Featured Image: Photo by Roland Denes on Unsplash
A Greener Future (AGF) has unveiled its latest Festival Sustainability Report which has examined mobility, food and drink, power and fuel usage, waste and recycling, and carbon emissions from more than 40 events across Europe in 2023.
The report found “significant areas of improvement” with bans on single use plastic increasing from 54% in 2022 to 75% in 2023, a reduction in average waste per person per day (pppd) falling from 0.75kg to 0.5kg, and more festivals going fully vegan or vegetarian.
Festivals that moved to meat-free were found to reduce food-related emissions by more than 60% on average.
Despite those positives, water usage increased at both urban and rural camping festivals, significantly at the latter, with an average of 26 litres pppd marking an increase of seven litres from 2022.
This rise is said to be aligned with what was the hottest summer on record in 2023.
“We are seeing progress, but more still needs to be done to now additionally adapt to changing and more extreme weather,” said AGF chief executive Claire O’Neill.
“There is a huge opportunity for collaboration with other sectors such as transport, energy, water and food who all have targets for net zero and protecting ecosystems.
“New ways of doing things need dynamic and attractive platforms to reach people, which is what festivals are. While progress is good, the background is changing, adversely. We’re on a path to net zero but the path just got steeper, so we need to keep upping our game.”
It was also noted that while an increasing number of festivals are switching to renewable fuels, these fuels still generate emissions and air pollution.
As a result, AGF has identified reducing overall fuel use as a key opportunity to decarbonisation. In addition to improving the availability and affordability of hybrid, battery, and grid systems.
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