Music events are often said to be extremely harmful to the environment: international flights, large amounts of garbage, high electricity consumption, disposable tableware. But at various levels of organizing, from small events to large festivals, ideas are being worked on to make them more ecologically sustainable. Various actors in Austria and internationally are demonstrating that new approaches and concepts, with the support and will of the audience, can enable more ecologically sustainable events. The power of music events lies in the ability to outline, try out and normalize new sustainable ways of dealing with the world in a space and time-limited environment.
The situation with regard to sustainability is often very different – that’s why it is important to look at events individually. In order to understand where to start when it comes to saving resources, achieving climate neutrality, electricity and water consumption and organizational and communication structures, it is important to find out in which areas the least sustainable action is taken at a specific event. There are therefore various offers for sustainability analyzes and consultations. Organizations like Music Declares Emergency, Green Music Initiative, A Greener Future or Future Festival Tools help with that. In principle, there are various wheels that can be turned: reusable containers, waste avoidance, consistent recycling, local vegetarian or even vegan catering, climate-friendly travel, saving electricity (or green electricity) and a general reduction in transport and travel are the core elements of ecologically sustainable events are followed with different focuses by all the events presented.
Team Music Declares Emergency Austria (c) Andreas Jantsch / Music Declares Emergency Austria
Of the larger events, this stands out Island Festival in Oslo, which has been working on sustainability concepts since 2002 and has thus been able to further refine these concepts, because sustainability is a process. Since 2009, the festival has only used green electricity and plays at various locations in the city, which allows 98% of visitors to travel by public transport. In addition, the entire catering infrastructure is completely plastic-free by exclusively using local products.
In recent years, several Austrian companies have developed offers that specifically support more sustainable events. These are used both at smaller festivals, which are already better known for sustainable concepts, and at larger, more commercial events. Working for the future of a car-free city VeloConcerts in Vienna: This is a specialized cargo bike that can be transformed into a stage and PA and is powered by batteries or solar energy. The system can therefore be set up anywhere and does not require the diesel generators that are otherwise often used during transport and use.
“With VeloConcerts, our goal is to combine culture and sustainability. The offer has been successfully accepted by small to large players and is represented in Austria at festivals such as Frequency and Nova Rock, but also internationally.”
Jonas Skielboe, VeloConcerts
waste and energy
Die Öklos For example, many people are already familiar with them, as they are also being used more and more often in public spaces outside of events. The Oklo is a mobile toilet that requires no water to use thanks to compost, does not produce any waste and its light is powered by solar energy. Waste avoidance and recycling is also a big focus of the Visit Festivals in Slovakia. With a large team of waste sorters and a lot of awareness work, the festival managed to reduce the average waste consumption during the festival to 0.92 kg per visitor per day – which, depending on the study, is only about the average daily consumption corresponds to Slovakia.
Image (c) Paradise Garden Festival
The long-term complete avoidance of fossil fuels is the vision of Paradise Garden Festivals in Bruck an der Leitha: In 2023 it was the first Austrian festival to be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. In addition, plastic water bottles are not sold and materials are used in a resource-saving manner when advertising and during the festival. The festival is entirely dedicated to climate protection, which visitors are informed about via several channels.
„At every Paradies Garten event we strive for a minimal ecological footprint, for which we primarily take three factors into account: 1) minimization of CO₂ emissions, 2) waste avoidance and the most effective waste policy possible, 3) creating general awareness of the climate problem.
Paradise Garden Festival
The travel of visitors to events outside of urban areas remains one of the biggest problems, which is why, in addition to creating their own infrastructure such as local shuttle buses, events also enter into collaborations with public transport companies. The Paradise garden Festival offers in cooperation with the ÖBB free night trains to Vienna and various Austrian festivals like that Acoustic Lakeside Carinthia has collaborations in which climate tickets are raffled off in the form of competitions. At the Open Air St. Gallen In Switzerland, where the location in a nature reserve inspired sustainability concepts early on, there is a cooperation with the SBB, the Swiss railway, 50 percent discount on travel tickets. Transport is inevitably a major hurdle for national festivals; after all, in these cases the travel of the audience and musicians is essential. That’s why this advises Green Touring Network Music creators find out how they can be more environmentally friendly when traveling and has also published a guide: a lot is possible, from avoiding fast fashion merchandise to reducing the number of travel teams. Absolutely necessary car journeys could also be made more positive: This Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands, for example, has covered its own parking lot with a 3.5 square kilometer photovoltaic system since 2020, which covers far more than the festival’s energy needs throughout the year.
