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Festival Republic

Green

Live Nation Entertainment is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders:
Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Festival Republic, Academy Music Group, LN Media and Sponsorship, and Artist Nation Management.

As set out in our Green Nation Sustainability Charter, we recognise our responsibility to preserve the live music experience for generations to come and have a tremendous opportunity to inspire climate action at our events.

We acknowledge the impact that our business has on the environment, are committed both to telling the truth about the scale of the climate and ecological emergency, and to taking urgent action.

Our primary impact areas are transport and energy, as well as waste, water, food and beverage, and the effect of the events on the flora and fauna of the site.
Each of the festival’s environmental impact areas have been assessed in the context of their impact on, and the contribution to reaching the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals[1].

Festival Republic’s approach to environmental sustainability;

Festival Republic began the journey of addressing environmental sustainability in 2007 starting with Latitude, Reading and Leeds Festivals.

 

We partnered with Julie’s Bicycle and The Environmental Change Institute and the University of Oxford, to investigate the impacts of the music industry in 2007 publishing First Steps Mapping UK Music Industry Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Responding to calls across Europe to make sustainability a priority Melvin Benn and Ruben Brouwer from the Netherlands put together a coalition of Live Nation companies to develop a sustainability charter. The charter, Green Nation, was adopted as global Live Nation May policy in 2019.

We have employed a full-time sustainability coordinator since 2009. Live Nation now employs a Global Director of Sustainability, Head of Sustainability for Europe and the Middle East and Head of Sustainability for the UK and Ireland.

Festival Republic have signed the Festival Vision 2025 Pledge to significantly reduce our climate impacts (annual Green House Gas emissions and other impacts) by 2025. The Show Must Go On Report 2020 highlights the impacts of the UK Festival Industry and its efforts to reduce them. We were a key funder to this important report and it was developed with our involvement and are on the Steering Group of Vision 2025.

Festival Republic has signed up to Music Declares Emergency. We acknowledge the impact that our business has on the environment and are committed to telling the truth on the scale of the climate emergency and taking urgent action.

The Green Nation charter sets out Live Nation’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and sets out eight focus areas of sustainability split up into two priority impact areas. The following pages set out what we have done so far on our sustainability journey and what we plan to do.

 

[1] Eleven of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals are directly relevant to live music events and are listed here: 3 – Good Health and Well-being, 4 – Quality Education, 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, 9 – Industry, 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, 13 – Climate Action, 14 – Life Below Water, 15 – Life on Land, and 17 – Partnership for the Goals.

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

We are working towards the Green Nation target of a 50% reduction in our scope 1 & 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2030.

ENERGY

The energy we use is the highest cause of emissions from our festivals so it is a key focus in our strategy.

Reduce

  • Through our membership of Powerful Thinking we are constantly working to reduce the power consumption at the festival to a minimum.
  • We monitor fuel consumption annually, to determine the potential to reduce generator sizes and related fuel volumes.
  • We require that LED festoon and tower lights are used to reduce energy consumption, and that onsite suppliers plan power distribution efficiently.

Replace with Renewable Energy

  • We use 100% renewable energy from either biofuel and are actively exploring main connections on suitable sites.
  • This year we are fuelling our events with 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO)
  • HVO is a renewable biodiesel made from used cooking oil, which emits 90% less carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) when compared to using regular white diesel.
  • We assess our biofuel’s provenance, endeavouring to use European sources that are from a second-generation waste product such as used vegetable oil, not palm derived.
  • Battery storage solutions and solar hybrid generators are utilised at our festivals in suitable areas, and we calculate the emissions savings they generate.

TRAVEL & TRANSPORT

We partner with Big Green Coach offering dedicated coaches to festivals from around the UK and promote the benefits of low carbon travel in advance of the events.

Carsharing is encouraged with Liftshare to provide lower-carbon alternatives to single-occupant car travel.

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

We are committed to implementing closed-loop waste management systems at our festivals and work to support the development of a circular economy.

