This Summer is a huge moment internationally for sport, from the EUROs to the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. But the “summer of sport” is being closely rivalled by the music industry. International superstar Taylor Swift is on track to break records by grossing $1bn from her Eras tour, Glastonbury saw record numbers of festival goers this year, and bands such as Coldplay are also in the midst of global tours. 2024 might just be the ultimate “summer of music” too. 

There’s no doubt that sports and music are integral parts of our cultural fabric, bringing joy and unity to millions. But these global events and world tours also generate significant carbon emissions, particularly from fan and spectator travel, who largely fly to events. At Taylor Swift’s Paris Show alone, 20% of tickets were held by Americans travelling from overseas to watch her perform. 

With interest heightened around sports and music – it was the right time for us to engage with the public and educate them on carbon offsetting. By integrating our client, CarbonClick, into popular culture, we highlighted how sports and music enthusiasts should manage their impact on the environment by offsetting their carbon emissions when travelling to events.

We developed a compelling thought leadership article authored by CarbonClick’s Head of Carbon, Kat Peter and offered media exclusive time with her to provide in-depth industry insights and discuss sustainability initiatives.

Kat Peter talked to Global Sustainable Sport about how progress has been made in the sports and entertainment industry in 2024 but how more needs to be done in addressing the impact teams and spectators can both have in reducing scope 3 emissions. You can read the full interview here.

What did we have to say?

Fan travel falls under scope 3 emissions, and emissions wise, scope 3 are usually the largest. But until sustainable aviation fuels are rolled out en masse, the current target set by the UK government is 10% by 2030, we need to explore how audiences can positively contribute to addressing scope 3 emissions, and find effective ways to empower and encourage them to offset these emissions.

While event organisers bear the onus of reducing and offsetting emissions, engaging fans and spectators presents an opportunity to address residual, unavoidable emissions without shouldering the entire financial burden. Simultaneously, involving fans is a great way to educate them about their environmental impact and the role of carbon offsetting in the broader fight against climate change.

What examples can we learn from?

The first carbon-removed concert took place at the O2 in London this February where fans of the band The 1975 contributed to carbon removal projects when purchasing tickets. As a result, the carbon removal pilot successfully removed 540 tonnes of carbon.  Notably, over 75% of the O2’s emissions stem from fan travel, emphasising the importance of shared responsibility. In contrast, operational emissions accounted for a mere 3.95%, a low figure attributable to the O2’s genuine emission reduction initiatives. 

The New Zealand SailGP team, the Black Foils, launched an integrated platform with CarbonClick where fans could calculate their travel footprint and further mitigate environmental impacts by offsetting their travel emissions and supporting high-quality, certified climate projects that remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere.

SailGP incentivised their audience to offset and launched a competition across its social channels where fans who offset their impact could win a meet & greet and signed t-shirt of the Black Foils. This simple, yet effective incentive has resulted in high engagement from fans, resulting in 50% conversion to engagement and 5% engagement to offset. 

The Black Foils also chose a relatable and local offset project to engage with their audience. CarbonClick’s Banks Peninsula project was chosen as the offset project for the New Zealand leg of the series as it supports native reforestation which will improve the water quality of nearby rivers and coastal waters. It was also the perfect fit by being the backdrop of the race in Littleton Harbor and aimed to encourage travelling Kiwi’s to think about their impact more than any other project.

So the next time you set foot on a plane, whether that be for work or leisure, think about the impact it’s having on the environment. All it takes is to swap that small duty free purchase for a donation towards offsetting your flight emissions. 

IMAGE CREDIT: Paris 2024