Jaime Lee (JL), Head of Sibos, Stéphanie Gerniers (SG), Senior Events and Communications Specialist and Innes Macleod (IM), Innovation & Event Manager from Swift discuss the sustainability initiatives at Sibos 2023 and how they’re empowering the Sibos community to come together and #LeadTheChange.</em></p> The #LeadTheChange strategy was a great success in 2022, can you tell us more about how it will look this year?</strong></p> JL: </strong>#LeadTheChange was very successful in Amsterdam, but for us that was just the beginning, as we have a long-term commitment to become one of the most sustainable global events. Our campaign again focuses on three pillars; protecting our environment, caring for the community and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, with measurable KPIs to ensure we’re accountable and can evaluate the success of our initiatives.</p> We’re very mindful that we can’t #LeadTheChange on our own: we need to work closely with everyone in the Sibos community to make a meaningful difference. We’re giving exhibitors and participants insights and tools to help them make positive and sustainable choices, and we also want to learn from them so we can continue to improve as well. If we come together as a community we can drive real change in the financial industry and the world around us.</p> How are you encouraging exhibitors and participants to #LeadTheChange?</strong></p> SG:</strong> Sustainability and diversity issues are as important to many Sibos participants and exhibitors as they are to us, so we’re inviting everyone to be part of the new Sibos sustainability pledge</a>.</p> We’re asking exhibitors and participants to commit to at least five specific actions to help make Sibos a sustainable event which delivers a positive impact. For participants this could be something as easy as choosing a meat-free lunch, or attending our new diversity, equity and inclusion networking event. Exhibitors’ options include using sustainable materials to build stands and ensuring diversity is represented in their team at Sibos.</p> You’ll be able to see the full list of actions and make your choices once the Sibos digital experience goes live in July. An icon will appear on your participant profile to show you’ve pledged to #LeadTheChange. We’re hoping to see as many of these icons in the participant directory as possible!</p> How is Sibos supporting the community in Toronto?</strong></p> SG:</strong> We always make sure we give back to the local community in our host cities. This year’s charity partner is SickKids Foundation,</a> the fundraising arm for The Hospital for Sick Children. Proceeds from Swift, partner exhibitors and fundraising on site will support the Garry Hurvitz Centre for Brain & Mental Health at SickKids.</p> Many mental health and neurological challenges start in childhood, so studying them at a leading children’s hospital will allow researchers to develop innovative therapies. We’ll be providing details on how you can contribute to SickKids Foundation in the coming weeks.</p> We’re also supporting WWF-Canada’s Seed Orchard Program, which seeks to increase the supply of native plants and trees for habitat restoration. Their work is very important to ensure genetic diversity and climate resilience.</p> What other initiatives will there be to fight climate change at Sibos 2023?</strong></p> IM:</strong> One of our priorities is to cut carbon emissions generated by Sibos. This is factored into the physical design of the event from the outset. We’re limiting the amount of material we use, and select locally sourced, rented, reused or repurposed options.</p> We’re making it easy for participants to travel sustainably in Toronto by providing free public transport with all in-person passes. We’re reducing paper waste by providing a digital Newscorner, and contact details can be exchanged digitally just by scanning the QR code on participant badges.</p> Waste management is very important so we ask everyone to recycle and repurpose. We provide detailed sustainability guidelines to exhibitors, and they can also use our venue’s donation programme to distribute all reusable items to local charities.</p> Last but not least, how are you promoting diversity, equity and inclusion?</strong></p> IM:</strong> Sibos has always championed equality and the importance of creating a more diverse, and inclusive industry.</p> We’ve run our successful Women of Sibos event for many years and we’re building on this with a new event with a broader focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. We can promise a very special guest speaker with an impressive story to share. We’ll publish more details soon, but in the meantime please save the date of Wednesday 20 September.</p> The Sibos Talent Accelerator Route (STAR) scholarship</a> is back again, giving women in finance great opportunities to network with leading industry executives and build their knowledge and connections.</p> The conference programme is also carefully curated to reflect the diversity of our community. We’re targeting 50% women speakers and for at least 35 sessions to cover diversity and inclusion or sustainability issues.</p> To make sure the event is accessible we have a digital pass so people can access conference content and use our networking tools from anywhere in the world, we’ve added subtitles to all our Sibos TV and promotional video content, and our venue is well set up for people with disabilities and mobility issues.</p> It’s the fact that Sibos brings together such a large cross section of the financial industry that makes it so successful, so we want as many people as possible to be able to participate.</p> Register for Sibos</a>, which runs from 18 – 21 September 2023, today. Find out more about the Sibos #LeadTheChange strategy</a> and sign up for the Sibos Insider newsletter</a> for the latest updates on how you can help.</em></p>