Our sustainability policy
Our sustainability policy

Tree listening at the British Science Festival

At the British Science Association, social sustainability and the social legacy of our programmes have always been at the heart of our work.

For 2024, we have partnered with the University of East London, a University with a strong commitment to sustainability.

Together, we took a pledge for British Science Festival 2024 to reduce our environmental footprint and amplify our social impact. You can see below the actions we’ve taken and the progress we’re making.

Each year, we continue to consider our impact in every decision we’re taking and strive for positive progress. We invite you to join us on this pledge. At the bottom of this page, you will find ways to get involved and make your experience at the British Science Festival more positive and impactful.

We have used the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as a way of categorising our progress so far.

GOAL 5: GENDER EQUALITY

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

  • We put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all that we do;
  • We support underrepresented female voices in science by committing to no all-male panels in any of our events.

GOAL 7: AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy

  • We use the grid for powering our events;
  • There is no use of fuel generators at our events.

GOAL 8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all

  • We prioritise local suppliers and artists for our production commissions;
  • We do not have volunteers at the Festival delivery team – all of our roles are paid a Living Wage Foundation salary or more;
  • We prioritise applicants from the local area for our Festival Assistant positions;
  • We do not require previous work experience for our Festival Assistant positions. Instead, we provide plenty of training and on-site support to our staff. Discover what’s it like to work at the British Science Festival here.

GOAL 10: REDUCED INEQUALITIES

Reduce inequality and support the marginalized

  • All of our events are completely free to attend;
  • We run a community grants programme with groups/organisations in Newham that work directly with audiences who are traditionally underrepresented and currently not engaged in science activity;
  • All our venues are wheelchair accessible;
  • We have committed to providing an AccessAble guide for all our venues. We have commissioned AccessAble to create accessibility guides for any festival venues that didn’t already have one;
  • We have programmed a series of events around social sustainability as part of our events programme.

GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

  • We are encouraging all our visitors to use public transport to attend our events, and are providing detailed information for it;
  • We will have multiple recycling bins across the University of East London Campuses;
  • We will have multiple water refill stations across the University of East London Campuses.

GOAL 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

  • In order to reduce food waste, we do not provide any buffet-style catering to our staff and speakers;
  • Our hospitality catering (e.g., for private functions and meetings) is primarily vegan;
  • We provide vegan food throughout the Festival and encourage visitors to try it;
  • We have cut down the printing of collateral (programmes, leaflets, posters etc) compared to previous years. We now print collateral only when we run out of stock. The printed materials are all recyclable and locally sourced to reduce transport emissions;
  • We have redesigned our site dressing and branding production:
    • We are eliminating single-use plastic signage by employing additional Festival Assistants to help visitors with wayfinding;
    • We are replacing window vinyls and building dressing with chalk window painting;
    • In the few cases where eco-friendly production is not possible, we endeavour to have branding that can be reused in future years or stay on site for over a year;
    • We are opting for suppliers with green certifications.

GOAL 13: CLIMATE ACTION

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

  • We’ve shared our sustainability pledge with our stakeholders (speakers/event organisers, venues, partner organisations and sponsors) and ran consultations to reduce the environmental footprint of their activities at the Festival;
  • We have programmed a series of events around environmental sustainability and climate change as part of our events programme.

How you can get involved

  • Consider using public transport to attend our events. There is plenty of information on our Plan your Visit page;
  • Bring along a refillable water bottle rather than buying single-use plastic water bottles on site;
  • Use our recycling bins mindfully rather than opting for the General Waste option;
  • Go for meat- and fish-free options in our restaurants. Why not try a vegan meal from our campus cafés?