Helping Ability Hire measure and offset event delivery emissions.

Ability Hire supplies, repurposes and distributes rental furniture for the events industry. Its customers range from businesses and universities to hospitals, schools, banks and law firms. Transporting that inventory and setting it up is an essential part of the service.

Those operations also generate emissions. As customers asked more about sustainability, the team wanted to account for the environmental impact of its logistics and take action across the events it supplied.

The challenge was practical: how do you turn each delivery and setup job into a carbon calculation, find appropriate offset projects and make that work visible to a customer choosing a supplier? One Tribe connected those parts of the programme.

One Tribe provided a way to calculate the footprint associated with operational journeys. The assessment considered transport, logistics, staff time and related setup activity, then connected that footprint with selected carbon projects.

The programme also included certification and auditing capabilities. Ability Hire could explain what had been measured and the action taken, with evidence available for customers and prospects.

At International Confex, One Tribe supplied interactive stickers for the hire furniture. Visitors could follow them to Ability Hire’s impact page and explore the environmental programme behind the service.

That detail mattered because logistics usually happen before attendees arrive. The stickers made the work visible at the point where people encountered the furniture. Ability Hire could bring the same account into conversations with prospective customers.

The result was a clearer sales conversation: here is the service we provide, here is how we account for the emissions associated with it, and here is the action we have funded.

Ability Hire began offsetting event travel and setup emissions in January 2024. The early programme results recorded 20 tonnes of CO₂e offset, with an estimated commitment of 250–300 tonnes for the full year.

The team reported an increase in requests for tenders and positive feedback about its approach to emissions. Project activity supported benefits for 14 communities, with projects benchmarked against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The partnership gave Ability Hire a practical calculation process and a visible way to explain its action. That is the customer story: making sustainability part of how an event supplier delivers, documents and sells its service.