Best Practice – Futuresonic Festival Carbon Audit
In 2007, Futuresonic, an annual 3-day international of electronic music and media arts in Manchester which attracts 10,000 people, did a pilot audit of the festival’s carbon emissions. The festival is spread across 20 different venues together with some outdoor events. Part of the festival is a conference attracting 250 people from all over the world as well as almost 50 international artists. The audit included the air travel of the conference delegates and artists. The carbon audit estimated the festival emissions at 297 tonnes of CO 2, without the possible additional climate impacts of flying (Upham et al., 2007; Upham et al., 2008). When air travel emissions were included they dominated the overall impact of this festival (at least 80% of the estimated carbon emissions). The audit noted that the festival has important cultural benefits that must be traded against the environmental costs of hosting such international music and media festivals.