Coachella, Coldplay & Glastonbury: Can Festivals Go Green?

As global conversations around climate change intensify, the environmental impact of live music is increasingly impossible to ignore. 

Music festivals, often sprawling multi-day events attracting tens of thousands of fans, are particularly scrutinised for their carbon footprint.

According to the 2024 report The Environmental Impact of Concerts by US-based NGO Seaside Sustainability, the average music festival produces 500 tons of carbon emissions over three days. That equates to 5kg of CO₂ per attendee per day. 

The main cause behind this is often audience travel, with people driving long distances or even taking flights to attend their favourite festivals. 

Then, of course, there is the fuel required to power a festival, which is often done using diesel generators.

So, is there any way that sprawling events like these can ever be truly sustainable? We look at three case studies here.

The environmental impacts of Coachella

Coachella, one of the most prominent festivals in the United States, has become emblematic of the industry's environmental paradox. 

While it draws in an average of 125,000 attendees per day, estimates from 2021 suggested the event produced up to 1,600 tonnes of waste, with only 20% being recycled. 

The majority of Coachella’s emissions come from travel, a pattern also observed in the UK, where up to 70% of music festival emissions come from attendees arriving by car.

Coachella’s Carpoochella initiative attempts to address this by encouraging carpooling with incentives such as VIP upgrades and merchandise discounts. 

However, according to public reports, "participants might receive a lottery ticket" but may just as easily be overlooked. For those who arrive by bike, the perks are limited to guarded racks and lit pathways.

Despite its scale, the festival has yet to adopt a coherent and publicly accountable sustainability strategy, especially when it comes to artist transportation. 

In 2023, reports emerged that numerous performers and influencers—including BLACKPINK and Frank Ocean—used private jets to reach the site in the remote Californian hills, something which has caused controversy for stars like Taylor Swift recently.

Lollapalooza: a more sustainable model for live music?

In contrast, Lollapalooza India 2025 presented a more structured response to climate concerns. 

With more than 140,000 attendees, the Mumbai edition of the festival partnered with the Earth Day Organisation (EDO) to integrate sustainability throughout the experience.

The festival hosted an Earth Action Day Area, offering games and exhibits made from recycled materials. 

A pivotal moment came when Earth Day 2025 messaging was broadcast across all main stages, urging the public to support renewable energy initiatives. 

This kind of visibility, backed by credible partnerships, marks a significant step forward.

Around the same time as Lollapalooza India, Coldplay toured the subcontinent. In recent years, the British band have made headlines with their approach to sustainability, something which the Lollapalooza team wanted to replicate.

"Coldplay’s commitment has set a global benchmark, proving that music and environmental consciousness can come together to inspire millions towards sustainable lifestyles," says Tom Cosgrove, Chief Creative and Content Officer at EDO.

For its Music of the Spheres tour, Coldplay pledged to halve direct emissions compared to its previous global tour and committed to planting one tree for every ticket sold. 

"When creativity meets consciousness, change happens," said Debapriya Dutt, EDO’s Director for South and Southeast Asia, after presenting Coldplay with the Artists for the Earth Award ahead of their performance in Ahmedabad.

The power of artist alliances

Beyond festival organisers, musicians themselves are becoming critical drivers of sustainable change. 

Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Lorde have all partnered with non-profit Reverb to reduce the environmental impact of their tours.

Initiatives range from eliminating single-use plastics to incentivising green behaviour with exclusive merchandise for fans who participate.

These efforts are often bolstered by collaborative events such as the Music Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles, held in February 2024. 

With more than 300 industry stakeholders present, the summit focused on best practices in reducing emissions, particularly through audience engagement and fuel reduction.

According to the More Than Music report, published by BetterNotStop in collaboration with Deloitte, 46% of surveyed UK festivals now have a public sustainability policy.

Moreover, 26% have taken steps to cut fuel use and 22% of artists are offsetting audience travel.

Is Glastonbury the best case study for sustainability in music festivals?

While musicians and festival organisers alike are taking steps to go green, there is arguably one event that does sustainability better than any other.

Glastonbury is one of the oldest and largest music festivals in the world. Since 1970, the Worthy Farm festival has grown year-on-year, with crowds of around 210,000 attending.

The festival is so large, in fact, that were Glastonbury a permanent settlement, it would be the 28th largest town or city in the UK.

Nevertheless, sustainability has been one of Glastonbury's biggest aspirations since 1984.

"Sustainability and the need to live in harmony with the land, has always been vital to Glastonbury Festival," says the festival’s organiser, Emily Eavis.

"We're always thinking about how we can make Glastonbury more sustainable.”

Glastonbury 2023 was the first instalment of the festival to be run entirely by renewable energy.

All production areas were either powered by electricity from fossil-free sources or they were run on photovoltaic solar panels and battery hybrid systems. 

The biofuel used to power the generators was made from waste cooking oil. Even the famous giant fire-breathing spider in the festival’s Arcadia district was powered entirely by recycled biofuels.

Emily estimates that the festival produces 2,000 tonnes of waste each year, so its waste disposal system needs to be top notch. 

Before the festival begins, workers distribute more than 12,000 bins across the site, which separate rubbish into biodegradable food waste, non-biodegradable waste and cans and bottles.

The festival goers are then responsible for separating their own rubbish into these bins each day. There are also volunteer litter pickers cleaning up the grounds as the festival goes on.

Then, when the rubbish is collected, it is taken behind the scenes to Glastonbury's temporary recycling centre. It is built into a huge barn, complete with conveyor belts, sorting different types of waste so it can be removed and recycled as efficiently as possible.

In many ways, Glastonbury is an exemplary case study for sustainability and circularity in live music, but Emily believes that her festival should be an example to countries and cities around the world too.

“We power our 200,000-capacity event—all our stages, production areas and markets—entirely without the use of fossil fuels,” she says.

“If we can do this for our pop-city in this rural space, why can’t cities and larger businesses be run this way too? 

“The technology is there to be invested in and utilised. We just need to be open to change.”

Explore the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and be part of the conversation at our global conference series, Sustainability LIVE. 

Discover all our upcoming events and secure your tickets today.

Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand