CEO Sustainability Series |Guillaume Chabrières, Partner & Chief Executive Officer, Chab Group

Question 1: What does sustainability mean to your organisation?

Chab Group is a pioneer of the ISO 20121 certification in Singapore for an events agency. Each time we begin a project, we will encourage our clients to choose the most sustainable options within the alternatives offered. Thereafter, we carefully select suppliers who share the same business values as us, making sure that as much as possible, the materials used in our events support sustainability. We are also very mindful of the carbon footprint generated at events. After each project, we do a post event report to evaluate our material selection process and also a waste management audit. In these reports, we record both our successful practices and areas of improvement.

Q2: How is technology helping your company achieve its sustainability targets?

We have taken steps to make our own office environment more sustainable by transitioning from paper-based document storage to a cloud-based system. For our events, we eradicate the use of any unnecessary printing. Instead, we use RFID scan and digital registrations. Rather than using paper or cloth backdrop stands, we use digital backdrops that are easily adaptable/ reworked on and can be reused limitlessly for future projects. While we acknowledge that we are still generating to some extent a certain amount of digital footprint, this is far much less compared to having printed documents. Some proposals can take up hundreds of pages, printed in colour and duplicated for more than one person. Imagine the wastage created! Additionally, the creation of Chab Lab during the COVID-19 restriction period resulted in Chab Group proposing virtual and hybrid event options to our clients. This is one of our strategies to promote sustainability on a regional level.

Q3: What are some of the biggest sustainability issues you’ve faced and how did you tackle all these sets of challenges?

Events is a tricky industry – the brand’s product focus, marketing strategies, presentation guidelines change with each product launch at every season. This results in the inability to recycle or reuse set-ups and builds while trying to respect the brand’s guidelines.

It may be disquieting for many, but in our industry it is very common to have a build and dispose mentality. However, we can influence and educate our clients as much as possible on the importance of practising a Re-use, Re-cycle, Refurbish or Adapt mindset. Not only will it save all stakeholders some money, most importantly, we will collectively be contributing to the cause of Sustainability.

Presently, we are working very closely with a high-end luxury partner to create an exhibition booth that can be reused and adapted to their next event’s guidelines. We are also constructing it in a manner that allows all of the design components and elements to be shipped and re-used at their regional launches. Our goal with every pitch made is to convince our clients that sustainability can be creative, beautiful and purposeful. Although perfection is usually unattainable, we can always learn from our mistakes and better ourselves, sharing our experiences with others.