Christopher BarrettAEG Europe is taking further steps to reduce the environmental impact of its flagship UK venue, The O2 arena (cap. 20,000).
The venue is to host “cross-campus” climate change event Overheated this month, which will involving input from artists including Billie Eilish and industry groups such as A Greener Festival, Julie’s Bicycle and Music Declares Emergency.
AEG said that it will provide a vegan-only food offering during Eilish’s six shows at the venue this month. Following Eilish’s run, AEG will promote a “plant-forward philosophy” at The O2 arena and beef burgers will be permanently removed from menus at the venue.
Other long-term initiatives include the use of recyclable paper cups and recycled PET fabric wristbands to reduce single-use plastic consumption. In a further move to reduce plastic, the venue will see the installation of water dispensers for fans. Visitors to the arena will be encouraged to bring soft, reusable, water bottles which will need to be emptied prior to entry and fully collapsible. Plastic bags have been removed from merchandise units.
The O2 arena’s catering partner Levy said it is working with Klimato to calculate, communicate and report the climate impact of the food available for fans to purchase at the venue, with the aim of helping them to make sustainable choices. Levy has committed to reaching net zero at The O2 arena by 2025.
The O2 and AEG Europe are currently working with A Greener Festival on establishing a scientific baseline for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions before publishing its full plan for net zero later this year.
John Langford, COO at AEG Europe and chair of industry-wide working group LIVE Green said, “Finding ways to make both our venues across Europe and worldwide, as well as the wider live entertainment industry, more sustainable has never been more important, and we’re proud to be leading the charge as a company to help find and trial innovative solutions and help reduce our impact on the planet.”