Despite the name, the iconic Burning Man event actually operates with the aim of “leaving no trace”. Instead, the organisers encourage festivalgoers to work on ‘greening your burn’ and they aim to be carbon negative, ecologically regenerative and sustainably manage their waste by 2030. Every year, they create Black Rock City in the middle of the Nevada desert, and every year they take it down, pack up and leave the area without a trace. The week-long event (they don’t like the word festival) is dedicated to art and community.25

25 Liz Wootton, ‘The 8 Best Sustainable Festivals in the World’, 6 August 2019, https://eco-age.com/resources/the-best-sustainable-festivals-in-the-world/ 

Festival policy throughout the whole year:

• we don't allow any non reusable material in our buildings,

• we are a mobile festivals with Riksja transportation,

• the 'Green building' policy which applies throughout the year and to all involved,

• we have an environmental policy,

• implemented following the principle: doing it every day so you internalise it.

Held in the US each year, Coachella offers a series of eco-friendly activities and sustainable initiatives to help reduce its impact on the Colorado Desert in which it takes place. Coachella is working with Global Inheritance, a non-profit organisation that specialises in various eco-friendly initiatives such as the pros and cons of energy sources. Some of the initiatives Coachella has in place include:

• Brightly coloured bins designed to increase recycling throughout the festival site.

• An “Energy Playground” complete with “Energy SeeSaws”, designed to allow Coachella attendees to power their own energy sources, such as phone charging stations, while they play.

• VIP ticket competitions for those who car-share on the way to the festival.26

26 Ed Cook, ‘How to Make an Event Sustainable with 7 Examples’, Eventbrite Blog (blog), 9 June 2019, https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/make-an-event-more-environmentally-sustainable-ds00/ 

With its edgy line-up and ambitious environmental goals, this innovative electronic music festival in Holland is truly cutting-edge. DGTL intends to become the world’s first circular festival by 2020 and is constantly redesigning and evolving the event to meet this dream. For example, at this year’s festival instead of basing the menu at the food court on what their customers would likely want, they designed it to use up food waste and imperfect produce from local suppliers. In addition to this, they installed compostable toilets, only serve drinks in reusable cups and have chosen to host their performers in Jakarta, Amsterdam’s circular hotel.27

27 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

"Music, theatre and arts festivals across Europe are working in concert to plant a new Festivals Forest in Iceland with Downy birch, Sitka spruce, Lodgepole pine, Black Cottonwood and Siberian larch. We will plant 2,500 trees per hectare, with seedlings incubated locally. The Festivals Forest is a carbon sequestration project. It celebrates the power and creativity of the festivals industry coming together to lead a progressive call to climate action. Working with Skógræktin, the Icelandic Forest Service, gives us the best value climate action imaginable and a confident and shared path to Net Zero.

As we all work together towards net-zero, festival organisations and audiences are funding the afforestation with a progressive Carbon Coin donation of €2 per tree, and the option of carbon-offset donation for artists and visitors’ travel, which comprises around 75% of each festival’s carbon footprint."¹ 

¹ https://festivalsforest.eu/about/ accessed: 22 May 2023.

Festivals are often renowned for being the most damaging to the local environment, which is why the UK’s Glastonbury music festival is a good example of a more environmentally sustainable event. In 2017, Aggreko helped Glastonbury to measure its machines and determine how much energy and fuel could be saved. Glastonbury also implemented other environmentally sustainable measures including:

• Only using bio-diesel generators since 2014, to ensure the use of renewable energy.

• Providing a reusable, 100% stainless steel water bottle for visitors and multiple water refill points.

• Encouraging volunteers to help pick up rubbish and recyclable materials to return the site to its normal state as a working farm.29

29 Cook, ‘Make an Event Sustainable.’

At the 2016 ICCA congress in Malaysia, instead of handing out speaker gifts (which often contain plastic or other non-biodegradable materials), a charity donation was made. Delegates were also able to adopt an Orangutan to contribute to the sustainable development of the region. This project was presented beforehand using a hand puppet and a booth at the show where visitors could find out more information.30

30 Cook, ‘Make an Event Sustainable.’

Major League Baseball is the first professional sports league to ensure that its members are part of the Green Sports Alliance, which provides environmentally sustainable guidelines for the games. Some of the highlights include:

• Green Teams that collect recyclables throughout the games.

• panel installations to provide a renewable energy source – previously game events such as Fan Fest have been powered by energy obtained from 100% renewable wind power.

• Red Carpets that are created as “green” carpets using recycled content.

