By: Icha Gyllian
Editor: Ovan Obing
Music festivals and concerts are the ultimate escape. Thousands of fans gather under dazzling lights, completely immersed in high-wattage, high-production spectacles. But we often overlook the heavy ecological toll of these massive events. Major festivals like Coachella can generate up to 107 tons of waste per day, with a disheartening 20% actually being recycled.
And the trash is just the tip of the iceberg.
Most outdoor festivals operate off the grid, relying on massive diesel generators to power their towering LED screens, strobe lights, and booming sound systems. In the UK alone, the festival industry burns through an estimated 380 million liters of diesel annually—pumping tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere just to keep the show going. This is only a fraction of the environmental impact, with many other ecological consequences flying completely under the radar. Does this make live music inherently bad? Not necessarily. But the industry’s traditional infrastructure has long made it an overlooked contributor to climate change.
A Growing Collective Consciousness
As climate anxiety intensifies, public perception is shifting. Younger generations are growing tired of the stark contradiction between eco-conscious lyrics and the sea of plastic waste left behind after a show. This collective frustration found its voice in the global campaign “No Music On A Dead Planet,” launched in 2019 by the UK-based collective Music Declares Emergency (MDE). Backed by artists like Savages, IDLES, and Radiohead, their message is simple: *Who is going to care about music on a dead planet?*
In Indonesia, a similar movement is being spearheaded by IKLIM (Indonesian Knowledge, Climate, Arts, and Music Labs). The coalition was co-founded by Gede Robi, frontman of Bali’s iconic grunge band Navicula. This grassroots awareness has converged with efforts by global superstars to pioneer “Green Touring.” Big names like Coldplay, Billie Eilish, and Radiohead are actively redesigning their live shows to minimize their carbon footprint.
After putting their touring plans on hold in 2019 due to environmental concerns, Coldplay launched their *Music of the Spheres* world tour with cutting-edge eco-innovations. They utilized the world’s first portable show battery, repurposed from recycled BMW i3 electric car batteries. They also installed kinetic dancefloors and power-generating stationary bikes to let fans help power the stage. To top it off, they pledged to plant one tree for every ticket sold, resulting in over 7 million trees planted. Audited by MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative, Coldplay successfully slashed their tour’s carbon emissions by 59% compared to their previous stadium run.
Billie Eilish has taken a more cultural approach. She banned single-use plastics at her venues, partnered with the environmental non-profit Reverb to set up eco-educational spaces, served 100% plant-based meals to her crew, and sold merchandise made from recycled materials. Offstage, Eilish helped fund the Music Decarbonization Project, donating zero-emission smart batteries that were used to power Lollapalooza’s main stage.
Long before these initiatives, Radiohead was already leading the charge. During their 2007 *In Rainbows* tour, Thom Yorke and company hired environmental agency Best Foot Forward to audit their carbon footprint. The band immediately acted on the findings: they ditched air freight, opting to ship their massive stage gear by sea and rail weeks in advance. They also famously refuse to play in regions that lack adequate public transportation for concertgoers—which is likely why they have never performed in Indonesia.
On the local front, Jakarta’s Synchronize Fest has made serious strides. After generating over 11 tons of waste in just three days in 2018, they launched an aggressive “Green Movement” in partnership with Greeners and Waste4Change, successfully reducing their waste output to 7 tons by 2023. Meanwhile, IKLIM enforces strict eco-rules at their gigs, banning single-use plastics and carefully auditing post-event carbon data to improve their practices year after year.
The Catch: Greenwashing and the Audience Problem
While these efforts deserve immense praise, we must remain critical in an era dominated by clever marketing and public relations. The line between genuine sustainability and greenwashing is dangerously thin.
Coldplay, for all their achievements, faced heavy criticism for partnering with Neste, a Finnish biofuel company. Environmental groups revealed that Neste sources raw materials from suppliers linked to massive deforestation, showcasing how easily noble intentions can be compromised by corporate sponsorship. Furthermore, eco-friendly tour infrastructure is incredibly expensive. Without corporate sponsors, promoters are forced to pass the cost onto fans, turning green concerts into an exclusive, high-priced commodity.
But the biggest hurdle of all is the audience. Research by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research reveals that the single largest contributor to a concert’s carbon footprint isn’t the stage, the lights, or the sound—it’s fan travel, which accounts for up to 80% of total emissions. This is the ultimate irony: while promoters stress over greening their stages, the collective emissions of thousands of traveling fans can easily offset their hard work.
To combat this, Synchronize Fest introduced creative incentives, offering fast-track entry and dedicated parking for cyclists, alongside a free shuttle service in partnership with Transjakarta. In 2023, they successfully persuaded 1,257 attendees to swap their private vehicles for public transit. While this is a drop in the bucket for a festival that draws 70,000 people, it is a crucial step forward. Ultimately, no matter how innovative a festival’s green initiatives are, they won’t mean much unless we, the audience, are willing to change our habits too. What do you think? Is the green concert trend a sincere effort to redeem the industry’s environmental sins, or is it just another marketing gimmick to keep eco-conscious ticket buyers happy?
Data source & reference:
- Coachella generates 107 tons of solid waste each day. About 20% of it gets recycled. https://share.google/N5QFbkzhhPnRC4Cf7
- Industry report reveals extent of UK festival diesel emissions – Festival Insights https://share.google/nxY2fNhVypmZs0wkK
- https://sisa.synchronizefestival.com/en/hello-world-2/
- https://www.coldplay.com/emissions-update/
- https://reverb.org/impact_report/happier-than-ever-world-tour-impact-report/
- http://archive.radiohead.com/Site12/deadairspace/index56.html
- https://radiohead.com/deadairspace/page/33
- https://onboard.earth/case-study/radiohead-2008-carbon-neutral-tour/
- https://www.telerama.fr/monde/thom-yorke-and-george-monbiot-we-have-to-prepare-for-the-inevitable-failure-of-cop21,134497.php
- https://grist.org/article/on-the-road-again1/
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/11/coldplay-labelled-useful-idiots-for-greenwashing-after-deal-with-oil-company
- https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/a-tale-of-coldplay-greenwashing-and-deforestation
- https://www.greeneconomy.co.uk/news-and-resources/news/british-electronic-music-duo-take-on-industry-emissions-with-greenest-ever-festival/
- https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/news/climate-scientists-call-for-festival-licensing-to-be-dependent-on-carbon-impact-27197/