The Danish festival NorthSide is known domestically and internationally as a pioneer in sustainable cultural events. Now the festival is once again leading the way by creating the NorthSide Forest, which aims to strengthen biodiversity around the festival’s native city of Aarhus as well as binding carbon equivalent to the event’s emissions for five years.

A festival that makes forests? Yes, you read that right.

In a historic collaboration with Aarhus Municipality and The Danish Climate Forest Fund, an independent, state-owned administrative body under the Ministry of the Environment of Denmark, NorthSide is funding the planting of at least 8.7 hectares of diverse conservation forest. In total, the NorthSide Forest will cover 10 hectares, with plans to develop the area so Aarhus residents can enjoy new nature experiences close to the city. The Forest will be the preliminary area in a larger project where 100 hectares of land will be converted to wild nature, the biggest afforestation project in Denmark thus far.

“At NorthSide, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what a festival can and should be. We have taken substantial leaps regarding sustainability and continually experiment to see where we can make even more of an impact,” says Sustainability Manager at NorthSide, Maritn Thim.

Since its inception in 2010, NorthSide has taken several steps to bring down carbon emissions and reduce waste. In 2019, the festival introduced recyclable plastic cups and in 2022, it made the change to serve exclusively plant-based foods and the same year, it became one of the first festivals in the world to only use 100 percent green electricity from the local power grid. The NorthSide Forest is the festival’s first foray into sustainability measures taken outside of its own grounds at Eskelunden in Aarhus.

Local as well as global Benefits
The planting of the NorthSide Forest will help better protect the groundwater in the area and improve conditions for biodiversity. Once fully grown, the forest will sequester 3,000 tons of CO2, equivalent to the festival’s emissions of approximately 600 tons per year over the five years the project is funded.

The contribution will not count towards the festival’s climate accounts since the project is considering ex-ante, e.g. that the forest does not yet exist and thus doesn’t bind carbon before it is fully grown. In the meantime, the festival is of course still taking measures within its own value chain to reduce emissions where possible.

The designated area is currently former agricultural land. Now, NorthSide is taking the lead by funding a significant portion, which delights Nicolaj Bang, Councilman for Technical and Environmental Affairs in Aarhus Municipality:

“It makes perfect sense to collaborate with a local cultural institution like NorthSide. Like a new forest, they started small and grew into an integral part of the city and its residents. By working with them and The Danish Climate Forest Fund, we can now show a prime example of how we can address both environmental and groundwater protection while providing great nature experiences for the residents of Aarhus in a single project.”

The Danish Climate Forest Fund as Key Partner

Aarhus Municipality and NorthSide have teamed up with the The Danish Climate Forest Fund, which has developed a standard for how forest planting contributes to Denmark’s climate efforts. In practice, this means it’s possible to quantify how much carbon the new forest will capture and store.

“This collaboration shows what we can achieve when we bring together actors committed to climate action. Together, we can plant a forest that benefits the climate and provides Aarhus residents with a fantastic natural area close to the city. We are very proud to be part of this,” says Poul Erik Lauridsen, Director of The Danish Climate Forest Fund. “Together, we can plant a forest that benefits the climate and provides Aarhus residents with a fantastic natural area close to the city. We are very proud to be part of this.”

NorthSide 2025 will take place from 5-7 June next year.