At the inaugural SXSW London taking place June 2-7, with nearly 900 speakers participating in some 500 sessions, one specific topic was of sharp relevance to the music industry — indeed, every industry and every attendee.
The climate crisis.
The past year saw extreme weather drive fires across the music capital of Los Angeles; a cyclone prompt cancellations of some two dozen live events in Australia in a single week; and more than 50 festivals in the U.K. either postponed or canceled due to forces including higher weather-related insurance costs.
“Climate change is not some distant threat,” said Leila Toplic, chief communications and trust officer of Carbonfuture, which provides verification of efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
“The business case for taking action is still there,” remarked Helen Clarkson, CEO of the the Climate Group, a non-profit whiich has worked with more than 500 multinational businesses in 175 markets. (She spoke during a panel provocatively entitled “Canceling Sustainabilty,” about efforts to purse a green agenda in the face of new anti-environmental rhetoric in Washington, D.C.)
SXSW London organizers tapped the Bellwethers Group, which is focused on building a green economy, as its the official sustainability partner and the company hosted several days of panels at the Nature and Cimate House.
One of those panels focused on the role that advertising and public relations agencies can play in guiding businesses which claim to be concerned about the climate. Lameya Chaudhury, head of social impact for the mission-driven creative agency Luck Generals, remarked: “The question we’re asking of clients in 2025 is — did you really f–king mean it?”
SXSW London builds on the four-decade legacy of the South By Southwest music, arts, film and tech conference and festival launched in Austin, Texas, in 1987. Two years ago, Penske Media (the owner of Billboard) took a majority interest in the company which now presents conferences in Austin; Sydney, Australia; and now in the formerly industry district of Shoreditch in East London.
The climate-focused discussion that hit closest to home for the music industry took place Wednesday morning. Billed as “The Future of Sustainable Live Events,” it was moderated by Claire O’Neill, CEO and co-founder of the international nonprofit A Greener Future and co-founder of green energy specialists, Grid Faeries.
Panel participants included Sam Booth, director of sustainability for AEG Europe; Alex Bruford, founder, managing director and agent with ATC Live, whose clients include The Lumineers and Fontaines DC; and Mark Stevenson, co-founder of CUR8, whose mission is to remove 1 billion tons of carbon a year from the atmosphere.
Here are five key takeaways from their discussion.
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Follow The Leaders
Artists including Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Massive Attack and The 1975 are at the forefront of efforts to reduce the climate impact of their live performances, panelists said. Coldplay has reported that carbon emissions — from show production, freight, band and crew travel — on the first two years of its Music of the Spheres Tour were 59% less than its previous stadium tour (2016-2017) on a show-by-show basis, with its figures verified by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. Eilish has partnered with REVERB to reduce the environmental footprint of her touring. Massive Attack’s hometown show in Bristol last year set a new standard for low carbon emissions by being fully battery powered and selling only vegan food, one of several such initiatives by the group. At London’s O2 Arena in February of last year, The 1975 worked with A Greener Future, CUR8 and venue manager AEG to remove a reported 545.9 tons of carbon from the atmosphere over its four-night stand.
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Climate Focus Needed Earlier
Despite the almost daily drumbeat of dire news about the state of the climate, when it comes to how touring practices must change, “The majority of people in the music industry are not focused on it,” said Bruford at ATC Live. “Not enough people are having that discussion.” And when artists or their teams do ask how they can reduce the carbon impact of tours, they are doing so “too late in the day,” saiid O’Neill of A Greener Future, when the scale of production is set and shows are routed.
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The Green Triumph of The 1975
Three of the panelists — O’Neill, Stevenson of CUR8 and Booth of AEG — were involved in the ground-breaking move last year by The 1975 to not only reduce the carbon imprint of their live show but remove carbon from the atmosphere during the band’s four shows at the O2 Arena. “It’s amazing what can happen when you apply a cost to carbon,” said Booth, explaining how The 1975 made decisions affecting everything from the merchandise available at the shows to the food at its concessions, with an eye toward carbon impact at the shows in February 2024. A small surcharge on tickets paid to offset the cost of carbon emissions from fan travel. At the time, the O2 announced that the concerts drew upon “a portfolio of carbon removal methods to physically extract the carbon generated by the events from the atmosphere and durably store it out of harm’s way — a game-changing step on the path to helping the global live events industry reach genuine net-zero.”
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Starting The Conversation
As much as artists may be concerned about the future of the climate, “These guys are busy creating art,” said AEG’s Booth. For that reason, suggested ATC’s Bruford, “That’s where the [artist’s] team needs to step up. I think it comes down to the managers, the agents, the tour production” staff to raise the topic of reducing a tour’s climate impact very early in the planning process. “It’s our responsibility to say to the artist, ‘We can do this!’”
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Staying Home is Not An Option
Despite the massive energy required to transport and stage a major concert tour, panelists agreed that the greatest climate impact of the live music business comes from fans themselves traveling to shows. For her summer U.K. tour, Eilish partnered with Trainline to offer discounted train tickets for fans who travel to her shows by rail. For Stevenson of CUR8, even as his venture focuses on removing carbon from the atmosphere, giving up travel for concerts “is not a life well lived on a planet well loved,” he said.
