Artists and fans are making music festivals greener and cleaner with The Green Rider from Fortum
FORTUM CORPORATION ONLINE NEWS 6 August 2019
Øyafestivalen, Norway's main music festival and one of the world's most eco-friendly festivals, joins Fortum to involve artists and fans in the fight for more sustainable concerts. The Norwegian stars Sigrid and Unge Ferrari are already part of the team.
Most musicians have a "rider" - a list of requirements - that organizers of a concert or festival receive before the artist arrives. This includes things like sound and lighting requirements, instructions for setting up the backstage area, safety needs and nutritional needs for the band and crew.
The requirements are usually not vetted for environmental impact, and widespread use of plastics, food waste and high CO2 emissions are examples of how festivals can affect the environment in a negative way. That's why Fortum is launching The Green Rider in cooperation with Øyafestivalen. This will help the artists to set environmental requirements for the festivals they play at.
"Our job at Fortum is to be innovative with renewable energy and recycling, with the goal of creating a cleaner world for everyone. As experts in how energy consumption and waste affects the climate and the environment, we want to help artists and fans to make the right requirements for festivals and concerts to become more sustainable," says Stian Mathisen, Communications Manager at Fortum.
"Together with Fortum, we started considering what if the artists' riders were about more than just what the artists wanted to eat and drink? Then they could help spread green solutions," says Cathrine Røsseland at Øyafestivalen.
"The problem is that the artists don't always know what they can do that has an effect - how they can really go about making a difference for the climate and the environment. With The Green Rider we want to help them with that, and we propose simple but powerful requirements that really have an effect," says Mathisen.
The five points of The Green Rider
The Green Rider initiative has identified five areas where the artists can make demands that have a real impact on the festival's environmental footprint:
- Reduce fossil fuels
- Serve less meat
- Avoid single-use plastics
- Use low emission transport
- Limit and recycle waste
More details about each of the five areas can be found at The Green Rider website.
"Be more friendly to the earth," says Sigrid
Although The Green Rider is a brand new initiative, Fortum has already brought in artists like Norwegian superstar Sigrid and rapper Unge Ferrari.
"We are going to take away single use of plastic. Eat more organic and locally produced food. We are going to reduce waste, that’s a big one, and we will use more clean energy," says Sigrid, the Norwegian superstar who will come straight to Oslo and Øyafestivalen after her appearance at the Lollapalooza festival.
"The whole point of this is that it hopefully will inspire other artists, musicians, bands and festivals to be more friendly towards the climate and the earth," says Sigrid.
"We were happy to see that the artists we have been in touch with so far all were very keen to be involved. All we did was present their management with the idea, and then they were on board right away. We believe there are many artists, both in Norway and in other countries, who wants to be part of this and join the change for a cleaner world. The goal is that we together can start a movement where fans encourage their favorite artists to deliver a green rider for future concerts and festivals," says Stian Mathisen at Fortum.
Fans can sign the campaign to encourage artists to implement the rider at The Green Rider website.
Both Fortum and Øyafestivalen is working for a cleaner world
Fortum and Øyafestivalen has come together in their shared commitment to fighting climate change and creating a cleaner world. Øya has long been known as one of the world's most environmentally friendly festivals, and Fortum's strategy is to engage their customers and society to drive the change towards a cleaner world. Fortum's role is to accelerate this change by reshaping the energy system, improving resource efficiency and providing smart solutions.
"In many ways Fortum is our dream partner. We have very strict criteria for choosing a partner. They must have the same values as us, and must be very committed to changing the world for the better," says Cathrine Røsseland at Øyafestivalen.
Mathisen agrees that Øya and Fortum are natural partners:
"We work with many of the same things. Øyafestivalen is well known for their environmental efforts. They do a lot of innovative things to reduce their emissions and environmental footprint. At Fortum, we create renewable energy solutions and promote recycling and recycling services, so it's really an excellent match. We now invite artists and music fans from all over the world to join the change for a cleaner world," he says.
Fortum Corporation
Group Communications
