This article is orginally placed on VISION2025 and you can find it here. 

Chris Johnson, Chair of Vision: 2025 shares his how to guide to measuring event emissions. With these insights, measuring the carbon footprint of your festival becomes as simple as a few conversations, collecting some information, and putting it into a free online tool.

Why Measure?

Measuring your environmental impacts is central to your event sustainability strategy – wherever you are in the journey. If you are just setting out, measuring creates a baseline from which to identify key areas of impact, from here you can make a plan to tackle them. Consistent year on year measuring helps you gauge success of your plan and record your progress. The Vision: 2025 roadmap for event suggests you aim to reduce your environmental impacts by 50% by 2025, as part of a net zero strategy. Find out more about the roadmap and pledge. Just getting your head around Net Zero? Read the Net Zero FAQ for event organisers. You can also download the below info as a PDF template to collect data.

Start Measuring: Here is your 5-Point Action Plan

1. Tell the relevant contractors that you need some information (detailed below)
2. Set up your free account with Creative Green Tool (Julie’s Bicycle)
3. Collect the information after the event
4. Enter information into the CG tool
5. Voila – you have your carbon footprint and breakdown

Estimated total time required = about 2 days input.

Information needed for the free Creative Green carbon footprint tool

Event Details

How? You already have this information!

Energy

How? Your power contractor can provide this – add a request to contract

Water

How? Your water/sanitation contractor can provide this or check the meter before and after

Audience Travel

How? You already have this information! Or work with ecolibrium to help you.

• No. of days for the event
• No. of campers
• No. of stages
• No. of ticket buyers
• No. of artists
• No. of traders

• Mains electricity use (kWh)
• Mains gas use (kWh)
• Bottled gas use (litres)
• Diesel use (litres)
• Concession diesel use (litres)
• Biodiesel (litres)
• Concession biodiesel use (litres)
• Onsite renewable energy (kWh)

• Water Use m³
• Waste water m³

• % Cycling
• % Dedicated coaches
• % Car travel
• % Public buses
• % Train
• % Taxi
  
  

You can download this info as a free template on the VISION2025 website here.