As the second-largest visitor attraction operator in the world, Merlin Entertainments is a vital champion for sustainability in the sector.
The Group’s sustainability director, Dare Ilori, is passionate about sustainability and its possibilities for companies today. He is a fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment UK and a chartered energy manager with the Energy Institute UK.
In April, Ilori took part in the greenloop sustainability conference – his third appearance at the annual event for the attractions sector. Ilori’s previous presentations have covered the business case for environmentally friendly approaches, how being more sustainable can help organisations save money while building trust with stakeholders and visitors, and how sustainability specialists can “get the Board on board” with their initiatives.
At greenloop 2024, he updated the Group’s strategy and progress and shared key challenges and upcoming opportunities.
Merlin’s sustainability and the Scope 3 puzzle
The last time Ilori spoke to blooloop, Merlin was about to embark on a project to measure its Scope 3 emissions.
“At Merlin Entertainment, we report and make public our Scope 1 and 2. Last year, we engaged the Carbon Trust to work with us on our Scope 3. We determined this using our spend data.”
Although this was a great start, the methodology appeared incomplete.
“I looked at it and said, ‘If you’re going to set a target based on spend data, how do we then make an annual reduction, a year-on-year reduction?’ The answer is that if you continue to spend more, your carbon will continue to go up.
“We need another step on our Scope 3, which is how do we get carbon data that is not just solely based on spend? Because we continue to grow, we continue to add new products across our global attractions. We have 143 attractions across 24 countries. We are building hotels and new accommodation. And so, we will continue to grow in our Scope 3 spend. It means that year on year our Scope 3 will continue to go up, and we can’t set targets when we know that.”
Collaborative approach with suppliers
As a result, the group has begun contacting its suppliers to explore their carbon data.
“This is not going to be simple. I’m not going to pretend that we will just snap our fingers and get the data. However, some of our suppliers will be able to give us either the carbon data or the weight of the products they give us.
“For instance, I’ve been speaking to the Coca-Cola European Partners with regard to our UK supplies, and they are beginning to provide their data.”
“If we know that we can get the actual carbon data, then even if our spending with Coca-Cola European Partners goes up, we can work with them to say this is not about pricing. This is about making a carbon reduction on your product. That could mean that the production process makes sure that they’re using less energy. So, if they were less intense, then it means that we can have lower carbon from them.
“And you would have to apply this to all our top spend suppliers. So this is the plan, and it has already started.”
Flexible reporting approaches
Carbon data might come in many forms, he argues.
“Some, like Coca-Cola European Partners, already have the data. I don’t expect all of the suppliers will have carbon data, but some would have the weight of the product.
“If we know the weight of metal that has been supplied to us, there is carbon data for the production of that type of metal. We could work based on that and then work with our supplier to become more efficient.”
“Bear in mind, for some of our suppliers, their Scope 1 and Scope 2 is our Scope 3. So, it’s about engaging them to say if you can deal with your Scope 1 and Scope 2, then our Scope 3 will be better. That’s the tactics I’m hoping to explore with my team.
“And I know there are standards that we can work with, with our suppliers. You need to make it smart. I don’t want to get into ‘it needs to be this standard’ or ‘it needs to be that standard’ because I don’t really believe that we need to tell people ‘how to’.
“So if a supplier comes to me and says, ‘we don’t have that, but we have this’, then we have to look at it on its merit. We will definitely need standardisation. I don’t think it needs to be pigeonholed into one particular standard.”
Reducing single-use plastic
Another facet of Merlin’s sustainability efforts is its work with Coca-Cola European Partners to ensure guests use less single-use plastic:
“They are installing freestyle machines across our attractions, so guests can use reusable cups to refill those drinks instead of using single-use plastics. And this is really working. When Coca-Cola shared the carbon numbers for our products and services, the fact that fewer single-use plastics are in the mix has helped reduce our carbon.”
“That leads back to my point that if we can work with suppliers, then we can have a carbon reduction plan.
“Coca-Cola also have reverse vending machines across many of our attractions in the UK. For single-use plastic bought on our site, we encourage our guests to recycle them in the reverse vending machine for rewards so that we can recycle them. Coca-Cola wants to recycle them, so we are collecting them on their behalf.
“It’s a win-win, isn’t it?”
Carbon-neutral holiday accommodation
Merlin will soon launch Woodland Village, a new holiday village at Legoland Windsor.
“We made a conscious effort to make it carbon neutral in operation. We have designed the holiday village to use 100% electricity in terms of operation. All the power will come from renewable sources through a green tariff.”
“The kitchen is 100% electricity and was one of the challenges when we were talking about this carbon-neutral operation. The rooms will be powered by air-source heat pumps. All of this is electricity from a renewable source.
“We are looking to install a 1.2MW solar carport to supply electricity to the village. They’ve given us a forecast of how much electricity the village will use in a year, and we’ve used that to size the solar carport. So even though we have a green tariff, we are going to be able to have the solar carport supply the electricity that the village will need.”
