As the world becomes increasingly concerned of the environmental impact of travel, the cultural sector has not slipped under the radar. Criticism has recently grown around celebrities and artists who generate large amounts of CO2 emissions traveling between shows and appearances around the world, often on private jets. And artists aren’t the only ones contributing to these emissions: a recent study found that 80% of the Coachella festival’s carbon footprint comes from attendee travels.

And this is one of the most important opportunities in this space: empowering not only artists but also the millions of people traveling to attend live music events around the world to take climate action and address the carbon footprints of their travel emissions.

Norway-based climate technology company CHOOOSE has been working with artists and event organizers to do exactly this: help attendees, artists, venues, and other stakeholders understand, track, and address their carbon footprints while supporting high-impact climate solutions around the world.

CHOOOSE has also partnered with Nordic independent entertainment company All Things Live and ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster, implementing a seamless option for spectators to address their carbon footprint while attending events.

To accomplish this, All Things Live and Ticketmaster ensure that climate is part of the booking process via CHOOOSE Connect, a fully white-labeled, integrated API solution that goes directly into Ticketmaster’s booking flow. This means that event attendees don’t have to visit any external websites or undertake a lengthy sign-up. Instead, they experience a one-click option when ordering their tickets to voluntarily choose to address their carbon footprint by funding vetted climate projects around the world.

Moreover, All Things Live uses the climate portal WeCHOOOSE to compensate for the annual emissions of its employees and manage the carbon footprint of its events. CHOOOSE has also partnered with Pipfest, Ticketmaster, and festivals like DGTL in Amsterdam to provide similar options for attendees.

A platform for change

CHOOOSE has also joined DGTL, the Revolution Foundation and Bye Bye Plastic Foundation, and SkyNRG to power The Climate Gig, a digital climate tool enabling artists, music venues, and fans to take responsibility for the carbon footprint from traveling to and from live music events.

The online portal enables concertgoers to automatically calculate and address the carbon footprint of their journey based on the choice of transport and destination. For artists and music venues, The Climate Gig offers profile creation, carbon calculations for entire events, crews, transportation, accommodation, and the option to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). They can view detailed order histories, access in-depth project content, and track climate impact in real-time.

The rise of green touring

Last year the University of Glasgow polled 2,184 adults from across the UK, asking a range of music-related questions, including attitudes toward environmental concerns. The study found that 82% of music fans were concerned about climate change compared with 72% of non-music fans. It also found 54% of music lovers believed tackling climate change should be a top priority now. It’s a strong message to the music industry that fans support and require action.

A growing number of artists and bands have started to raise awareness regarding the link between touring and global warming by seeking green alternatives to make life on the road more sustainable.

Since 2017, CHOOOSE has teamed up with artists to combine climate action with culture. Weaving sustainability into physical touring experiences, they have considered CO2 reduction in every aspect of touring from crews and travel to concerts and audiences. Musicians including Astrid S, Grouplove, girl in red, Anna of the North, AURORA, and Matoma have all partnered with CHOOOSE to address, reduce, and compensate for the carbon footprint from their touring. For their efforts, the artists have been honored as verified partners of the United Nations climate program (UNFCCC), Climate Neutral Now, which encourages individuals and organizations to take impactful climate action.

Norwegian singer-songwriter girl in red wanted to compensate for the carbon emitted during her US tour in 2020. With CHOOOSE, she was able to measure the environmental footprint of every flight, bus journey, and crew member to achieve a “climate-positive” music tour. To achieve this, girl in red leveraged CHOOOSE’s certified climate projects and implemented several initiatives on tour. These included an online ticketing system to reduce paper usage, booking hotels that have strong sustainability credentials and were close to music venues, and traveling on public transport where possible.

“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,” said Marie Ulven, the singer behind girl in red.

The indie-pop artist has now extended her partnership with CHOOOSE to become one of the world’s first artists to reduce the carbon footprint of her upcoming world tour using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The tour, which began last March, will see girl in red play 57 concerts across 16 countries throughout 2022-23.

Internationally renowned musician Matoma also became the first artist to reduce the unavoidable emissions related to touring by compensating for his emissions by supporting impactful climate projects such as carbon capture and storage projects at twice the number of emissions his tour generated, creating an overall positive impact. Matoma also implemented a ‘green touring checklist’, which helped to reduce emissions while touring by implementing environmental initiatives such as encouraging crew to eat vegetarian meals, using public transport, booking hotels with more robust sustainability efforts that are near the venue to reduce transport, and more.

Opportunities for the music industry

“We are extremely proud to work with talented and climate-conscious bands and musicians. It’s our mission to offer them the option to understand and address the emissions associated with touring,” said Andreas Slettvoll, CEO at CHOOOSE. “Because we can tailor and configure our climate software solutions based on their and their fans' specific needs, we see the cultural sector and specifically the music industry as an extremely valuable space to be in where we can work with climate-conscious artists to directly contribute to accelerating climate impact and supporting new solutions that reduce emissions.”

"We see the cultural sector and specifically the music industry as an extremely valuable space to be in where we can work with climate-conscious artists to directly contribute to accelerating climate impact and supporting new solutions that reduce emissions.”

Are you an artist, hosting a festival, music tour, concert, or a digital gig and want sustainability to be a part of it? Reach out to us here to book a demo and discover how CHOOOSE solutions can help you achieve your carbon goals.

About CHOOOSE:

CHOOOSE™ provides the leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform empowering businesses to integrate climate action into customer experiences. Airports and airlines deploy CHOOOSE to build, manage, and report on customer-centric climate programs. CHOOOSE is a trusted partner powering integrated carbon programs to industry-leading companies worldwide, including Heathrow Airport, Rome Airport, Air Canada, Japan Airlines, Lonely Planet, Norwegian Air, Southwest Airlines, LATAM, and others. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, CHOOOSE has enterprise partners and employees around the world. Learn more at www.chooose.today.