greenloop 2024 - final speakers revealed

8.50am BST: Welcome to greenloop

We welcome you to greenloop 2024.

9am BST: What was that all about? 2023's extreme weather and what it means for the climate

Professor Peter Cox, director of the Global Systems Institute and Professor of Climate System Dynamics at the University of Exeter, will open greenloop by looking back at the extreme weather and record warming of 2023 and discuss what this means for the future and how it will impact our industry.

9:45am BST: Merlin Entertainments' sustainability strategy

Dare Ilori, group sustainability director at Merlin Entertainments, will be talking about Merlin’s sustainability strategy and progress updates, highlighting useful lessons learned and challenges ahead. A not-to-be-missed informative and inspiring session from the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator.

10.25am BST: Andreas Andersen and IAAPA’s sustainability journey

Andersen will be discussing IAAPA’s ambitious work on sustainability. IAAPA, the global association for the attractions industry,announced the results of its preliminary, and thorough, scoping work on ESG in December 2023. More details will follow, but the organisation’s plans include not only assistance for members, but also work to look at its own operations. Six flagship initiatives have been identified around Net Zero, Zero Waste, diversity and inclusion targets, communications and disclosure and membership ESG support.

11am BST: Fixing Carbon with Therme Group and University of Surrey

Edi Goean, vice president of new business partnerships at Therme Group and Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, director of the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability, will present a ground-breaking new carbon tokenomics model.

This carbon-centric ecosystem will help all organisations in the visitor economy to access traceable, real and permanent climate finance investments.

11:30am BST: Red Sea Global on trends in wellness and sustainability

Lindsay Madden-Nadeau, senior director – wellness strategy at Red Sea Global, will speak about RSG's commitment to sustainable development and trends she is seeing in wellness and sustainability.

12pm BST: Museums and the climate crisis. Why have museums been slow to act?

Nick Merriman, chief executive at English Heritage and Sarah Sutton, CEO at Environment and Culture Partners will discuss why the museum sector has been slow to act on the climate crisis, and how our cultural institutions can accelerate action and authentically amplify their influence.

Merriman’s excellent new book Museums and the Climate Crisis, for which Sutton contributed a chapter, will provide the basis for the session.

1pm BST: Carbon footprints on a budget. Top tips, links and Q&A

Verónica Celis Vergara, CEO at Valumia, and Tim Pethick, Founder and CEO at Nomad Exhibitions will join Rachel Read, co-founder of blooloop to speak to small businesses and the particular challenges faced by those wanting to measure their carbon footprints without the resources to hire a consultant or invest in a fancy measurement platform.

Bring a pen and paper (or digital equivalent). Expect to leave the session with lots of links and signposting to next steps!

1:50pm BST: Katapult reveal the winner of its Helping Hands Initiative

Robbie Jones, insights director at Katapult, will reveal the winner of Katapult's Helping Hands Initiative. It has been running for six years and supports visitor attractions, charities and community interest groups in the leisure industry to achieve their project objectives.

2pm BST: Aquarium Conservation Partnership on co-ordinating conservation impact

Kim McIntyre, Executive Director of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership will speak about how US aquariums are working together to increase their conservation impact.

2:10pm BST: Sustainability in AV with SAVe - UN SDGs, reuse and recycling

Kelly Perkins, Marketing Director at The Farm AV, will speak about SAVe and sustainability in AV. SAVe is made up of leaders from the AV industry who are committed to advancing the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, providing information, inspiration and leadership to enable the industry to take meaningful action.

2:20pm BST: Products of Change – sustainably reimagining brand licensing & consumer products

Helena Mansell-Stopher, CEO and founder at Products of Change will speak about POC, a member organisation that is is collectively building the infrastructure and providing the resources to help the brand licensing and consumer products industry reduce its environmental impact.

2:30pm BST: How the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) is decarbonising the visual arts sector

Aoife Fannin, project manager at Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) will speak at greenloop: sustainability in visitor attractions conference 2024. The GCC is an international membership organisation providing environmental sustainability guidelines for the visual arts sector. The membership is a coalition of artists, institutions/non-profits, art sector businesses and galleries committed to creating a sustainable sector.

3pm BST: Innovations in reuse and recycling and beyond with Minnesota Zoo, Wake the Tiger and EDG+Culturenut

John Frawley, director/CEO of Minnesota Zoo, Carrie O'Keefe, Director of Business Development at EDG + Culturenut and Graham MacVoy, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Wake The Tiger will speak about reuse and recycling. From the repurposing of an existing Treetop Trail, to reusing museum exhibitions and getting visitors to create art out of rubbish, these organisations have all innovated in recycling and reusing material.

4pm BST: Walt Disney Imagineering on a holistic approach to sustainable design

Emily Dow, design + delivery studio executive and Caitlin Krasovic, sustainable design principal, Walt Disney Imagineering, will speak about taking a holistic approach to sustainable design, exploring the opportunities for impact at scale across a whole site, adapting to various global regions, and planning for the future with resilient developments.

5pm BST: Sustainability in action with Mall of America, Forrec and WhiteWater

Una deBoer, Chief Marketing Officer at WhiteWater, Cindi Rowan, Director, Landscape Architecture Studio at Forrec and Chris Grap, will speak about sustainability in action. We will hear how Mall of America tells visitors about its sustainability plans, how Forrec designs sustainably and what sustainable innnovations WhiteWater is using.

6pm BST: Reverse The Red's Global Mission

Michael Clifford, Strategy Director of Reverse the Red will explain how the organisation is co-ordinating biodiversity action worldwide with initiatives like the World Species Congress. We will then speak to Judy Mann-Lang, Executive Strategic Projects at Two Oceans Aquarium and Eugenia Cordero Schmidt, Program Officer at Center for Species Survival Brazil (CSS Brazil) to hear about Reverse the Red's work on the ground.

This session is a MUST for anyone taking action on biodiversity loss.