What is the guide for?

Royal Holloway Students’ Union supports around 100 societies and 30+ sports clubs. These student-led groups successfully plan  hundreds of events  a  year.  This guide is  designed to help  student  groups  be  conscious  of  their  carbon  footprint and  boost  their  environmental  sustainability,  with  the  focus  on  planning  events  that  reduce  or  eliminate  greenhouse  gas  production.              


Why is this important?

  • Environmental sustainability can be defined as choices that consider the future of mankind to co-exist on this planet safely. 
  • Carbon footprint can be defined as the amount of carbon  dioxide  released  into  the  atmosphere  as  a  result  of  our  activities.     
  • Greenhouse  gases  have  far-ranging  environmental  and  health  effects.  They  cause  climate  change  by  trapping  heat  in  the  atmosphere.  This  causes  extreme  weather,  air  pollution  and  species  extinction.  


This  resource  will  give  committee  members  the  opportunity  to  be  more  carbon  literate and to act on that knowledge by altering the way they organise events. Being eco-friendly does not have to be expensive – in fact it can be cheaper in the long-term! 

Whilst  carbon  footprint  is  the  focus  of  this  guide,  there  are  other  benefits  for  student groups who wish to focus on environmental sustainability. For example, at its core, sustainable  event  planning  is  about  producing  less  waste.  This  means  waste  management  also  becomes  easier  and  less  complicated.  Further,  student  groups  that  are  eco-friendly  will create positive brand awareness and attract more members. This is due to the positive environmentally conscious nature of this generation. 


This guide offers support on how to become more environmentally sustainable as a student group,  particularly  in  relation  to  event  planning.  This  is  by  no  means  a  comprehensive resource,  but  rather  an  inspiration  to  continue  developing  environmental  sustainability  in  practice!