Best Practice – The Festival Pioneers
There have been a number of innovative efforts made in the festival sector to reduce GHG emissions and other environmental impacts and these efforts are starting to gain a critical mass. Examples of initiatives include:
• Glastonbury’s combined coach & festival ticket which encouraged 20% of the audience to travel by coach in 2007;
• the use of sustainably sourced biodiesel;
• the use of reclaimed materials at the Latitude festival site;
• T in the Park festival has been measuring their GHG emissions, and investing in high quality emission reduction offset projects (e.g. a methane capture project from a closed coal mine);
• Wychwood Festival has a number of green policies such as using low energy light bulbs and sourcing local food (Owen, 2008; Hasted, 2008).
A number of festivals are providing coaches or encouraging car share by offering incentives such as a combined coach and festival ticket or reduced parking rates for full cars. A survey by Buckinghamshire New University on behalf of AGreenerFestival.com found people (74%) would be more willing to travel by public transport if the cost was included in their festival ticket. (AGreenerFestival.com, 2008).