Green Guardians 2022: Big Green Coach, Bluewater, Christie Lites

The Green Guardians is spearheaded by IQ and an expert panel of sustainability experts to recognise suppliers who are improving the live music business when it comes to being more environmentally friendly.

Our international panel of judges this year includes representatives from A Greener Festival, Green Events & Innovations Conference, Greener Events, Green Operations Europe (Go-Group), Julie’s Bicycle, Le Réseau des Femmes en Environnement, Sustainable Event Alliance, Sustainable Event Solutions, Tour Production Group, and Vision:2025.

The 2022 list of Green Guardians includes 20 entries across a wide range of event suppliers and solutions providers, all of whom are working tirelessly to reduce the carbon footprint of the live entertainment business.

IQ will publish entries across all categories over the coming weeks, starting with Big Green Coach, Bluewater and Christie Lites.

Big Green Coach
Big Green Coach is the UK’s largest events travel company, operating coach services to music festivals, gigs, and sporting events. With audience travel accounting for almost 80% of carbon emissions of live events, it’s never been more important to think about travel choices. Coach travel is already the greenest option for eventgoers, taking cars off the road and using less land for parking.

Going further in their green efforts, Big Green Coach’s work with Cool Earth means they have now sponsored close to 2 million square foot of Amazon rainforest for ten years. In 2022, all of their coach services were carbon neutral. Emissions for every return trip were worked out and then offset by investing in sustainability projects with Ecolibrium.

Bluewater purifiers make water safer to drink without the chemical, plastic, and other contaminants found in tap water

Bluewater
Bluewater is a Swedish beverage company dedicated to bringing fresh, healthy water to people who believe that the best water is purified water produced at the point of consumption, either at home or publicly vended at an event or venue – not bottled in plastic and transported from faraway places.

Back in 2013, founder and CEO Bengt Rittri, a Swedish environment entrepreneur sickened by plastic waste ending up in landfill and the oceans, decided to put a little human ingenuity to work – combining patented SuperiorOsmosisTM technology and the will to change the way the world views water.

Today, Bluewater purifiers make water safer to drink – without the chemical, plastic, and other toxic contaminants found in tap water or floating around in single-use plastic water bottles. Bluewater purifiers, unique hydration stations, and sustainable bottles allow people to enjoy fresh, healthy water – at home, work, and on the go across Europe, the Middle East, China, Southeast Asia, the United States, and South Africa.

Bluewater also hydrates tens of thousands of fans at world-leading sporting, music, and other events, including the British Open, the Women’s Open, Cape Town Marathon, and many more. Bluewater has been honoured with a Fast Company World Changing Ideas award.

Christie Lites is committed to using green energy throughout its global locations

Christie Lites
Sustainability is woven into the fabric of the Christie Lites business. The company is committed to using green energy throughout its global locations, which includes premises across the United States and Canada, as well as the United Kingdom and Germany.

Safeguarding Christie Lites’ mission to develop every part of its business through the lens of sustainability, its new Nashville premises has been constructed with Carbon Cure Concrete – a material that captures approximately 23 pounds of carbon dioxide per cubic yard of concrete. This is achieved by converting CO2 in calcium carbonate, a mineral that is an effective carbon dioxide vault that will not release the gas at any point in the future.

This move augments Christie Lites existing sustainability strategies that it has been putting in place across its international operations, to ensure the company’s impact on the environment is actively reduced wherever possible.

See the full list of 2022 Green Guardians in IQ 114 here. The next edition of the Green Events & Innovations Conference will take place on Tuesday 28 February, more information here.

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