SPRING | OPINION
A pan-European approach to sustainable events
Rob van Wegen
ESNS sustainability coordinator and former festival producer Rob van Wegen calls on Europe ’ s myriad sustainability bodies to collaborate
Sustainability is a hot topic in the music industry . We talk a lot , but do we put our money where our mouth is ? At ESNS , we think we do . But for sustainable change , European collaboration is paramount . Scientific reports are saying time is running short .
ESNS traditionally addresses the topic of sustainability at the annual music conference . I ’ m grateful for all the knowledge that was shared at ESNS Conference and the questions that were being addressed . At the same time we work to reduce our impact by eliminating our use of fossil fuels in energy and travel demands in Groningen , we reduce the impact of our food and beverages , and supporting artists in experiencing more sustainable travel with our Green Tour Support programme . But building a sustainable music industry is about more than ESNS .
We keep searching for possibilities to take sustainability in our sector to the next level , whether this is within the Green Deal Circular Festivals programme supporting initiatives like the European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 , or writing our own Roadmap Canvas Tool . The real joy comes when you can provide an answer to the question that is being asked and offer support . We expect more strict regulations and requirements to follow , then the urgency catches up with the importance of making our sector more sustainable . We need to be ready to offer support and ask for help if needed .
To be ready to help each other , we need to ask ourselves the following : what action is needed to accomplish this goal ? What support do we have to give , and what do we lack in knowledge ? It often still feels that the innovating festivals and early adopters work proactively on sustainability , but what about the early majority of this big industry ? Do we feel we are becoming future-proof fast enough ? And what are the barriers that are being faced ? How do we provide more equal opportunities for our industry
all over Europe and the capacity of organisations to act on the matter ? At the same time , how do we deal with the changes that have already occurred , like the weather changes we saw last summer ?
To work on these questions , we brought together several framework organisations from Europe to collaborate . All working on sustainability in the live music industry , we focused on how we can activate the whole live music industry in this common goal .
During the last edition of ESNS , in January , we invited the industry into the conversation , as part of the Music Dialogue programme under the Music Moves Europe initiative . In the dialogue moderated by Linnéa Elisabeth Vågen Svensson , Bob van Oort from Center for International Climate Research and Tim van Hattum from the Wageningen University & Research presented the urgency to act and adapt . This is why we launched the Sustainability Desk . A place where the live music sector can let their voices be heard on how to improve our sector on sustainability .
Let us all strive to show the possible future of our sector . Join in , so we can
“ We focused on how we can activate the whole live music industry in this common goal .”
become future-proof and support each other , while being inspired with new possibilities that this challenge brings us .
While good things happen to make the music industry more sustainable , there are some important steps to take , and those need to be taken together .
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