After an 11-week accounting and audit, Live Earth, the entertainment company that staged multi-city concerts last July to raise global awareness about the climate crisis, released its Carbon Assessment & Footprint Report (4.8mb PDF). By the numbers, their carbon emissions came in at 19,708 metric tons, and of the 97 metric tons of waste collected, 81% was diverted from landfills via recycling and composting efforts. By the numbers, this 150 act, 8 venue, 7 continent, 2 billion fan event generated 300 – 400 metric tons of carbon per venue excluding artists and audiences, which generated an additional 900-4,500 tons per venue.
To put this in context, the Torino Olympics, which consciously tried to meet sustainability standards, generated 783,516 tons of waste, with 1212 tons diverted and 103, 516 tons of greenhouse gases were measured, not including transport of fans, with an additional 15,000 tons generated by the Paralympic Games. The 2006 World Cup, which also set strict green guidelines, generated 1494 tons of waste over 4 weeks, keeping the amount down through strict waste reduction measures and 91,670 tons of CO2 including transport and accommodations of fans which they offset by investing in a number of global clean energy projects.
The Live Earth Carbon Assessment & Footprint report seeks to demonstrate to other large scale events how they were able to minimize their footprint and makes recommendations on where they think the industry should be in terms of carbon footprint. To this end, they have posted ‘Green Guidelines’ on their website to help other entertainment events minimize their impact. Live Earth suggests that live stadium events using similar energy-saving techniques adopt a benchmark of 300 tons for production and 1000 tons for audience and artist travel.
The first step that they undertook was a pre-event carbon assessment estimate. Based on the data they collected, and with support from the U.S. Green Building Council, The Climate Group and creators of the LEED Green Building Rating System, the Live Earth team created a set of “Green Event Guidelines” identifying three primary areas in which event organizers have the most control and potential impact: energy reduction, sourcing of sustainable materials, and waste diversion. They also created “Green Artist Guidelines”. What they did not try to manage were the items that they considered out of their control; hotels, merchandise manufacturing, sponsor programs, NGO travel, concessionaire transport, and activities by television/radio/Internet audiences.
The single biggest energy saving factor was perhaps the decision to hold the majority of concerts during day-light hours. Other key initiatives included:
Installing energy-efficient lighting in headquarters/production team/contractor offices- Using video and teleconferencing instead of travel, whenever feasible
- Designing stage with LED or discharge lighting; adjusting stadium/facility energy management systems to eliminate unnecessary lighting; procuring green energy, as available
- Running generators on neat or blended biodiesel
- Taking advantage of natural air circulation (e.g., London/Tokyo) to reduce air conditioning
- Producing signs from agro-materials; using bio-based inks and VOC-free paints; donating signs/banners for re-use (e.g., in South Africa, for example, banners went to a rural township to make sunshades for school playgrounds)
- Setting up extensive recycling/composting to divert waste from landfills
- Using biodegradable plastics/recyclables at concessions; tailoring menus to reduce packaging
- Booking local/regional artists and those already on tour to reduce airline travel; encouraging artists to fly commercial (e.g., all told, less than 1% traveled on private charter planes)
- Using alternative-fuel buses/tour vehicles, fleet of fuel-efficient cars
- Producing merchandise locally, as feasible, using organic or bamboo fibers with agro-inks
- Encouraging/educating audiences about mass transit (e.g., in Hamburg and Sydney, fare for public transportation was included in the concert ticket price)
- Establishing incentives for carpooling (e.g., in Johannesburg, for example, preferred parking was given for cars with three or more; through a unique partnership with Evite, local carpools were facilitated online)
Even New York had a 76% diversion rate. But by far, transportation is a major concern in greening events, and an area that event producers have little control over. The Live Earth folks believe that it is key to work with civic organizations and governments to make sure that adequate public transportation is available for stadiums and venues. Another key is to educate event goers on the ease of using public transportation. Among the feedback that they received, many people were surprised at how easy it was to get to Giants Stadium via public transportation and said that they would use it again.One challenge they faced was setting goals for emission and waste diversion rates for the event. According to Josh Stempel, Director of Sponsorship Greening for Live Earth, there were few records kept on carbon emissions for a typical live event. They found that the stadiums and professionals were very cooperative, however, in helping them try to set benchmarks and start the data collection process. They are now working to publish guidelines and to get more live events to track their emissions and waste rates in order to create better data. In addition, some of the stadiums, Wembley Stadium in London in particular, are now looking at their own internal practices and how they can increase efficiencies and reduce costs while reducing waste and Carbon emissions.
Next year, Live Earth will be staging a series of events on US college campuses. They hope to reach young people with important messages about climate change, while further reducing carbon emissions for live events by taking their events to places that have a local audience, no transportation required.
