Music industry campaign group Agreenerfestival.com has published the results of a new survey conducted by Buckinghamshire New University which asked music fans what they thought about green issues at live music events.

Music industry campaign group Agreenerfestival.com has published the results of a new survey conducted by Buckinghamshire New University which asked music fans what they thought about green issues at live music events.

The survey of 1407 festival goers across Europe clearly shows that music fans and festival goers are waking up to green issues. The survey, which took in 500 UK fans, nearly 600 fans in Finland and 330 fans in Germany and the Netherlands, is unveiled two years after Agreenerfestival’s first survey in 2006.

In the UK, 80% considered noise at festivals had an environmental impact, 82% thought waste had a negative impact, 56% thought festivals had a negative carbon footprint, 60% were worried about water, 53% were concerned with land damage and a whopping 84% thought travel and transport had a negative environmental impact. Awareness of the link between CO2 and climate change was up 26% in two years.  

With ticket sales in mind, promoters and fetsival organisers would be wise to note that 48% of music fans in the UK say they would pay more for greener events and 36% say they consider a festival’s environmental policy before deciding to buy a ticket.  Only 14% of European fans think about a festival’s environmental impact when buying tickets and just 38% would pay more for a ticket to promote green policies. However, whilst 74% of UK fans said that they would travel on public transport if it was included in the price of a ticket,  80% of European fans would do this.

Agreenerfestival co-founder Ben Challis said “In the last two years we have seen a significant rise in audience awareness of green issues, in particular the audience’s own carbon footprint. Travel to and from festivals is something we all have to tackle now, looking at better public transport solutions as well as car sharing and other innovative solutions”. Buckinghamshire New University’s Head of Programmes Teresa Moore says “Festivals like Glastonbury, Download and the Isle of Wight have worked hard to promote public transport and it now seems that the audience has digested this message and agrees – fans want to use public transport but the UK’s public transport infrastructure remains a concern”.

Moore added “the rise in awareness of climate change is clear from the big rise in awareness of the impact of CO2 emissions – 56% of festival goers now consider CO2 a negative impact from festivals. It is encouraging that the willingness to adopt public transport shows a shift in thinking towards practical action by the audience”.
 
Moore explained that the survey was carried out by a small group of Buckinghamshire New University’s students and staff. A large proportion of the surveys were completed online both in the UK and in Europe. This meant that the data collection process minimised the project’s carbon footprint and any potential waste. The research will be initially published online on the University’s web site and on Agreenerfestival.com.

But the research is not all good news for AGreenerfestival. The research also shows that 65% of UK music fans would still go to an event where their favourite band was playing even if the event was not environmentally friendly – this rises to 88% in Europe. 39% of fans say that food stalls at festivals should encourage re-usable crockery and cutlery instead of disposables - but 36% disagreed and whilst 52% would be happy to pay a refundable £2 charge on beer cups - 30% wouldnt.

In fact those supporting these activities are actually down in numbers from the survey in 2006 when more fans were ready to adopt recyclable utensils, cutlery and cups. European fans are very similar – 38% saying stalls should use re-useable crockery and cutlery although only 36% supported deposits on cups – but 41% were resistant to deposits in Europe. Challis adds “some of those surveyed in both the UK and Europe seem resistant to the environmental impact of festivals.

In fact some disagreed with the fact there were any negative impacts at all. In the UK 34% do not think CO2 emissions are a problem and 13% would not recycle.  Another 36% would not want recyclable crockery and cutlery (even if free!) and 30% would not pay a refundable deposit of £2 for beer cups. This is a shame because festivals in the UK and Europe have shown the effectiveness of cup deposits – the Latitude Festival massively reduced onsite waste by producing a popular souvenir beer mug”