The Carbon Footprint Of Live Music Is A Savage Beast – Is There Any Hope For Improvement?

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The quest to understand live music’s carbon footprint began in 2019, when a rep from the band Massive Attack became curious and contacted Carly McLachlan. The director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research soon had quite a challenge: to assess the UK band’s touring practices and then design an action plan to spur new, environmentally sound practices across the live music sector.

“The band knew we’d give it to them straight and not sugar-coat it,” McLachlan told Nature, adding that good stakeholder engagement relies on building and maintaining honest relationships that are constructive and collaborative. “We’re a critical friend but in a jolly packet,” she says of her team’s approach.

The resulting roadmap set out emissions reduction targets for the UK live music industry in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

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Live industry is the most environmentally degrading part of the industry — it is also responsible for significant GHG emissions, waste production, as well as land and biodiversity destruction due to artist and fan travel, catering practices, and poor waste management strategies. It is also in an optimum position to address its own climate impacts. With a varied and young audience who support for environmental issues, the sector can become much more transparent and use that self-awareness as a model for systemic ecological change.

The Process Toward One Band’s Environmental Dedication

McLachlan and team interviewed the Massive Attack band and its production team, held workshops with industry professionals, and crunched numbers on emissions, as chronicled by Nature. The result was a 17-page report — the Super-Low Carbon Live Music road map for the UK live music sector. Rather than broad brushstrokes, the road map clearly defined measurable targets that the sector could work toward to meet Paris climate agreement goals to limit global warming to 1.5 °C.

The road map’s key message is “that super-low carbon practices can only be delivered if they are central from the inception of a tour.”

After the research it was Massive Attack’s turn. They drew upon the road map to deliver the lowest carbon concert of its size to date on August 24, 2024. In a statement, the band described the process to get there. They planned two phases of work to “radically move the dial” to decarbonize live music at a rate compatible with the critical Paris 1.5 agreement commitments.

A Phase 1 climate action accelerator outdoor show tested how far the band could go in drawing down show emissions. This phase was highly successful in terms of its stated objective.
A Phase 2 model of work across a host city allowed the band to circumvent the “stubborn obstacles” that continue to produce rising levels of greenhouse emissions in the live music sector.

After reviewing their results, the United Nations declared Liverpool, the event’s host city, as the world’s first “Accelerator City.” A UN September, 2024 press release explains the recognition.

“The title comes in recognition of Liverpool’s impressive commitment to innovation and smart regulation to rapidly decarbonize the live music and TV/Film production sectors – both vital parts of the city’s economy – following several years of developmental work by ACT 1.5, an artist-led research and action effort, and climate scientists from the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research.”

How Targets in a Climate Action Road Map Led to a Happy Concert Audience

The Act 1.5 Climate Action Accelerator all-day event attracted about 34,000 people. Massive Attack used targets in the road map to introduce changes to how the event handled power, waste, travel, and food.

The entire concert was powered by renewable energy and batteries, with LED and low-energy lights prioritized for all stage and artistic lighting.
Electric trucks were used to assemble and move batteries on site.
The event used a pre-existing festival infrastructure and one of the largest batteries ever provided for a UK music event. This saved an estimated 2,000 liters of generator diesel, slashing 5,340 kilograms of carbon emissions.
To incentivise lower carbon audience travel (generally 41% of overall live music’s carbon footprint), train travelers who booked through the Train Hugger app were given free transfers by electric bus and a special guest bar with separate restrooms.
Food offerings were 100% plant-based and provided by local suppliers.
The event had a zero-waste-to-landfill policy.
The local train network, Great Western Railway, offered five extra trains after hours for fans traveling home.

Not every live music event change to reduce carbon emissions was easy or inexpensive. For example, because diesel generators are cheaper and ubiquitous in the live music industry, it cost more to choose battery power. “Central governments need to step up and do more to incentivize decarbonization,” argues Mark Donne, a producer with Massive Attack.

At the event, McLachlan and her research team assessed what could become new standards for a decarbonized live music industry through interviews. Her team will use interviews with event organizers, conducted before and after the event, to see what worked and what didn’t. “Massive Attack are really good at legacy,” McLachlan notes. “These big artists are shifting things along each time; anything that they leave makes it easier for the next lot to ask for the next thing.”

The gauge of raw success of the road map is if the audience left the concert happy, as that measure could influence others in the live music industry to implement their own emissions changes. McLachlan thinks that acknowledging what you don’t know is essential to an effective collaboration.

“You have to be willing to say that you don’t understand. When you do this, you start to learn to speak in a way that more people can understand you and where you’re coming from.”

What’s next on the live music event calendar to continue their carbon emissions reductions?

A three-night live music series at Liverpool Arena from in November in collaboration with Massive Attack, ACT 1.5, and SJM concerts will showcase innovations in sustainability and the smart design of live music events.
A headline industry event, called Expedition 1, on November 29 with public event on November 30 will test and showcase eight cross-sectoral pilot projects for rapid decarbonization across live music, TV, and film productions scheduled in 2025. The public will be invited into multiple climate action workshops, live audience podcasts, and performances.
Three initial plans for galvanizing decarbonization in the cultural sector will be implemented: a pioneering integrated public transport and ticketing program (TAG Network); electrification with 100% renewable energy of all key live event and filming locations in the city center; and a new Paris 1.5-degree compatible sustainability standard that major events will need to meet in order to be granted a land use agreement for an event to proceed.

Donne says more work needs to be done to scale up the changes made at Act 1.5 to make them practical for other artists and events. A quantitative analysis of the event by the Tyndall Center should be published by the end of 2024.