SEC scoops gold at the VisitScotland Thistle Awards for Best Business Event for global COP26 conference

Scotland’s biggest event’s campus, the SEC in Glasgow, has won Best Business Event, at the prestigious Scottish Thistle Awards, held on Thursday 9 February at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, for its hosting of COP26 in November 2021.

The SEC beat off stiff competition from P&J Live in Aberdeen for their hosting of the British Orthopaedic Association Annual Congress and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre for its British Society of Lifestyle Medicine event.

Judges praised the SEC for their excellent cross agency collaboration in hosting an event of this scale that had “the power to truly change the world.” They also highlighted the impacts and legacy of the event on the international business events community in driving up new standards in event sustainability.

Neil Brownlee, VisitScotland Head of Business Events said: “Congratulations to the SEC on receiving this prestigious award for COP 26. COP26 was a unique business event of great complexity and importance that showcased Scotland to the world.

“The SEC should be commended for their local and international partnership working to deliver a best-practice business event that continues to have an impact today.

“As the calibre of this winner demonstrates, Business Events in Scotland are catalysts for social and economic transformation. They touch every industry, business and community in the country, and are critical to ensuring the wider global economic recovery.

“Business events also act as platforms for collaboration, embracing innovative and sustainable practices to showcase Scotland as a good global citizen and support our ambition to be a world leader in 21^st century tourism.”

COP26 in November 2021 was the biggest and most globally significant event the SEC had ever hosted. The event brought together 120 world leaders and 38,000 participants, the largest in its 26-year history, in Glasgow to drive forward the international effort to tackle climate change.

The Best Business Event category celebrates business events as catalysts for economic and social transformation and COP26 was the perfect example of this. The conference led to The Glasgow Climate Pact and the potential to keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees, defining the lives of generations to come. The extensive media coverage generated from the event also had a significant effect on moving climate change up the agenda of Governments, businesses, and civil society.

As well as its massive global impact, COP26 also had a major influence on the events industry. The globally recognised Net Zero Carbon Events initiative was launched during COP26. Shaped by senior leaders at the SEC and representatives from across the events industry, now almost 500 organisations around the world have committed to action on climate change.

Locally, through IKEA, one of the event’s sponsors, 6,000 items of furniture were given to charities and community groups. Miles of carpet was also upgraded ahead of the event so that they could be redistributed to over 1800 underprivileged families after the event, and over 600 laptops are support people living in Glasgow who need them, including Ukrainian refugees.

Hosting COP26 also accelerated the SEC’s sustainability strategy and the announcement of its net zero carbon by 2030 ambitions.

Kathleen Warden, Director of Conference Sales at SEC said: “COP26 was one of our greatest ever achievements at the SEC and to have its success celebrated by the prestigious Thistle Awards is an honour. The event was a massive undertaking but one we took on with great passion and pride.

“To be recognised by our industry peers for its success is another accolade we’ll be extremely proud of for many years to come. The most important outcome of COP26 for us as an organisation was the announcement of our own commitment to Net Zero and we hope that businesses across Scotland are making similar moves to ensure our planet’s future.”