We apply the following waste hierarchy, as set out in the Waste Regulations 2011:

  • Waste Reduction
  • Reuse
  • Recycling
  • Energy Recovery
  • Disposal

Every site has its own unique features and designs take into account ecologically sensitive areas or artefacts of heritage or cultural significance. We work within any local conditions and carry out environmental impact assessments if required to protect local flora and fauna while holding our festivals.

PLASTICS REDUCTION

Due to the widespread negative environmental impacts of plastic pollution and in line with the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive all Festival Republic events are phasing out the sale of single use plastics.

We implement a sourcing policy that prioritises:

  • Reuse over single use.
  • Renewable over finite resources using certified compostable products under EU Directive EN 13432.
  • At least 30% recycled content where alternatives are not available.

Festival Republic has implemented the following measures to reduce single use plastic at our festivals.

  • We promote a refill campaign to the audience, crew and artists with reusable water bottles are available for sale at the merch stalls for those who do not bring their own
  • No single use plastic water bottles are provided backstage to crew or artists as standard. We provide water stations back of house to enable reusable bottles to be refilled.
  • We have introduced canned water through our partnership with Liquid Death
  • To support the plastic recycling industry and to reduce the amount of virgin plastic we use all bottled water that contains a minimum of 50% recycled content in line with the UK Plastic Pact. This applies to bars, vendors and sponsors ensuring the same material is used.
  • All water and soft drinks are served in cans, recycled plastic bottles or a paper cup. We have some post mix soft drinks outlets that reduce the number of bottled soft drinks and bars decant soft drinks from large bottles.
  • In Ireland recycled plastic cups have replaced regular plastic cups, as well as 100% recycled plastic (rPET) water bottles.
  • Plastic cutlery and straws have been banned since 2009 and only compostable containers are permitted.
  • Bulk condiment bottles are required to be used instead of single-use sachets.

REUSE, RECYCLING & COMPOSTING

We aim for all of our festivals to be zero waste to landfill and achieve a 50% (or higher) material recovery rate by 2030 and align our targets with the local authority recycling rate.

  • We receive reports from the recycling facility that our festivals use annually and have tracked our waste and recycling since 2009.
  • Many of our festivals are already reached out target of 50% recycling rate and are showing improvement year on year.
  • All of our festivals are zero waste to landfill.

Our waste reduction and recycling initiatives include:

  • Paperless tickets
  • Our recycling reward scheme, offering customers prizes for recycling in the campsites.
  • The two-bin system we implement site-wide, allowing separation of food and compostable waste from everything else
  • Our deposit return scheme on paper cups, cans, and bottles, incentivising recycling in the arena.

o   Our festivals were the first to host the Co-op’s reverse vending machines in our campsite supermarkets in 2018.

–   Where applicable, campsite recycling points and bags distributed to campers, allowing them to collect and dispose of their waste and recycling, supported by a green team.

FOOD

We advise our food vendors and caterers to follow minimum standards with regards to food sourcing.

  • Eggs to be free range, fish sourced according to the MSC Good Fish Guide, and meat to be Red Tractor Assured.
  • We encourage using vendors local to the festival and ensure several vegetarian and vegan options are available to festivalgoers.
  • We are committed to develop awareness of the carbon footprint of food, and since 2021 worked with universities and Klimato to deliver a food carbon rating system to inform customer choices
  • We are reducing the carbon footprint of food consumed by our crew by not serving high-carbon food, and having at least one meat-free day per week in crew catering.

We are committed to collecting and redistributing any surplus food from the festival, and work with local foodbanks to help us do this.

WATER & WASTE WATER:

  • We measure the amount of water consumed at our festivals
  • Self-stopping taps are in operation at the festivals to minimise water wastage.
  • We are investigating the reuse of grey water on site, aiming to reduce the amount of potable water used in our onsite bathrooms once a suitable solution is found.

ENGAGEMENT AND LOCAL IMPACTS

We are committed to engaging with our customers, staff and artists on environmental issues, and to collaborate with local and national environmental causes and organisations. Our recent projects include:

  • Giving a platform to climate change campaign groups including Greenpeace, Music Declares Emergency, Oxfam, and Climate Live.
  • Empowering our staff and artists to play their part in improving the sustainability of the festival, by educating them on the initiatives we put in place across site.