The Schrammel.Klang.Festival in Lower Austria shows that the choice of sponsors and local cooperation partners is also relevant for a sustainable event: if the catering industry is sponsored by companies that produce environmentally harmful products, consequential damage also arises. One of the biggest challenges in recent years has been… Schrammel.Klang.Festival the complete abandonment of disposable tableware in the catering industry, which has almost been completed through the gradual transition to compostable and ultimately to porcelain and metal tableware. The Schrammel.klang.Festival also does not include dates and the like on its signs, which are made of long-lasting, reusable materials and can therefore be used for several years.
Ernst Molden and Walther Soyka 2023 at the Schrammel.Klang.Festival (c) Stephan Mussil
“Every team, be it the direction, technology, equipment or production, strives to comply with the criteria for the eco-label. This collective commitment and the willingness to contribute our own ideas for sustainable action make our festival special.”
Elina Stanek, Green Event Officer at the Schrammel.Klang.Festival
The Schrammel.Klang.Festival is, like the other Austrian festivals mentioned here, certified as a “green event”. Green Events Austriafinanced by the BMK, BMKÖS, BMEIA and the federal states, advises on organizing events in an ecologically and socially sustainable manner and awards a certificate when certain criteria are achieved.
This offers a different approach SOUND festival, which has been working with vacancies in Gallneukirchen for a long time, since 2022 in an indoor swimming pool that has been empty for ten years. The use of a vacant space is in many ways a symbolic gesture, but it can also be a climate-friendly gesture if, for example – as in the case of KLANG festivals – existing infrastructure such as water connections and toilets can be used instead of creating new infrastructure for a few days. The SOUND festival also tries to enable international artists to travel by public transport by providing the most attractive backline possible, i.e. the stage technology provided by the organizers, on site. The less equipment the musicians have to take with them, the easier it is to do without a tour bus. At the interface with an element of social sustainability there is a vacancy that was originally from SOUND festival has now developed into a permanent event location for the region.
“The CO₂ pollution from careful subsequent use is many times lower than from a new building. In short: reusing existing, old structures is a central component of sustainable, cultural-political work.”
Thomas Auer, KLANGfestival
Where do we go from here?
Future Festival Tools is a platform that offers sustainability advice specifically for festivals and offers extensive materials on different approaches. With Future Festival Tools cooperate the already mentioned Island Festivalthe Open Air St. Gallen and that Terraforming. The latter tries to work sustainably with the venue throughout the year, for example by reforesting the region around the festival site.
As can be seen from the different examples, sustainability is a process that requires long-term work. No event has a simple checklist that will eventually be completed. Taking responsibility and working on it is an important first step. Working in a way that conserves resources always means fundamentally questioning many processes and also thinking about the redistribution of resources.
Samuel Obernosterer
The climate crisis is the biggest Challenge of our time. Many actors in the cultural sector have recognized their role in shaping social transformation. With the main focus “Climate and music“ We want to communicate sustainability and climate protection in the music industry as broadly and continuously as possible.
Links:
Music Declares Emergency
Green Music Initiative
A Greener Future
Future Festival Tools
Island Festival
VeloConcerts
Öklos
Pohoda Festival
Paradise Garden Festival
Acoustic Lakeside
Open Air St. Gallen
Green Touring Network
Lowlands Festival
Schrammel.Klang.Festival
Green-Event
SOUND festival
Terraforming
More articles:
“CULTURE ALWAYS ASKS THE HOW QUESTION.” – GEORG TAPPEINER (GREEN EVENTS AUSTRIA – PULSWERK GMBH) IN THE MICA INTERVIEW
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN THE CLIMATE CRISIS