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Green group reveals most environmentally friendly festivals

A Greener Festival (AGF), a not-for-profit company that assists events, festivals and venues in reducing their environmental impact, has revealed its selection of the greenest events and festivals from last year. 

Events across Europe, the UK and the US were hailed for the environmental efforts. 

Paradise City Festival, an electronic music festival in Perk, Belgium, was considered ‘outstanding’ for its commitment to being more green. 

Gilles De Decker, co-founder of Paradise City, said: “Claiming you are sustainable means taking responsibility. AGF has been auditing Paradise City Festival for several editions now and it is thanks to their valuable feedback that we can improve year by year.” 

Elrow Town is held across numerous European cities and entails a buoyant spectacle of music and colour. Festival organisers cooperate with other festivals to discuss green ideas and knowledgeable insights, and was rated ‘highly commended’ by AGF. 

A number of festivals in Spain have committed themselves to being environmentally friendly. Cridem pel Clima in Valencia is a seven-day cultural programme that encompasses music, cinema and art to raise awareness of the climate emergency. 

Festival De La Luz in Madrid is an international light festival that highlights a new relationship with the urban environment, aiming to protect both green and urban spaces. 

Madblue is also held in Madrid, and is a summit of innovation, culture, science and technology towards sustainable development. 

South Summit, also held in the Spanish capital, is a trade fair for start-ups. It held a focus for sustainability in 2021, banning single-use merchandise for exhibitors, using reusable décor and giving plants as awards. 

Festival De La Luz and Cridem pel Clima were ‘commended’ by AGF, while Madblue and South Summit were rated ‘improvers’ by the not-for-profit. 

In the UK, the Lost Village is a four-day festival boutique experience in rural Lincolnshire and was awarded the label of ‘improvers’ by AGF. 

The festival covers a range of themes such as music, theatre, comedy, talks, art and food. The organisers have built positive relationships with local communities and have dedicated themselves to protecting the local environment.

Across the Atlantic in Nashville, Tennessee, Deep Tropics is a two-day music, arts and style experience. Its ambition is to become the greenest festival in the US and AGF rated the organisers’ efforts as commendable. 

Joel Atchinson, co-founder of Deep Tropics, said: “Working in collaboration with the AGF team was incredibly rewarding and expansive. Even with the great success of producing a climate-positive event, the depth of their survey and data collection revealed several blindspots of which we are very grateful to have identified. 

“We feel like our team has a clearer roadmap, and a more refined approach to build on into 2022 and beyond.”

Image: Dorel Gnatiuc on Unsplash