Wembley Stadium introduces sustainability rider
Wembley Stadium has introduced its own sustainability rider, following in the footsteps of other London venues The O2 and the Royal Albert Hall.
The rider outlines the role sustainability plays within the stadium’s operations, alongside advice and guidance for all organisations, promoters and touring artists that host events at the venue.
It also outlines considerations and recommendations for more sustainable choices to reduce the environmental impact of live events.
The 90,000-capacity stadium already works closely with bands and promoters to implement green initiatives. Last week, Coldplay revealed all of their Wembley shows in 2025 will be 100% powered via solar, wind and kinetic energy, collected at the venue and elsewhere in the UK – a world first for a stadium show.
“Sustainability, and reducing the impact of large events, is integral to our ambition to provide a world-leading, inspirational venue,” says Wembley Stadium director, Mark Lynch.
“Sustainability, and reducing the impact of large events, is integral to our ambition”
“This new sustainability rider sets out our vision and values. It will act as a conversation starter with artists, promoters and event owners, to see how we can work together to make a positive impact on the environment and local community around us.”
The new rider, which was created through consultation with environmental professionals, forms part of the FA (Football Association’s) overall sustainability strategy.
Ruaidhri Dunn, The FA’s head of procurement and sustainability, adds: “We are very proud of our achievements in recent years to continually improve how we embed sustainability, including Wembley Stadium maintaining the ISO20121 standard for sustainable events management.
“However, we want to make further progress. This new sustainability rider will enable us to move forward with the next phase of our sustainability efforts.”
Last year The FA launched its ‘Playing for the Future’, strategy to drive forward its environmental ambitions up until 2028.
Central to that plan was reducing the environmental impact of Wembley Stadium with a clear focus on reducing energy consumption, avoiding waste, improving recycling rates, reducing water consumption and positively impacting stakeholders.
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The O2 launches ‘industry-leading’ Green Rider
The O2 in London has launched its very own Green Rider, an ‘industry-leading’ document outlining sustainable choices for incoming tours and productions.
The Green Rider includes best practice recommendations for how to reduce CO2 emissions, make more sustainable choices for equipment and materials used, reduce waste and energy consumption, and monitor an event’s carbon footprint, alongside an appendix containing useful resources and local suppliers.
The Rider will be shared with promoters and artist teams visiting the 21,000-capacity venue from now onwards.
“As a world-famous venue and industry-leaders in live entertainment, we have a responsibility to help drive forward the sustainability agenda for international touring and live events, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with The O2’s Green Rider,” says Sam Booth, director of sustainability at AEG Europe.
“Working closely with organisations like A Greener Future, we’ve identified key areas where the environmental impact of a tour can be significantly reduced, and this document has been designed to directly address this. Our ambition is to create a blueprint for shows visiting the arena moving forwards, and for the wider live industry, whilst also working collaboratively with artists and touring crews to make events at The O2 more sustainable, but still a great experience for the bands and the fans.”
“Our ambition is to create a blueprint for shows visiting the arena moving forwards, and for the wider live industry”
The creation of a Green Rider follows the announcement that The O2 will be hosting ‘carbon removed’ events as part of a worldwide arena first, in collaboration with carbon removal experts CUR8 and sustainable event specialists A Greener Future.
The pilot events, taking place at The 1975’s headline shows at the venue in February 2024, will use a portfolio of carbon removal methods to physically extract the carbon generated by the events from the atmosphere and durably store it out of harm’s way, according to the AEG-operated arena.
Adam Pearson, commercial director at The O2, adds: “The O2 arena hosts over 200 events a year with some of the biggest acts in the world, so we have a massive opportunity here to really drive the sustainability agenda forward in our industry. Sustainability forms a core part of the venue’s business strategy as we strive to reduce our overall environmental impact and ultimately achieve net zero, but we need to be aligned with the artists, promoters and touring crews that come through the door to produce truly impactful change.
“We’re really excited about the launch of our Green Rider and have received a really positive response from the industry so far, but the document will be ever-evolving, so we welcome any suggestions for how to improve this further from the industry.”
The O2 was the first arena in England to achieve its Greener Arena certification from A Greener Future in December 2022, thanks to the venue’s sustainability practices and commitments.
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Dutch agencies develop green artist rider
UIMA (United Independent Music Agencies), the association of Dutch booking agencies, has released a green rider for artists wishing to tour sustainably.
The rider, which follows the launch of the first green artist rider at GEI in 2019, focuses on eating in a more eco-friendly way, cutting down on flying, reducing waste and using renewable energy. For example, by eliminating the 7,500 short-haul flights UIMA artists take a year in favour of trains, they can reduce carbon emissions from transport up to 80%, the rider explains.
UIMA members, which include Blip Agency, Octopus Agents, Good Music Company, Earth Beat and Sedate Bookings, represent more than 500 acts who play over 15,000 shows annually. The association was formed in April 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The rider focuses on food, transport, waste and energy
In addition to looking at what artists can do to reduce their footprint, the rider also advises how venues and festivals can make a difference, for example eliminating single-use products and using only green energy.
In a statement, the association says it hopes “more artists and agencies at home and abroad will embrace this initiative and help develop it so that we can collectively move towards a cleaner future”.
Download UIMA’s green rider (in English) by clicking here.
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Last chance for GEI 2020 early-bird tickets
Early bird tickets for the Green Events and Innovations Conference (GEI) 2020 will no longer be available after today, Monday 30 September.
The twelfth edition of GEI will return to the International Live Music Conference on Tuesday 3 March 2020, presented by A Greener Festival.
The final few early bird tickets are still available for GEI 2020 at a rate of £96, with standard prices coming into effect from tomorrow.
Each year, the event welcomes over 200 live music professionals to discuss sustainability at live events.
Topics discussed at last year’s GEI included ethical merchandise options, environmentally friendly food at festivals, the effect of Brexit on sustainability efforts and the environmental impact of touring.
GEI 2019 also saw the inaugural international edition of the AGF Awards and the launch of Coda (now Paradigm) Agency’s Green Artist Rider initiative.
Buy tickets here for GEI 2020 before 1 October to profit from early bird rates.
The 32nd edition of the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) will take place in London from 3 to 6 March.
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