London’s The O2 launches ‘Green Rider’ to make arena gigs more sustainable

London’s O2 Arena has announced that it is to launch its own ‘Green Rider’, in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of live music.

• READ MORE: Savages’ drummer and Music Declares Emergency co-founder Fay Milton on climate change: “Music needs to get real”

The new drive will see the venue providing touring promoters and artists with a guide for how live entertainment productions can reduce CO2 emissions, make more sustainable choices for equipment and materials used, reduce waste and monitor their carbon footprint.

Sam Booth, the Director of Sustainability at AEG Europe, which operates the venue, has said: “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.”

“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.”

In addition to the Green Rider, The O2 is set to host a series of ‘carbon removed’ events in 2024, including for The 1975’s headline shows in February. The shows will see a range of carbon removal methods used to physically extract the carbon generated by the concert from the atmosphere and store it safely.

Adam Pearson, the Commercial Director at The O2 added: “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.”

NME recently spoke to former Savages drummer Fay Milton about the ‘No Music on a Dead Planet’ campaign, which promotes the “power that music can have to create change for good” regarding the climate emergency.

Milton said that her dream was for “the music industry as a whole to really take a moment to take on board the real world situation that we’re in”.

“The music industry is very childish,” she added. “We run around thinking we’re special, we make a mess and someone else clears it up. We think that the rules don’t apply to us. In certain areas, that’s fun because it leads to creativity. When it comes to impact on the planet, it’s just not OK because the people you’re impacting are your audience.

“If you were a huge multi-million pound business and you’re selling music to young people while simultaneously shitting on their fucking future, then it’s not really OK! Just look at the world and look at the future. The reason we say, ‘No music on a dead planet’ is because music is battling away to create a legacy, and legacy doesn’t mean anything if civilisation breaks down, if humanity and our culture is lost.”