AEG Europe, the entertainment company behind London’s iconic American Express Presents BST Hyde Park festival series, has unveiled a number of new initiatives in a bid to ensure the upcoming shows will be the company’s most sustainable festival season yet.
A number of new green initiatives – which include carbon removals and menu labelling – have been introduced to minimise the environmental impact of the shows, which have become a staple in the UK’s summer festival calendar.
With several new environmentally-responsible initiatives in place, as well as new partnerships with Keep Britain Tidy and Lowr, the company has heralded the 2024 season as its most sustainable run of festivals to date.
AEG Europe’s director of sustainability Sam Booth says: “Over the course of 10 shows across three weekends, we will have the opportunity to engage with hundreds of thousands of fans.
“We are acutely aware of our position and believe we have a responsibility to influence fan behaviour and drive sustainable change and in doing so, we’re helping to not only preserve the planet but also the future of live entertainment.”
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Carbon removals and carbon labelling
AEG Europe is working toward a verifiable net zero strategy. In February 2024, the company made history by hosting the world’s first carbon-removed arena events at The O2 in London, extracting and removing 545.9 tonnes of carbon across the four shows – the equivalent yearly electricity usage of 395 average homes.
Acting on key learnings from these pilot events, BST Hyde Park is continuing to reduce emissions while looking to accurately measure the remaining unavoidable ones. Using Biochar for carbon capture, the festival will then fund the removal of all Scope 1 and 2 emissions, making this its most carbon-friendly festival series to date.
The AEG team has also worked with A Greener Future to measure the environmental impact of each meal served across the festival. This information will be across all menus, with a traffic light system to highlight the most environmentally-friendly offerings.
Effective waste management
AEG Europe is committed to sending zero waste to landfill and is looking to build on the principles of the circular economy to all venues and festivals. BST Hyde Park will see the use of 100% compostable serveware across the site, with a limited reusable cup system being trialled in controlled areas.
Waste handling has also been improved, with clearer signage, an on-site waste baler and on-site crews to help fans separate their waste correctly.
Working in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, BST Hyde Park will also see a new waste reduction initiative for 2024. In a move to change fan behaviour around the disposal of cigarette butts, portable ashtrays will be handed out to combat the UK’s largest source of litter.
An e-cigarette collect-and-recycle scheme will also be implemented across the site for the safe disposal of soft plastics and batteries.
Data capture for sustainable fan travel
AEG Europe’s customer engagement teams have formed a partnership with a sustainability platform Lowr. Lowr has created a bespoke platform for ticket holders to log their journey to the event and help the festival to understand and quantify the full carbon impact of their travel.
This information can then be used in subsequent years to help inform policies and strategies for tackling this large chunk of the festival’s impact.
Sustainable energy and power
BST Hyde Park will benefit from an enhanced power supply from both biodiesel generators and batteries this summer. After successfully trialling a new battery system at the event in 2023, the team has made significant energy efficiencies in a more economical power supply.
These enhancements ensure the entire workflow operates at optimum efficiency to drive down overall fuel usage across the site.
