Erik Distler - VP, Head of Sustainability at AEG

Erik Distler is responsible for overseeing AEG Sustainability, the organization’s corporate sustainability program. In this capacity, he focuses on global strategies and tactics that address operational impacts and capture and measure data across key environmental metrics, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste reduction. He also supports AEG’s global business units in the implementation and execution of sustainability initiatives, manages external partnerships related to sustainability, facilitates the sharing of best practices, and ensures that sustainability is a source of value across the company. Distler has worked at the intersection of environmental and social responsibility in sports and entertainment for more than ten years. Before joining AEG, he built and led the sports-focused sustainability strategy and program at Nike. Prior to Nike, he was with the Green Sports Alliance where he oversaw relationships with corporate partners, live entertainment events, professional sports leagues and clubs, sports governing bodies, and collegiate schools and conferences, as well as working extensively with ESPN. He also spent time as a sustainability consultant with PwC. Distler began his career in accounting and finance, where he worked for Deloitte and The Siegfried Group LLP for the first seven years of his career. He received his Master of Public Administration (MPA) in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Iowa State University, graduating with Honors and High Distinction.. Erik Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: How AEG manages sustainability at large events like music festivals Piloting initiatives at smaller events to apply learnings and replicate at larger events Incorporating reusable materials at events in partnership with Our World Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals Erik’s Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I would say have as many conversations as you can. Sustainability departments are often departments and functions that are in service to the business. We tend to operate as internal consultants. So how can we be everywhere at the same time? How can we ensure that every part of the business has the opportunity to build sustainability into their work? How do we consult to provide subject matter expertise to the business? The work we do within the department is measurement and data and setting sustainability targets and all that kind of exists within our function. But it all starts with having conversations. I wouldn't be afraid to sit down with someone and ask them more questions than provide statements on how they feel, how they perceive sustainability, where they feel as though it's working, where it's not working, what can we do more of that really helped build out our sustainability strategy. Do a little bit of a needs assessment on what stakeholders and partners value. The only other thing I'd say too secondary is, don't be afraid to start somewhere. I think we often feel as though the challenges we're up against are audacious and global and all encompassing, and they are. It can sometimes feel like we're out at sea against a massive challenge on our own  when we think of climate issues. That can freeze one up. It can stifle movement. You can feel like, "well, what can I do? I can't possibly make a difference." It’s amazing what just taking one small step can lead to. There's been this kind of backlash against incrementalism in the space, like we need big changes, not incremental changes, but I don't know that I agree with that. I think an incremental quick change that you can grow on and iterate from can turn into something very big. So don't be afraid to start somewhere. Start with something that you can measure, for sure. But have those conversations and turn those small steps into big steps. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? There's a lot to be excited about. When realizing the gravity of the issue that we're facing, I think it's important to find sources of encouragement and hopefulness. There's really no other way. There’s a line by Walt Kelly from his pogo comic strip many years ago that says, “we are confronted with insurmountable opportunities.” I use that and refer to that a lot. Try to figure out what is the opportunity in front of us and be optimistic about it. I think there's an excitement around the external forces. They're becoming louder and more influential, and that's encouraging. Our fans, our partners, our sponsors, our artists and entertainers. There’s more of a voice and more influence that is being laid upon us and expected from us. I think collaboration is increasing cross-sector research companies that are competitive coming together in a pre-competitive way. Higher education institutions are pulling us in to do research that will help us in our business. We're seeing a lot of that. There's also a healthy kind of push, pull and engagement among our partners and sponsors. There's that untapped space with partnerships and sponsorships where it's determining inventory and the assets and how sustainability can be valued and monetized, but the conversations that we're having with partners or potential partners around shared goals, targets, aspirations, and what we can do together to help achieve our individual sustainability goals, kind of matches up. There's a lot of energy and excitement around that. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? One is Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows. It's a book that'll retrain your brain to consider the interconnectedness of literally everything around you. And then Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins. It’s that seminal book on environmental economics. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I read Green Bizz, 3BL and Triple Pundit. We get a lot of resources from our longtime partner, Schneider Electric. We've worked with them for many years and they have webinars and lots of sessions and thought leadership that we use a lot. I also keep up on the guidance from the GHG protocol, the EPA, the UN. In our space in particular, there are two organizations that are co- holding up the movement, Green Sports Alliance on the sports side and a more newly formed music sustainability alliance on the music side. We look to these two entities to hold and convene us, and there's a lot of good research and thinking coming out of those orgs as well. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at AEG? Our website, aegworldwide.com. There's an About Us dropdown at the top, and we have a somewhat newly revamped sustainability page and more changes coming. We're building out a microsite off that page when we have our next generation sustainability goals finalized. We'll have all that good stuff up there. We also have case studies or what we call sustainability stories up on that page. Also under About Us, you can read about our social impact and DEI functions as well. We have a Twitter account, we recently rebranded it from AEG One Earth to the handle, @AEGSustain or the account name, AEG sustainability. We're trying to get information up there. And of course, LinkedIn is a great place to reach out to myself or anyone from our sustainability team.