In this month's Earth Day Special newsletter, we celebrate the live event industry’s response to #EarthDay2024, shining a light on the people, organisations and campaigns that are supporting environmental best practices for events and investing in the planet. Enjoy the read, and get in touch if you have news to share in next month’s edition bethan@vision2025.org.uk. 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Lucy Scrase is the Chief Operations Officer and Sustainability Lead at Ourea Events, organising high-profile mountain running events across the UK. Lucy has worked in the events, sports, and outdoor sectors for 20 years and for the last six her passion for sustainable events and business has been the driving force behind the sustainability strategy at Ourea Events. Read about her journey in sustainable events HERE. 

In March, we spoke to Sarah Tew at Junction 2 Read Sarah's answers HERE.

Vision: 2025's Sustainable Events Summit (SES) will return to the Showman's Show, on Wednesday 23rd October 2024. The free-to-attend action-focused summit will present the latest research tools and knowledge to bring outdoor event organisers, suppliers, local authorities and experts together, driving collaborative resource development, industry standards, best practice and innovation that will inspire and shape the industry response to the climate emergency at UK events.

2024 is a pivotal year for the Vision: 2025 network as work begins on shaping strategy to 2030. Now is the time for organisations committed to sustainability to get involved and be part of this vital conversation. Get in touch with bethan@vision2025.org.uk for speaker and sponsorship opportunities.

Involved Productions' three core labels, Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep and Reflections are celebrating Earth Day in 2024. The group’s biggest sustainability drive to date, this Earth Day will be the launchpad for activations including the publication of a company sustainability overview and IMPALA Carbon Calculator generated emissions screening reports. In this guest blog, Anna Johnson, Sustainability Officer, shares insights from the process of going public with the group’s sustainability commitments. Read the blog
Photo credit: Luke Dyson

🎵 Earth Day Mixes: In celebration of this global event, Anjuna has curated three planet-inspired mixes, which went live on streaming platforms on Earth Day. These products are extra-special as artists and Anjuna will be donating royalties from these mixes to the Ocean Conservation Trust and their amazing Blue Meadows seagrass restoration project, in perpetuity. Give them a listen HERE

How is the changing climate affecting events, and how can event teams respond by building resilience into their sustainability strategy?

In this guest blog, Andrew Lansley, Innovation Manager for Cheltenham Festivals and Senior Academic at the University of Gloucestershire, explores how climate change is impacting the festival industry and shares specific research with Julie’s Bicycle and Arts Council England into how Cheltenham Festival has been affected by shifting weather patterns and how they have responded through their sustainability strategy. Read the blog HERE. 
Photo credit: Still Moving Media

This Earth Day 2024, NATURE was officially recognised as an artist on music streaming platforms. Music tracks crediting NATURE will support the conservation of the most precious and precarious ecosystems around the world.

Sounds Right, is a music initiative from Museum for the United Nations – UN Live, Earth Percent and partners to recognise the value of nature, mobilize awareness and action, and drive innovative funding for conservation projects. Listen to the FEAT. NATURE on Spotify, with tracks from David Bowie & Brian Eno, Ellie Goulding, Anuv Jain, UMI & V of BTS, Aurora and more: HERE

A collaboration between Ticketsellers Eventree and ecolibrium this 2024 season will provide festivals with a way to gather emissions data on non-audience transport easily and without costs. If you use Eventree for your event this project is for you! 

For years non-audience (crew / artist etc) travel has been a blind spot for the industry and this project will help events establish the impacts, and help the industry develop benchmarks (with all data anonymous and aggregated for reporting). Sign up to take part HERE.

Julie’s Bicycle announced the launch of The Creative Climate Leadership Podcast, co-curated and produced by Hum Studio Interactive. This new podcast, launched on Earth Day 2024 (Monday 22 April), features artists, designers, activists and academics sharing remarkable stories of transformational creative projects and exploring what culture can bring to climate leadership. Listen to Episode 1, live now HERE

This month the updated international standard on sustainable event management systems has been released. First established alongside the London 2012 Olympics and now updated in time for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the standard is suitable for all sizes and types of events. Check out Meegan’s article with a link to a handy guide to understand the standard, on Linkedin HERE.

Vision: 2025's Sustainable Events Summit 2023 sessions are available to watch on catch-up. The latest panel available is with Powerful Thinking and Power Logistics on Decarbonising Event Power.

Two decades after the introduction of hybrid solutions to the events market, this panel hosted by Powerful Thinking's Chair Tim Benson, explores changes in how to decarbonise event power across the live sector, with a contribution from Ian Peniston at Power Logistics. Watch HERE. 

Each month we feature a case study from the FUSION – Festivals as Social Innovation Incubators project. In April we highlight Shine Festival (capacity 1,000 in person - with the online version reaching up to 1 million) which takes place in Dublin, Ireland over two days.

Established in 2018, Shine is a festival for young women to help each other find their place in the modern world where issues such as low self-esteem, bullying, the gender pay gap, violence against women and equal representation of women in institutions. Read the case study on the Fusion Website. 

Metal Days Festival is a 5-day camping with 12,000 daily capacity, located in the untouched Slovenian nature of Sotočje, where two rivers meet in a forest.

Metal Days is completely independent and has self-funded all initiatives: including building water infrastructure to pipe drinking water onsite and a sewage and drainage system that reduces the number of plastic chemical toilets used. They also changed cutlery and tableware to biodegradable and replaced 50% of meat and dairy with vegan food. Their challenge has been engaging a diverse audience with their sustainability initiatives. Read about their strategy for introducing vegan food and learn about their plan to cut diesel generators on the Future Festival Tools website. 

Our selected news picks from across the Live Events Industry and beyond, including jobs, events, blogs, reports, and what the Vision: 2025 team has been watching, listening to, and reading this month:

• Get a first look at the ADE24 programme and snap up the last early bird tix: HERE
• BSI publishes updated ISO 20121 sustainability standard for events HERE
• What Will It Take To Get the Music Industry to Go Green? Music Sustainability Alliance co-founder Amy Morrison interview in Billboard HERE 
• Reading Borough Council report on Reading festival organisers working together towards the Green Code of Practice HERE
• How London's O2 delivered the first carbon removed concerts, in edie.net HERE
• A Greener Future (AGF) has released its latest ‘Festival Sustainability Report’ HERE.
• ASM Global appoints Lindsay Arell as Chief Sustainability Officer, in Access All Areas HERE.

Our newsletter reaches over 4,500 UK event professionals interested in sustainability. Send jobs, events, resources and articles to feature here to: info@vision2025.org.uk.