Joe GallopLive event industry charity Ecolibrium saw its active members double in 2022, with 60 festivals, events, suppliers and music companies signed up to help tackle travel miles.
Festivals that took part in 2022 included AEG Presents’ BST Hyde Park (cap. 65,000) and All Points East (50,000), Festival Republic’s Wilderness Festival (10,000) and Community (45,000), Love Saves the Day (30,000), Shambala (15,000), Boomtown (66,000), Kendal Calling (40,000) and Bluedot (25,000) (pictured).
Threshold Sports, Ourea Events, Love Trails and Trail Running Scotland used Ecolibrium’s model across their portfolio of mass participation trail running events.
Festival coach providers Tuned in Travel and Big Green Coach also worked with Ecolibrium to support members to reduce travel emissions by reducing the number of cars on the road with dedicated coaches to events and then carbon balancing all coach emissions.
Event production companies, such as Strata and GMC Events International worked with Ecolibrium on behalf of their clients to address travel emissions, while event suppliers, Harrier Safety, Liquiline and Electric Wheels worked with the charity to help to address event carbon impacts from the supply chain. Eolibrium became the charity partner of Sunbelt Rentals last year to help further support the supply chain in reducing travel impacts.
Ecolibrium Trustee Graham Brown said, “It is very encouraging to see significantly more events now measuring and acting to reduce, emissions, as we come out of the pandemic. As Ecolibrium’s event membership grows, there is huge potential to engage more audiences in the move to low carbon travel and Ecolibrium is able to channel more funds to the environmental project partners who are taking vital action to restore and protect Ecosystem and make clean energy accessible to more communities in the UK.”
Ecolibrium has invested member donations into four climate action projects:
- Planting over 6,500 trees with communities in Northern Malawi who are already suffering the worst effects of climate.
- Protecting over 3,800 acres of threatened rainforest with the Rainforest Trust’s Climate Action Fund.
- Carbon balancing over 2,700 tCO2e through a forest and coastal conservation project in Guatemala’s Mesoamerican Biological Corridor
- Installing over 119 solar panels plus many social benefits with Energy Garden; a project working across London to generate solar power and create community gardens in disused areas of the city’s railways stations.