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SEPTEMBER | FEATURE

Scope 1 includes all on-site travel , ie . company-owned or hired vehicles . While audience , crew and contractors , artist travel and transporting of goods to site all fall into scope 3 emissions .
Event companies are beginning to define their strategies for reductions in line with this model . In 2019 , Live Nation ’ s Green Nation Charter for Environmental Sustainability pledged to measure emissions with an overarching goal of a 50 % reduction in scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – which includes their Festival Republic events . This year Boomtown has also committed to becoming net zero in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025 .
When it comes to tackling scope 1 travel emissions , making onsite and company owned and hired vehicles zero emissions is an increasingly achievable goal : EVs are more affordable and available while the cost to carbon balance unavoidable emissions is relatively affordable .
But is this enough to make a deep cut in the event industry ’ s GHG emissions and do our bit in averting the most critical and irreversible effects of climate change , when we know that , for most events , scope 3 emissions , from audiences , artists crew and suppliers , represent the largest portion total CO2e generated ?
Including scope 3 emissions in an event ’ s Net Zero strategy is understandably daunting considering that , for the most part , organisers only have a indirect influence over how people decide to make the journey .
However , scope 3 emissions do need to be considered if we are going to hit our global Net Zero targets . In the end , all emissions have to be included .
Thankfully , events are taking scope 3 emissions seriously and finding a middle ground ; committing to Net Zero strategies for scope 1 and 2 emissions , and setting targets to measure and influence reductions in scope 3 by promoting lower carbon travel for audiences , artists , crew and supply chains .
How can events influence scope 3 emissions ? The supply chain : When it comes to supply chain travel emissions we should remember that an events ’ scope 3 emissions from suppliers are actually the suppliers ’ scope 1 emissions . So , by working with suppliers who have set targets around reductions for scope 1 and 2 emissions , events will be working towards reducing supply chain impacts . Good examples of this are event coach providers , Tuned in Travel and The Big Green Coach , who both carbon balance passenger festival coach travel with ecolibrium .
What about Audience Travel ? Audience travel can account for up to 80 % of a typical festivals ’ carbon footprint and , on average , about two thirds of audiences arrive by car to UK greenfield events . Encouraging audiences out of cars and into public transport and lift sharing is , therefore , a priority for reducing emissions .
Many events are already making great progress in this area . In 2018 , Boomtown increased dedicated coach travel to 35 % of arrivals by incentivising public transport saver tickets . In 2022 , Shambala Festival increased coach travel by 15 % and more than a third of festival-goers now arrive on shared transport .
Festival Republic has promoted lift sharing at Download , Latitude and Reading since 2016 , working with Liftshare and Go Car Share . It provides a free , priority car park at each event for travellers who have signed up the dedicated website in advance . It also installed EV charging at Latitude for the first time in 2022 .
Ecolibrium was founded to help the whole of the live events industry to tackle travel impacts . When it comes to working with our event and festival members , ecolibrium provides tools and resources to measure scope 3 emissions and shares initiatives that work to reduce emissions . We also provide event organisers with a simple way of engaging audiences in carbon balancing their festival travel emissions .
In this way , we support events to measure and acknowledge scope 3 emissions on their journey to Net Zero and aim to help inspire audiences to make the changes we need to see in society by positively modelling climate action in the context of events .
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