business consulting services firms in the world, which has 6,000 staff in the UK and 88,500 globally.
Its presence in the Sharm El-Sheikh convention centre includes a giant globe designed by artist Luke Jerram, following on from the piece he created for COP26 in Glasgow last year.
Mr de Ternant said: “On the back of work we did at Cop26 we gained a number of blue chip clients, a lot of them working around sustainability and new technology. Many of them are worldwide players, which is a real step up for us.
“They include CGI who are a huge digital technology consultancy, and who have been working with the Egyptian government on, for example, reducing carbon emissions.
“For them we have supported the build of their stand and have created seemingly one of the centrepieces at COP27. We suggested the globe for them made by Luke Jerram to symbolise the handover from COP26 and we made and installed it for them.
“Some of the businesses that have attended have spent more than a million pounds on their stands but sustainability doesn’t have to be costly – we worked for Dell recently who say that they can make more by being environmentally sound.”
Mr de Ternant – who has just returned from Egypt to help oversee the 2022 Leicester Business Festival – said they had a team of 43 out there including 38 Egyptian contractors.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak’s attendance at the gathering in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh alongside leaders such as US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, marks his first outing on the international stage since becoming Prime Minister last month. Boris Johnson is also there.
