Keeping it LIVE Green
Last year , all 14 association members of industry body LIVE ratified the Beyond Zero declaration , a commitment to reaching Net Zero emissions by 2030 . The initiative is being led by the LIVE Green working group , with AEG Europe chief operating officer John Langford at the helm . He provides an update on the progress made
Words : Christopher Barrett
Festivals are one of the areas in which the initative aims to drive change
As a unifying force for the live events industry , umbrella organisation LIVE ( Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment ) proved to be a powerful representative voice throughout the pandemic , and among the many positive developments was the launch of LIVE Green .
LIVE members include the Association of Independent Festivals , Association of Festival Organisers , Concert Promoters Association , National Arenas Association and Production Services Association . So , everyone involved in LIVE backing the Beyond Zero declaration was a major step .
The sector-wide initiative was created to identify and advise how the live music businesses can accelerate its transition to a low carbon future , setting out a roadmap for action in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change . The declaration saw signatories agree to a range of measures including developing a Net Zero action plan that considers energy , waste , procurement , transport , food and governance .
LIVE Green chair John Langford says that since the industry returned to work at full pace , resourcing Live
Green has proven challenging : “ I ’ m working very closely with Jon Collins , the CEO of LIVE , to secure permanent resourcing for LIVE Green and once we do that it will make things a little easier .”
The group has identified three areas as priorities : advocacy and lobbying , education and training , and research . While the former involves talking to Government and policymakers about everything from law and licencing to the Government ’ s green goals , Langford says education is needed for everyone from artists to venues operators to help them make commitments and change .
When it comes to research , he says LIVE Green will carry out an annual study of the progress made as an industry : “ Our commitment is to get to a position of Net Zero by 2030 . That requires an understanding of the baseline , so the baseline will likely be set at 2022 . We need to understand to what extent the industry is not just making commitments but achieving them .”
Langford acknowledges that the commercial impact of all changes need to be considered closely , and
with that in mind AEG is employing a director of sustainability .
“ It is important to ensure that you ’ ve got somebody at senior level in the business who not only understands the science , but can help shape it commercially . We can ’ t just talk about green issues while ignoring the commercial aspect . It ’ s a matter of combining them in a way that makes sense for business and drives real change rather than just fake change like offsetting .
“ The most encouraging thing is that people are talking about it now , in a real way , at a business level , which I haven ’ t felt before . In terms of real change , I ’ m seeing it everywhere , particularly on the power side . How much of that is driven by the increase in prices I don ’ t know but it certainly helps make the conversation a lot more authentic and real and it makes capital investments around energy a lot more sustainable because it makes financial sense and it makes real sense in terms of the impact on the environment .”
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