Greener Festival Award 2016 winners

Portugal event Boom Festival and We Love Green in France have been named ‘Outstanding’ as 2016 winners of the Greener Festival Award, with Glastonbury and Green Music Fest (USA) also amongst honourees.

All 25 winners of the accolade were revealed last week at Eurosonic Noorderslag in partnership with the Green Event Netherlands. It’s the first events to receive the award since its relaunch last year.

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.

“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.”

Co-Founder of AGF, Claire O’Neill, 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!”

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 7 March, in association with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

André Soares, sustainability designer of Boom Festival, 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] have 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.”

“Boom is totally independent, no sponsors, and engaging in sustainability is made strictly with our own resources and an amazing contribution of our fabulous Boomers.”

Artur Mendes, manager of Boom Festival, added: “Boom is totally independent, no sponsors, and engaging in sustainability is made strictly with our own resources and an 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 unemployment rate of 16% and more than 50% pensioners. We dedicate this award to all Boomers.”

Appearing in the Highly Commended category were Cambridge Folk Festival (UK), DGTL Festival (Netherlands), Glastonbury Festival (UK), Green Music Fest (USA), Heart of Glass Heart of Gold (France), Øya Festival (Norway) and Welcome to the Future (Netherlands). Check out the full list of winners below.

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)

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