How AEG Europe is Making Live Entertainment Sustainable

AEG Europe, a leader in live entertainment, is taking bold steps to address its environmental impact across its portfolio of iconic venues and festivals. From carbon-removed concerts to innovative waste management solutions, Sustainability Director Sam Booth is steering the company toward a more sustainable future.

"We as a business are a little hamstrung because until the entire transportation network is decarbonised, until every chicken burger in our arena is net zero, we are going to have a limited ability to fundamentally change how our business model works," explains Sam.

This reality led AEG to develop innovative solutions to bridge the gap between current capabilities and future sustainability goals. As the company oversees major venues including The O2 in London—the world's busiest music and entertainment venue—its approach to sustainability has potential for significant industry-wide impact.

Sustainability and The 1975

One of AEG's most notable initiatives in 2024 was pioneering carbon-removed concerts with the band The 1975. 

The programme went beyond traditional carbon offsetting, which Sam describes as a "slightly murky world," to focus on actively removing carbon from the atmosphere.

"Even if we stop producing all carbon today across the whole of the planet, there's still an awful lot of carbon in the atmosphere that we still need to get out if we're ever going to stabilise global temperatures," Sam says.

What makes AEG's approach unique is how the company spreads the cost across all stakeholders. The band covered their tour's carbon footprint, the venue handled its emissions, catering partners managed their contribution and a small carbon surcharge was added to tickets to account for fan travel.

"Fan travel is usually about 80% of every event's carbon footprint," Sam explains. "When you split that cost across 80,000 tickets, it suddenly becomes much more manageable and actually negligible compared to what people are already paying."

The funds were directed to emerging carbon removal technologies like biochar, enhanced rock weathering and direct air capture—rather than traditional carbon credits. This approach serves a dual purpose of neutralising the event's carbon impact while funding critical climate technologies.

"Until lots of people start spending money on these things, they're going to remain out of reach for most people," Sam says. 

"We're convinced it's got some serious legs in 2025."

Festival innovations to drive education and awareness

AEG's sustainability efforts extended to the festival season, where it implemented several initiatives aimed at both reducing environmental impact and educating attendees.

Working with Lowr, a travel survey company, AEG gathered detailed data on how fans travelled to events. This information helps the company better understand and eventually address the substantial carbon footprint of audience transportation.

Another innovative approach has been introducing carbon labelling for food vendors across festival sites.

"Whenever you went to get a plate of chips or a beef burger at the festival, you could see the cost of the food alongside a little label which indicates the environmental cost of that particular dish," Sam explains.

The company also partnered with Notpla, an Earthshot Prize-winning company that produces seaweed-based plastic alternatives. 

"It's not really changing fan behaviour per se, it's more about hacking the experience so that they can still continue to have an amazing time, but not ultimately cost the earth while doing it," continues Sam.

Renewable energy transition taking centre stage

Energy consumption represents another significant challenge for live entertainment. 

AEG has been using HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) diesel at festivals, which has a lower carbon footprint than standard diesel but still produces emissions and noise pollution.

The company is now focusing on securing permanent connections to the national grid for festival sites and implementing battery power solutions. The upcoming LIDO festival will use batteries to help power the main stage during a Massive Attack performance.

"Getting things onto the national grid is a nightmare countrywide at the moment. But it can happen, and we're working with most of our festival sites to make sure they have a permanent connection," Sam says.

He explains that securing grid connections "fixes the problem overnight" by eliminating the need for generators and diesel transportation, providing green power indefinitely with battery supplements for peak demands.

Looking ahead to 2025 priorities

For 2025, AEG is undertaking detailed work to determine realistic timelines for achieving net zero operations. This includes stress-testing options for transitioning The O2 arena away from gas dependency.

LIDO festival will serve as a testbed for new sustainability initiatives, and the company has also designated 2025 as "the year of waste" across its business.

"We are really focusing on waste in our festivals,” Sam explains. 

“We're doing a lot at The O2 to get recycling rates up as high as we can and minimise how much waste is being produced.”

AEG's German venues recently achieved Greener Arena status, providing a baseline from which to improve. The company is investing in additional resources in Germany to accelerate sustainability efforts there.

At the global level, AEG is working through Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) goal setting, though Sam notes that European operations are already ahead of where these targets are likely to be set.

"The end goal is net zero, circular business and ideally regenerative business. I think those goals are fairly universal," Sam reflects. 

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