ecolibrium launches Green Travel Guide

The fourth edition of ecolibrium’s Green Travel Guide for Festivals and Events is packed with new information, case studies and future transport trends, May 2023.

ecolibrium, the charity on a mission to move low carbon travel to the heart of live events culture, has launched a new guide for 2023. It provides updated understanding of festival travel impacts, with inspiration for changes that can be made to reduce impacts, and how to communicate initiatives and strategy to stakeholders.

The guide has been updated in line with new best practice and research and provides expanded context on measuring travel impacts. In line with the greenhouse gas protocol and developments in sustainable transport infrastructure, it provides new case studies, recent advice, tools for measuring emissions, plus expert input on positively influencing audience behaviour and the future of travel in the UK.

• Lead author, Chris Johnson, Co-founder and CEO, ecolibrium, brings his experience as Shambala Festival’s Sustainability Lead and chair of Vision: 2025, to sharing practical, action-focused strategy and clear steps to reducing event-related travel emissions.
• Amy Woodward, Sustainability and Innovation Specialist at PA Consulting, inputs on legislative context and the future of sustainable transport infrastructure.
• Liz Warwick, environmental consultant at Lansdown Warwick and author of the Travel & Transport Chapter of Vision: 2025’s Show Must Go On report, shares her knowledge of festival and supplier travel.
• Adam Corner, Briony Latter and Chiara Badiali add insight on how to communicate effectively with audiences with research from the report, ‘From carbon footprints to cultural influence: Engaging live music audiences on travel choices’ for The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST).

Briony Latter, author of ‘From carbon footprints to cultural influence: Engaging live music audiences on travel choices,’ comments:

“Live events are an essential part of our cultural landscape. But we can’t ignore the impact that these events—and the audiences travelling to them—have on our environment. This report demonstrates how it can be different, with encouraging examples of the practical steps organisers can take to reduce the impact of their events.”

Chris Rutherford, Director of Boomtown Fair comments:

“Travel is such an integral part of running a big festival and the environmental impacts are not immediately obvious. This guide highlights the issues caused by travel carbon, shows event organisers what and how to measure and gives practical frameworks for initiatives that will help reduce them – as well as explaining how to invest in climate for unavoidable emissions.”

As well as advice on measuring and reducing travel impacts the guide explains how events can invest in climate through ecolibrium; addressing unavoidable travel emissions by donating to support project partners who are focused on ecosystem protection and regeneration, supporting communities at the brunt of climate change, and investing in radical and local-scale clean energy generation.

Event coach provider Tuned in Travel has supported the guide, highlighting their ethos as an environmentally conscious events travel company, offering low carbon travel to festivals and music events as part of the solution to reducing travel impacts.

Download the guide here and find out more about ecolibrium here.