NETHERLANDS: A Greener Festival (AGF) has announced all 25 winners of the Greener Festival Award since the scheme’s relaunch in 2016. An awards ceremony for winners was held at EPIC during Eurosonic Noorderslag, in partnership with Green Event Netherlands on January 13 2017. AGF Director Teresa Moore presented certificates to winners including Glastonbury Festival (UK), Das Fest (Germany) and Body & Soul (Ireland).
Claire O’Neill, Co-Founder of AGF, said: “Events who have achieved the Greener Festival Award 2016 have shown an incredible dedication to walking the talk, minimising the environmental impact of their events and using them as a positive and much needed portal for change. It has not at all been easy, with the most challenging assessments to face events in our 10 year history. We salute all of you!”
To participate, festivals are required to complete a self-assessment looking at 11 categories of sustainability, including travel & transport, waste, local ecosystems and external reach and behaviour. Independent AGF auditors visit the event to inspect the actions on the ground, and work with the organisers post event to gather supporting evidence and data.
“After five years of raising the bar on the environmental and community impact of Green Music Fest, A Greener Festival challenged us to critically analyse all aspects of event operations,” said Stephanie Katsaros, Sustainability Director of Green Music Fest (Chicago, USA) and founder of Bright Beat. “Bright Beat now brings this elevated level of awareness to all of our events, as a rising bar lifts all festivals.”
The 2016 AGF winners are:
OUTSTANDING
Boom Festival (Portugal)
We Love Green (France)
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Cambridge Folk Festival (UK)
DGTL Festival (Netherlands)
Glastonbury Festival (UK)
Green Music Fest (USA)
Heart of Glass Heart of Gold (France)
Øya Festival (Norway)
Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)
COMMENDED
Bona Nit Barcelona (Spain)
Das Fest (Germany)
Extrema Outdoors (Netherlands)
Greenbelt Festival (UK)
Kew the Music (UK)
Liberation Festival (Netherlands)
Malmofestivalen (Sweden)
Northside Festival (Denmark)
Primavera Sound (Spain)
Wood Festival (UK)
IMPROVERS
Arla Food Fest (Denmark)
Body & Soul (Eire)
LaSemo (Belgium)
Metal Days (Slovenia)
Nozstock: the Hidden Valley (UK)
Paradise City (Belgium)
An insight to what these events are doing, and what is on the horizon for sustainable events will be presented at the 9th annual Green Events & Innovations Conference in London on March 7, in association with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).
André Soares, Sustainability Designer of Boom Festival (Portugal), said: “Boom Festival 2016 was a great personal challenge and this award means more than you can imagine. I appreciate all the work [A Greener Festival] has done to increment the evaluation criteria and I believe the results of your work will have a lasting impact in the music and festival industry.”
Robert Gomez, founder of Green Music Fest (Chicago, USA), said that” “Being ‘Highly Commended’ by A Greener Festival really validates Green Music Fest’s environmentally sustainable and socially responsible practices and, we hope, inspires other local festivals to consider doing the same.”
Artur Mendes of Boom Festival said: “We are happy to get the award once again, where for the fifth time in a row the Greener Festival auditors have recognised Boom with the Outstanding prize. It is the only eco award for festivals that we consider credible as there is a team visiting the festivals and this year the evaluation was more thorough and detailed; Boom is totally independent, with no sponsors, and engaging in sustainability is made strictly with our own resources and the amazing contribution of our fabulous Boomers. On the other hand, we are using the Boom experience to reforest the Boomland and act on many fronts such as charity, on the integration of people, and positively affect the surrounding area of the festival which is one of the poorest in Portugal with an unemployment rate of 16% and more than 50% pensioners. We dedicate this award to all Boomers”.
A Greener Festival
