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AGF unveils Europe’s greenest arenas

Eight venues across the UK and Europe have earned AGF Certification for their sustainability efforts in 2024

By Hanna Ellington on 28 Jan 2025

OVO Hydro, Glasgow

Several arenas and venues across the UK and Europe have earned A Greener Future (AGF) certification by demonstrating their commitment to sustainability in 2024.

These include London’s The O2 (cap. 20,000), Glasgow’s OVO Hydro (14,300), Hamburg’s Barclays Arena (15,000), Leeds’ first direct arena (13,781), Berlin’s Uber Arena (17,000) and Uber Eats Music Hall (4,500) and ABBA Voyage London (3,000).

The certification is awarded by A Greener Festival (AGF), a not-for-profit company and sustainability expert, dedicated to helping events, festivals, and venues around the world to become more sustainable.

“We’re really happy to see the increasing uptake of venues aspiring to be greener. What is most important are the actions these venues are taking to improve touring and their impacts on the local and global environment,” says AGF CEO Claire O’Neill.

“These venues have a significant platform which can influence and speed up the green transition of the event sector, something that we so urgently need to do.”

AGF Certification is the world’s first and most comprehensive standard for sustainability in the live events sector, for festivals, events and arenas, reducing waste, emissions, and enhancing equality and biodiversity.

The 5,147-capacity New Lawn Stadium in Gloucestershire, which primarily plays host to the Forest Green Rovers football club, reclaimed its ‘outstanding’ certification and staked its claim as the only venue to earn the distinction.

“Finding sustainable ways to execute live events is essential to the future of our industry”

“Forest Green Rovers are pleased to have once again achieved Outstanding in our annual AGF certification – which is surely the toughest standard in the world today. We were the first to achieve this level and are still the only one – we encourage all other arenas to up their game and join us in the stratosphere of greenness,” says Dale Vince, chairman of the club.

OVO Hydro and The O2 both earned ‘commended’ certifications, with the London arena having a bumper year full of new initiatives from pioneering carbon-removal events to optimising energy efficiency and improving waste management programmes.

“Finding sustainable ways to execute live events, that don’t compromise on the fan or artist experience, is essential to the future of our industry,” says Sam Booth, AEG Europe director of sustainability. “AEG Europe has made huge strides in driving the sustainability agenda in the live industry forward on a global scale, from hosting the world’s first carbon-removed arena events at The O2, to rolling out an in-house reusable cup system across our three German venues.

“We’re so proud to have our achievements across London’s The O2, Berlin’s Uber Arena and Uber Eats Music Hall, and Hamburg’s Barclays Arena recognised by A Greener Future, and are committed to innovating and building on this work as we continue on our path to net zero,” he adds.

“We can’t wait to get further initiatives in place in 2025 to help towards a more sustainable future”

Five venues took home the ‘improver’ certification: ABBA Voyage London, Barclays Arena, first direct arena, Uber Arena, and Uber Eats Music Hall.

“It has been a hugely rewarding process working through AGF’s A Greener Arena certification,” says Kerryn Duckworth, head of operations at first direct arena. “The detailed application process has helped all teams within the arena evaluate our approach to environmental sustainability. It has provided us with a better understanding of what we do well and what areas we can focus on to reduce our emissions and waste further. We can’t wait to get further initiatives in place in 2025 to help towards a more sustainable future.”

To be certified, venues undertake a thorough assessment based upon the AGF Framework, including self-assessment, site visits, and post-event evidence and data submitted to AGF assessors for an independent auditors’ report.

The AGF Framework includes 11 key themes, including local environments & community, travel, food, energy, water, waste, EDI, and governance.

Accolades were recently rolled out for events, with the UK’s Green Gathering, Norway’s Øya Festival, Belgium’s Paradise City, and France’s We Love Green awarded the highest honours.

The International AGF Awards, where certified events across a range of green categories will be crowned, will return on 25 February in London. The awards take place directly after the Green Events & Innovations (GEI17) conference, held in partnership with the ILMC.

 


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