As the festival sector continues to innovate in sustainability, one question stands out: how can we make it as easy as possible for festivalgoers to travel emission-free to their favorite events? To tackle this challenge, the festival industry and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management have joined forces, working together under the Green Deal Circular Festivals (GDCF) initiative. The goal is clear: enable more than 50 European music festivals to become circular and climate-neutral.
Travel: The biggest contributor to a festival’s carbon footprint
Transport to and from festivals accounts for up to 85% of a festival’s total CO2 emissions, depending on the type of event. This makes sustainable travel an urgent focus for the sector. To become truly climate-neutral, festival organizers and producers must find innovative ways to encourage greener travel options for both visitors and performers.
Across Europe, festivals are buzzing with creative ideas to reduce their environmental impact. These efforts span from water recycling to sustainable catering, and smart logistics. Now, the focus is increasingly on revolutionizing how festivalgoers travel to events.
Pioneering initiatives on sustainable travel
Some festivals are already making strides in this area. For example, the Dutch festival Into The Great Wide Open has introduced the “Good Travel” surcharge, a €10 addition to the ticket price. Attendees who opt for sustainable travel options receive this amount back as a food and drink credit at the festival. Similarly, Sziget Festival in Hungary has been organizing festival-specific train journeys from all over Europe for over a decade, offering fans a sustainable way to reach the event.
Scaling up
Building on these early efforts, the movement towards sustainable travel is gaining momentum. On September 16, 2024, during the Congress of Stages, Festivals, and Events (CPFE) at TivoliVredenburg, a new phase of this initiative was launched. The event saw the official kick-off of the “Scaling Up Sustainable Travel for Festivals” project. Here, festivals, event organizers, transport companies, research institutions, and other stakeholders came together to share ideas and collaborate on potential pilot projects.
This Community of Practice (CoP), will spend the coming months developing new concepts for sustainable travel, which will be tested and refined at Dutch festivals starting in 2025. Two of the most promising showcase projects will be unveiled during the Eurosonic Noorderslag conference in early 2025. These efforts mark a crucial step toward reducing the environmental impact of festival culture across Europe. By combining the innovation of festivals with the expertise of transport and sustainability sectors, the @Green Deal Circular Festivals is helping to shape a future where enjoying music and culture doesn’t come at the expense of the planet.
Join us!
Are you working on sustainable travel and transport solutions or innovations? Join our Community of Practice, more info can be found here (available in English soon..): https://www.platform31.nl/project/opschaling-duurzaam-reizen-festivals-samen-op-weg-naar-uitstootvrij-festivalbezoek/