The Future of Festivals and Sustainability
Claire O’Neill — Co Founder, A Greener Festival
Leia em Português aqui.
There is no denying that a large part of festival culture has been forthright in terms of sustainability on an international scale. Perhaps the roots of festivals and their enjoyment coming from “folk” and community celebration allowed for something of a natural affinity towards people and environment. Perhaps the temporary nature of festivals allows for creative and innovative exploration into new ways of doing things. Perhaps all of the above and more.
A Greener Festival (AGF) was born from a desire to not only make festivals greener, but to use festivals as a way to reconnect us with one another and with nature, to nurture a greener way of life. Learning of the destruction we inflict on our planet and each other, the need for change was blindingly obvious and urgent from my perspective, as a 17 year old at the turn of the century.
Pioneers such as Green Futures of Glastonbury Festival and Big Green Gathering, whose roots were back in the UK environmental movement of the 1970s, were early examples of how a festival could be held with renewable energy, ethically sourced vegan foods, environmental and socially focused content and an advocacy of direct activism. The foundations laid by these communities as well as the counter culture from the electronic music scene throughout Europe (Boom Festival in Portugal and ID Spiral with German / UK origins to name a few) were certainly a strong influence for me in my early 2000’s.
When I studied Music Industry Management and chose to focus on sustainability of festivals in 2005, there was nothing relating to festivals and environment to reference in academia. I had to borrow from other industries and sectors and apply it to events and create original research. This was before there was a BS8910 which later became ISO20121. The concepts of Sustainable Development Goals did not exist and Circular Economy was not popularised.
Fast forward 15 years. Countless festivals have used both innovative and traditional ways to reduce their impacts. We see the use of compost toilets, renewable energy, grey water recycling, 100% plant-based menus, banning of single use plastics, and a plethora of incentives for audience and crew to travel by lower emission modes of transport. We have seen environmental reporting become commonplace, as well as environmental management of festival sites with sophisticated measures and dedicated staff to ensure that local ecosystems are protected be that through pollution prevention, drainage, or positioning of stages. As well as the grassroots movement, largest promoters in the world such as Live Nation and AEG have released ambitious sustainability policies with targets for drastic emissions and plastics reductions. Possibly most important of all — people have been waking up to the fact that this is a process we must all go through in our own lives if we wish to leave life for future generations.
Between 2017 and 2020 there was an exponential increase in awareness and action in relation to sustainability issues such as environment, equality and diversity. Perhaps this is due to the effects becoming ever more real and present. Arctic Circle wildfires of Siberia and Alaska pumping yet more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and the visible choking of our waters with plastic are only two such examples. There have been incredible iconic voices that have also made significant ripples and allowed the complex issues of sustainability and climate change to be emotively understood by more people.
It is clear that as societal awareness has moved towards climate change, environmental concerns, and social inequalities, brands and sponsors are increasingly eager to associate with green initiatives and activities. There is scope for genuinely beneficial partnerships that create solutions and improvements to brand activation practices and beyond.
AGF organise the Green Events & Innovations Conference (GEI) each year since 2008. In 2020 we had our largest attendance welcoming agents, promoters, venues and sustainability experts to meet and discuss how we can push forwards collectively to make not only festivals, but the whole international live music industry live up to it’s sustainability aspirations.
Cue Covid. Festivals around the world cancelled. All international tours cancelled. Venues closed. Flights grounded. The 13th edition of GEI is taking place digitally due to the pandemic.
What has been utterly fascinating is how prior to Covid-19 there was a lot of discussion about how much we might or might not do in the live industry, in order to reduce emissions, reduce waste, act equitably, and operate more harmoniously alongside nature.
To create a new way of living and of doing business requires innovation and creativity — to design systems that are no longer linear “make-use-dispose” but instead keep resources within the “loop”, in a system where economic activity boosts overall system health. A reciprocal rather than exploitative approach. We’re not just talking about plastics and physical materials here, but nutrients for our soils, renewable energy systems, protection of forests and biodiversity, all the way to our relationships and how we do business.
At AGF we have certified hundreds of festivals around the world who have demonstrated great strides to reduce their environmental impact, and create positive change. We have worked with events from the scale of Glastonbury Festival with over 200,000 people for more than a decade, as well as smaller community events and everything in between. We launched the Green Artist Rider with Paradigm Agency in 2019 which seeks to bring artists, venues, promoters and the whole live music ecosystem together on this subject. We give training to assessors and those with an interest in sustainable events all around the world.
The greener festivals assessment look at 10 key areas for sustainability of a festival. This includes local ecosystems and local community impacts, be they positive or negative. For instance how is litter, pollution, traffic and noise managed. What positive effects does the event have on the local ecosystem and are the local community involved? We look at global issues of travel & transport, power, procurements, food, waste & recycling, water and sanitation, legal and management systems, communication and behaviour change, and CO2 analysis and measurements.
To participate in A Greener Festival Award certification scheme festivals complete a self assessment and are then visited by assessors to see what is happening on site. When the event is finished there still more to be done as evidence and data is provided to show for instance travel, energy, waste, water use and community and visitor feedback. It is a very detailed process which provides an in depth verified sustainability audit of any event — rather than just a tick box exercise. Most importantly there is feedback for improvements and shared learning amongst the international festival community who participate, and our outstanding AGF Assessors who are presently across more than 25 countries.
The pandemic presents real economic challenges to our entire industry, but has also presented opportunities in that we can reimagine the way that we do things for the better. More connections have been made across sectors of the industry than ever before, where we are discussing what really deeply matters for our wellbeing and amelioration. The vision is not of retraction and gloom, but of an inspiring future that we want to collectively build together.
Imagine, festivals around the world foster even greater development of local artistic talent and opportunities for access of local communities into the creative sectors and expressions. An increased focus on local audiences, communities and low carbon mobility. These festivals are powered by 100% renewable energy be that through battery storage and low carbon fuels and storage, or renewable grid connections. The food is local, seasonal and largely if not 100% plant based. The materials are reused, essential growth nutrients are harnessed from human waste, the water is recycled, food is not wasted, with any scraps composted to replenish the soils and grow food.
All of the aforementioned is already completely possible — right now. We simply must continue to foster collaboration, support, communication between one another, with indigenous communities, with fellow sectors, academia, the science community and with governments to remove unnecessary obstacles and obscuration’s, and to share. Every single one of us depend on getting this right, and if we do — we are all winners.
