Reading part of groundbreaking national pilot to drive sustainability in outdoor events
- Ten local authorities, including Reading, trial Green Events Code of Practice (GECoP) to introduce new minimum environmental standards
- Findings from 60 music, sports and community events demonstrate overwhelming support for nationally aligned standards
A landmark pilot project involving Reading Borough Council has demonstrated that local authority-led assessments can drive widespread sustainability in outdoor events, paving the way for future policy.
The Green Events Code of Practice (GECoP) pilot was launched to address the lack of national standards on sustainable practices for event organisers by promoting best practices in areas like governance, energy, travel and transport, food and drink, waste, water and influence.
The national trial saw 10 local authorities across England, also including Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester, test the effectiveness of GECoP in improving the environmental sustainability of 60 events attended by 2.3 million people last year. These included music festivals, sports events, and dozens of community gatherings.
The project assessed how effectively local authorities could integrate an environmental assessment into event processes and the resulting positive impact it could have on their environmental practices.
Events that took part in the pilot in Reading included Reading Festival, Readipop Festival, East Reading Festival, Reading Water Fest and Reading Pride.
Cllr John Ennis, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said:
“The GECoP pilot has generated a real buzz across Reading’s festival community. It has helped develop a common language for local festival organisers to explore what sustainable looks like at events.
“It has been wonderful seeing festival organisers of various size events, local suppliers and sector bodies sharing knowledge and offering advice.
“It has also reinforced the sense of local events being part of something bigger. A community working together towards net zero.”
Analysis of the pilot project, published in a new report, found overwhelming support for the development of consistent, national minimum environmental standards. All 10 participating local authorities and 96% of participating event organisers expressed support for nationwide criteria, which they believe would help them meet their environmental goals more effectively.
GECoP was developed by the event industry following a sector consultation. The GECoP pilot was led by non-profits Vision for Sustainable Events and Julie’s Bicycle, who promote climate action in the outdoor events industry and in the wider cultural sector respectively. The Donut Advisory Toolkit for Events (DATE) was used as the main event assessment method against GECoP.
Climate change specialist for music at Julie’s Bicycle, Richard Phillips, said:
“This groundbreaking project has gone a huge way to creating a blueprint for policy around environmental sustainability in the outdoor events sector. The results of the pilot indicate that this can create real positive change on the ground, as well as encouraging wider conversations on environmental sustainability at local government level.”
Other key findings from the pilot include:
- 60% of event organisers implemented new environmental measures as a direct result of the pilot
- 92% expressed a commitment to adopt additional sustainable practices in the coming year
- Seven out of 10 participating local authorities made changes to policy or procedures for more robust environmental requirements.
The pilot demonstrated that events of all sizes gained a better understanding of their environmental practices. A remarkable 83% of participating events reported improved environmental awareness, while 80% gained increased confidence in taking environmental action.
In addition to improving environmental policies, local authorities found that the pilot fostered better relationships with event organisers and other stakeholders. 80% of events reported increased conversations with stakeholders on environmental impacts, with many noting the benefits of building stronger networks to overcome sustainability challenges.
With 84% of UK jurisdictions having declared a Climate Emergency, the project underscores the growing urgency for action across all sectors, with outdoor events emerging as a key area of focus.
Vision for Sustainable Events Forum Chair, Chris Johnson said:
“This pilot has shown that GECoP successfully creates a common understanding of ‘what good looks like’, and supports smaller cultural organisations and events, many taking their first steps, to take action. “In 2025 we need to test how to integrate this into local authority processes, what resources are needed to roll out nationally, and establish the levels of practice for a realistic and ambitious minimum standard at different scales and types of events.”
The project was a collaborative effort between Vision for Sustainable Events, Julie’s Bicycle and Andrew Lansley. It was funded by Arts Council England, EarthPercent, and participating local authorities including Bristol City Council, Colchester City Council, Gloucester City Council, Leicester City Council, Liverpool City Council, Maldon District Council, Manchester City Council, Norwich City Council, Reading Borough Council and West Northamptonshire Council.
For more information or to download the full report on the pilot project, visit https://bit.ly/GECoP_Pilot_Report
Notes to editors
Green Events Code of Practice (GECoP)
The Green Events Code of Practice (GECoP) provides a consistent approach to develop national minimum standards and assessment. GECoP provides local authorities with nationally consistent minimum environmental expectations, helping them to map environmental practices at local events, gain insights to drive policy and investment to better support the improved environmental sustainability of events.
