Pollstar (07/17/23) Gottfried, Gideon

European festival association Yourope released its “European Green Festival Roadmap 2030,” described as “a reliable guide for sustainable actions, including measures [European events] will need to accomplish the inevitable process of transformation until the end of the decade.” The guidelines are founded on the European Union's (EU) Green Deal, which aspires to slash emissions in Europe by at least 55% by 2030. Yourope's press release explains that the roadmap “also considers the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and industry requirements” and is “the result of a collaboration with experts from A Greener Future (AGF) and Greener Events Norway as well as Yourope's GO Group (Green Operations Europe) think tank.” The goal of the free roadmap is to supply festivals with “a comprehensive framework for the ambitious sustainable improvement of cultural events” across seven fields of actions, including management structures and practical measures in creation and production. “It's a particular pleasure to present the European Green Festival Roadmap as the icing on the cake of tools we recently published — all are open source, accessible to everyone and transferable to other cultural areas,” said Yourope General Secretary Holger Jan Schmidt. “We believe that the roadmap is a big step in the only right direction. Also, it serves as an excellent basis for further exciting and helpful projects.” The roadmap is part of Yourope's three-year 3F (Future-Fit Festivals) project, a EU-funded initiative to boost festivals' resilience, responsibility and relevance going forward.

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