• Working with Rock and Wrap it Up to ensure that any food which is prepared but untouched, is recovered for donation to those in need.31

31 Cook, ‘Make an Event Sustainable.’

Based in Aarhus – a university city on Denmark’s east coast – this three-day music festival has a strong line-up and an even stronger sustainability agenda. Rather than making money or being successful, the ultimate goal of the organisers has always been to create a sustainable festival. And for the past ten years, they’ve been working hard to reduce NorthSide’s waste, cut down its carbon footprint and find a solution to an eco-food supply during the three-day event. Behind the scenes, no decisions are made without the environmental aspects being considered first. One of our favourite aspects of their sustainability initiative is the ‘trash butlers’ and ‘trash maids’ – individuals dressed in stylish service outfits, wandering around the festivals handing out bags for rubbish and pocket ashtrays for cigarette butts. They also run a scheme where individuals can bag themselves a free beer after collecting a set amount of discarded cigarette butts. Whilst being unconventional, these initiatives are definitely working, with NorthSide being known as one of the cleanest festivals around.32

32 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

The biggest music event in Slovakia, the word ‘pohoda’ actually means ‘peace/calm/satisfaction’ in Slovakian and this is exactly what this lovely festival will leave you with a sense of (both on a personal and environmental level). Set in Trencin Airport (why may seem odd but actually works really well), the capacity of the festival is capped at a really comfortable figure, ensuring that the area feels spacious and there’s not too much pressure on facilities. A deep respect for the environment runs through the lifeblood of Pohoda, a fact which has led to it winning numerous green awards in recent years.33

33 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

Secret Solstice is set in the legendary land of ice and fire, during the haze of their magical dreamlike summer months – through which day blends into night and night back into day and the ‘midnight sun’ shines bright in the sky at all times. During the festival weekend, the sun literally doesn’t set – forget what you learnt in Game of Thrones, summers in Iceland are the complete anthesis of those dark and brooding winters. Crazy natural phenomenons aside, Reykjavik’s Secret Solstice is a festival you really don’t want to miss. Touted as ‘one of the most unique festivals in the world’, the line-up offers a mind-blowing range of weird and wonderful experiences – here you can party inside a glacier or enjoy a DJ set from the comfort of a toasty geothermal pool. In true Icelandic style, the festival is powered by 100% geothermal energy, making it one of the only ‘carbon-neutral’ festivals in Europe.34

34 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

This annual Aussie festival is held in North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, New South Wales, and always features an exciting line-up, spanning a range of genres. As well as great music, Splendour in the Grass also has a pretty great attitude when it comes to the environment, doing its best to protect the local area and encouraging festivalgoers to do the same. It even went one step further this year and appointed Damon Gameau (world-renowned filmmaker and environmental activist) as their first Eco Ambassador which is pretty cool. Most of all, we love the fact that there is a tree planting session on the Saturday of the festival in case anyone wants to branch out with their festival activities (sorry, couldn’t resist).35

35 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

This ‘experimental and sustainable’ music festival is set in the picturesque grounds of Villa Arconati, just outside of Milan. Running for five years now, this forward-thinking festival champions eco-mindfulness and low impact living. Consequently, every element of Terraforma has been carefully considered, from the architecture of the different areas and facilities to the energy supply and waste products, with improvements being made every year to reduce its environmental footprint. One of their key projects over the years has been to restore the ancient labyrinth which would once have been at the heart of the villa’s grounds. This was completed in 2018 and boasts over 500 trees – which is obviously great for the atmosphere (both at the festival and world in general…).36

36 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

As the name suggests, We Love Green is a festival where the environment is taken very seriously indeed. As well as an eclectic and exciting music line-up, the 2-day event is also packed with talks, workshops and discussions on sustainable living. From installing eco-toilets and using 100% renewable energy to encouraging festivalgoers to travel by public transport (76% actually did so in 2018 which is a fantastic figure, but negated somewhat by the fact that the festival is in Paris and is accessible by bus and the Metro…) We Love Green is making a great effort to live up to its name. It has also managed to plant 80,000 trees in partnership with Ecosia.37

37 Wootton, ‘Sustainable Festivals in the World.’

"Festivals and (classical) music contribute to people's well-being. At the same time, there are various polluting elements to a festival. Just think of the enormous amount of waste that is produced, the many hamburgers that are ordered or all the people who go to the same place by car in a short time.

Especially with the beautiful nature of Schaep en Burgh as a source of inspiration, sustainability has been a starting point for Wonderfeel from the start. Of course we know that not organizing a festival is the most environmentally friendly solution. But if you do it anyway, please do it as sustainably as possible. We therefore take various measures with our team – on an ecological and business level – and we are happy to share our knowledge about this."¹ 

• Rolling kitchens that no longer serve meat

• Our own crew catering that only serves vegetarian food

• Our own composting machine Corrie

• Encourage visitors and musicians to come by train

• Collaborations with local vegetable gardens

• Be more critical about whether or not to let artists from distant countries fly over:

• Sustainability policy independently verified by UK organization A Greener Festival . 

Since 2022 we are one of the European festivals that join forces to plant a new forest in Iceland: the European Forest Festival .

With a donation of €2, visitors to Wonderfeel get the opportunity to voluntarily donate a tree – from downy birch trees to Siberian Larch. At the moment, almost 1000 Wonderfeel visitors have already chosen to donate, so almost 1000 trees are now planned in the festival forest.

¹ https://wonderfeel.nl/duurzaam/ (accessed 22 May, 2023)