Donut Advisory Toolkit
The Donut Advisory Toolkit for Events (DATE Toolkit) was used as the method of assessment against the standards included in GECoP. The DATE Toolkit is used in 36 countries by 6,000 users (most widely used assessment toolkit in Europe).
Local Authorities and Participating Events
The GECoP pilot project engaged 10 local authorities across England to test a consistent approach to assessing outdoor events against minimum environmental standards for the first time. Local authorities implemented GECoP with 60 outdoor events, reflecting a range of sizes (from large scale to community events), types (music, food, sports and other) and levels of maturity on sustainability. They also included a mix of events run by local authorities and third parties.
The participating local authorities were: Bristol City Council, Colchester City Council, Gloucester City Council, Leicester City Council, Liverpool City Council, Maldon District Council, Manchester City Council, Norwich City Council, Reading Borough Council and West Northamptonshire Council.
Key findings in report:
- Assessing events against [even] voluntary minimum environmental standards leads to significant improvements in understanding and practices
- Over 75% of local authorities said GECoP helped to make changes to event policies or procedures to include greater environmental conditions
- Among participating events, 83% reported a better understanding of their environmental practice; 80% of events reported that they now have greater confidence in taking actions; and 60% of events reported that they put in place additional environmental measures this year and 92% said they are more likely to implement new initiatives next year
- The environmental assessment created wider positive benefits for both local authorities and events.
- Local authorities reported better engagement with events and understanding of how local authorities can help events overcome particular challenges, as well as better engagement with internal local authority teams and exposure for sustainability teams
- Four out of 5 events reported increased conversations with stakeholders, with the potential of relationship-building and reduced costs of solutions.
- There was a reported benefit of being part of a wider community taking climate action, understanding challenges better, with improved confidence.
- Event organisers and local authorities support nationally aligned minimum environmental standards for events
- All participating local authorities agreed that there should be nationally aligned environmental assessment criteria for events and such criteria will help them achieve their environmental goals
- 96% of the event organisers that took part in the survey support nationwide minimum environmental standards in principle
- An assessment against minimum standards supports widespread adoption of environmental practices across the sector, complementing pioneer-level initiatives geared to larger scale events.
- GECoP was successfully tested as an environmental minimum standard for varied event types and scales alongside more stringent measures for larger events by some of the participating local authorities.
- Local authorities hosting and supporting both large scale pioneering events (such as ACT1.5) and assessment of minimum environmental standards at other events, highlighted the key role of both to create change and drive improved environmental practice
About Julie’s Bicycle
Julie’s Bicycle (JB) is a pioneering not-for-profit mobilising the arts and culture to take action on the climate, nature and justice crisis. Founded in 2007, JB’s origins were in the music industry. Now working right across the cultural sector, JB has partnered with over 2,000 organisations in the UK and internationally. Combining cultural and environmental expertise, Julie’s Bicycle focuses on high-impact programmes and policy change to meet the climate crisis head-on. We exist at the heart of a thriving informal network of people who share our vision, supporting others on their journey, and helping to catalyse new projects at the intersection of culture and climate. juliesbicycle.com
About Vision for Sustainable Events
Established as a non-for-profit group to promote climate action, through the provision of free-to-access shared knowledge in 2010, Vision for Sustainable Events now represents over 1,000 event businesses through industry body stakeholders and leaders in the field of sustainability.
Steering group members are: Julie’s Bicycle, Festival Republic, The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), The National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA), The Production Services Association (PSA), Powerful Thinking, Without Walls, The Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), The South Coast Events Forum, Soliphilia, The Fair, Betternotstop, Attitude is Everything, The East Anglian Festival Network, LS Events and Brown Fox Comms. https://visionsustainableevents.org/
About Andrew Lansley
Andrew has worked for almost 30 years in cross sector roles including events, academia, politics, broadcast and innovation. Andrew established a neurodivergent consultancy following years of research and project delivery within creative ecosystems and cultural policy. The consultancy specialises in intersectional, regenerative projects internationally and Andrew continues his cross-sector work through interconnected, harmonised projects and practice. https://www.andrewlansley.org/