Ilori shares that he expects about 10% yield from the carports in the UK climate.
“That means the opportunity is still there – it’s not zero. The sun might not be shining all the time, but for every solar panel we put in, it is electricity is coming from renewable sources, not from non-renewable sources. And as we speak, we have a lot of solar on our roofs, across our estate, and they are generating a fair amount of electricity.”
International approaches to sustainability at Merlin
This approach is being rolled out worldwide.
“At Legoland California, we are working with a partner to put a 1.7MW solar carport there that will be able to support up to 15% of their 2019 electricity load.
“We are looking at doing a similar project at Gardaland in Italy. We want to do a similar project at Thorpe Park in the UK and across our resorts. We’re just exploring those opportunities – where can we find the space, where can we put this?”
“We have also partnered with a third-party company in the UK named Raw Charging for electric vehicle installations across our UK parks. We’ve completed phase one at Legoland Windsor and Chessington, and this should be available for our guests to use. And we are also working on Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Alton Towers for electric vehicle chargers. The installation should be completed very soon.”
Evolving regulatory landscape
When asked about some of the key challenges faced by the Merlin on its sustainability journey, Ilori says:
“When people say to me challenges, I say opportunities. I say that challenges are opportunities – I call them solution opportunities. It’s an ability to look at these and say, okay, how can we do this?
“Of course, we are facing a lot of opportunities for us to learn from. We learn, we continue to learn, and we continue to relearn. And the point is nobody is an island of knowledge.
“We know that the field of sustainability is evolving and there are many regulations coming out. We are in different geographies in the world, in 24 countries. And so, we need to make sure that we understand what geography wants in terms of regulatory requirements.”
“Our job as a responsible corporate organisation is to ensure that we are complying with this regulation. It’s an opportunity to do more.
“And of course, we know that there are technologies coming on within the sphere of sustainability as well as energy efficiency, and Merlin is learning some of them. You need to think about how you can apply these to your own operation. It’s not one size fits all. It might work somewhere. It might not necessarily work in another attraction within the Merlin family.
“So, we are doing all this together. We are collaborating, we are learning, and we are listening. We do not want to mark our own homework.”
Communicating carbon management
Merlin is set to launch its Carbon Management Plan to the public in June.
Ilori says: “The plan is within the parks, we would have touchpoints. We are not here to preach to our guests because we are learning as well. But what we want to be able to show to our guests by using touchpoints across the parks or attractions are some of the activities going on.
“To give an example, by putting signage at some of our park bins at Thorpe Park saying 100% of this waste, if it is not recycled, then it will be incinerated to generate energy. It is a way of communicating to our guests what we do by saying we’re diverting our waste from landfill.”
“There are ways we also communicate to our guests within our aquariums by talking about how to look after our planet, you know, simple actions, but they have bigger impacts.
“But like I said, we’re not preaching. If you find a solar carport in our park, it’s a way of teaching. It’s a way of saying there is a different way to generate electricity from fossil fuel that we’ve always known.”
Building on strong foundations for increased sustainability at Merlin
Merlin’s CEO, Scott O’Neil, was appointed in 2022.
“When I met Scott and presented our carbon plan, the first thing he said to me is, ‘This is not ambitious enough’,” says Ilori.
“When your CEO says that your carbon plan is not ambitious enough, then that tells you the CEO means business when it comes to carbon management. I mean, the reality is things are evolving. Things are changing. And we’ve had a carbon management plan prior to Scott starting, and Scott said, ‘I want more. I need you to do more’.
“And it’s exciting that Scott is asking us to do more. But the good thing is the foundation we had in place was still valid. So, we’re building on that foundation to create a new management plan for Merlin.
“For instance, I talked about our Scope 3, that we’ve done the calculation. We are also looking at aligning with science-based target initiatives.
“We know that we have a lot of work to do. I’ve always said to people, we’re going to do a midway house. I don’t want to say we’re not going to set any targets until we have Scope 3 calculated in a way that we think we can set targets in line with SBTi [The Science Based Targets initiative]. We are hoping to have this done by the end of next year. That’s the plan. Our plan is to have to have engaged SBTi by the end of next year.”
Looking forwards
What does sustainability at Merlin look like over the next year?
“I’m hoping that next year I will be able to say our Scope 3 is now a lot better. I’m more comfortable with the numbers we have. I know it’s not going to be a ride in the park. Scope 3 is not something that you just snap your fingers and get. But I’m hoping that by this time next year, I’ll be able to say our Scope 3 is now cleaner and clearer than just spend data.
“I’m hoping that there will be more engagement on what our plans would be, and we will have released our carbon management plan. I will also be able to talk about how some of our projects are evolving, and how some of our renewable projects that we are doing between now and the next 12 months, we should have more information on that. And I’m hoping to be able to share how we will have engaged our guests more as well.”
Find out how Merlin has progressed on its sustainability journey when Ilori joins us at greenloop 25 on 29 April 2025. Save the date!
