London’s leading conference and events venue, The QEII Centre, welcomed climate experts to a ground-breaking discussion about the creation of a sustainable food system.
The event, organised by Compass Group UK & Ireland, took place at QEII on 20 July where it brought together government representatives, business leaders and academics to talk about how we can reduce climate emissions by building a sustainable food system.
World-renowned climate experts, including the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion Andrew Griffith MP, climate academic, Professor Sir Charles Godfray and Food Foundation Director Anna Taylor spoke to over 150 attendees from the QEII’s Churchill room.
The QEII’s in-house AV team QEII Live created and supported a live link so that more than 400 people could attend virtually. They included Diane Holdorf, managing director of Food and Nature for World Business Council for Sustainable Development, who spoke by video link from Geneva.
Following the discussion, attendees were invited by Compass to a food tasting, prepared by QEII’s in-house caterers QEII Taste.
The team, led by head chef Jean-Michel Viala, created a sumptuous, yet low-carbon menu of Lincolnshire cauliflower stalk and leaf with samphire, Chalk Stream river trout with a watercress sauce and roasted Worcestershire beetroot, carrot and sundried tomato, with cherry vinegar dressing.
The conference was the first major in-person event held at QEII since 23 March 2020 when it was closed due to the nationwide lockdown.
Mark Taylor, chief executive of The QEII Centre, said: “We were thrilled to be chosen by Compass Group UK & Ireland as the location for such an important discussion on food sustainability as this is something that affects us all. It was great to be back and showcase the expertise of QEII’s event, AV and catering teams. Sustainability is an important issue to us at The QEII and our in-house catering team QEII Taste has made great strides in creating its own sustainable solutions without compromising on creativity or quality of its offering.”
Robin Mills, MD, Compass Group UK & Ireland said: “The world needs to feed a future population of 10 billion people a healthy diet within planetary boundaries. We can only achieve this by transforming eating habits, improving food production and reducing food waste. The scale of this requires historic levels of transformation representing the biggest challenge our industry has faced. As the UK’s largest foodservice business, we take our responsibility to transform the food system seriously and we’re lucky to have great clients, suppliers and partners to help us. This event was a brilliant opportunity to discuss how we can move towards a sustainable food system and how we can achieve that together.”
The event was held as part of Compass Group UK & Ireland’s, commitment to achieve Climate Net Zero by 2030.
Explore the hireable events spaces available at the centre by visiting www.qeiicentre.london
