girl in red goes green with CHOOOSE

September 2, 2020

News

For her upcoming US tour, the Norwegian musician girl in red is using her voice to raise awareness for climate action by creating one of the world’s first ‘climate positive’ music tours.

«My job and passion involve a lot of traveling around the world. Now knowing that I'm not only making my touring carbon neutral but also carbon positive makes me so happy and relieved. I was so excited when I discovered CHOOOSE, because it was exactly the organization I wanted to exist but didn't really know it did. So I'm very happy to be working with CHOOOSE to help our one and only mother earth» says Marie Ulven, better known as girl in red.

With several unavoidable flights required for her first US-tour, girl in red wanted to do something to compensate the carbon emitted while traveling to the US.

Before taking to the road, girl in red and her team teamed up with Norwegian Climate company CHOOOSE to measure the environmental footprint of every flight, bus transportation, and crew member, by aiming to reduce as many greenhouse emissions as possible. The unavoidable emissions are addressed by reducing more than the total footprint of the itineraries, to achieve not only a climate-neutral, but ‘climate positive’ music tour.

This is done through CHOOOSE by funding a closely selected CO2-reducing Solar Photovoltaic Power Project in Gujarat India, replacing oil and coal with renewable energy - verified by the United Nations (UN). The project corresponds to at least 3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and generates opportunities and employment in the region improves infrastructure and promotes business due to the improvement in electricity.

Reduces emissions both on a local and global level

Marie has also implemented several initiatives on tour to reduce the tour’s environmental footprint when heading overseas, including online ticket system (reduce paper use), strive to use of hotels that have good routines for sustainability, shortest possible distance between hotel and venue, use of public transport where possible, actively tries to wear second-hand clothing or clothing made from recycled materials and use of reusable bottles on the road and stage.

girl in red will reduce 50 tonnes of CO2, which is more than the total carbon footprint of each crew member, all flights and bus transportation combined. The climate effect equals nearly 400 fewer flights from Oslo to London.

«It's fantastic that girl in red goes green with CHOOOSE for her tour, and even better knowing that the contribution supports sustainable development and carbon reduction in India. The need for energy is so high, and planet earth cannot afford to cover that need with fossil energy production. That girl in red uses her platform to achieve meaningful change is a great example of how combining culture and climate really can make a difference.» Says CEO and CHOOOSE-founder Andreas Slettvoll.

Verified by the UNFCCC

Additionally, through the collaboration with CHOOOSE, girl in red has officially joined Climate Neutral Now-program, an initiative by the UNFCCC that encourages individuals and organizations to measure and reduce their emissions and offset what can be avoided.

“Climate change now threats to destroy the very foundations of our society. We all need to act now to avoid its worst impacts. We need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible through changes in our practices and behaviors, such as using renewable energy, using public and sustainable transportation, reducing the amount of meat we eat, avoiding wasteful consumption or flying less. However, we are still not able to always avoid all emissions. Therefore, the next best step is to take responsibility for these emissions by supporting the reduction of emissions elsewhere through credible projects. We are grateful to girl in red for being an example of this. Since the tour cannot avoid all greenhouse gas emissions, they decided to compensate for them. We encourage everyone to continue trying to reduce emissions, and to take responsibility for those that cannot be avoided” says Niclas Svenningsen, Global Climate Action at UNFCCC.

girl in red’s new EP is out now on all music services, and you can check out her upcoming climate positive tour dates here!

Photocredit: Julie Pike