One of the reasons we launched Live to your Living Room was to empower people who couldn’t travel to gigs and enable them to enjoy top-quality shows in the comfort of their own home.
No need to drive, get a taxi, or take a bus or train to the venue.
As a result of this, we were curious to see what the carbon footprint of attending a livestreamed gig was. We uncovered the greenhouse gas emissions per ticket, and the results were very surprising indeed!
The topline results
Our carbon emissions work out at 0.63kg per ticket.
To put it into context, this is the equivalent of using a laptop for about five hours.
Carbon-conscious Live to your Living Room regulars will be pleased to hear that watching gigs in your pyjamas now officially counts as doing your bit for the planet! Using the same calculation as we have above, music industry reports estimate that live events generate carbon emissions of between 5kg and 25kg per ticket, so we’re very pleased to be doing our bit to bring the average down.
Green Small Business calculated our carbon footprint for us, taking into account factors including our supply chains, engineers’ travel to and from events, and energy consumption during events in the form of computers, lights, and cameras.
What is carbon footprint?
Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere as a result of an activity or specific action.
These gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
Greenhouse gases cover the Earth’s atmosphere and trap the sun’s heat, leading to climate change and global warming. Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, and climate change is causing not only adverse weather conditions, but health risks, a rise in hunger, and species to go extinct.
Governments around the world are taking action to reduce the impact of greenhouse gases, and are encouraging individuals and organisations to play their part. The UK Government has published a plan to reach Net Zero by 2050. This means the total greenhouse gas emissions in the country will be the same as the amount removed from the atmosphere.
Our thoughts
“We were always aware that attending a livestreaming gig was the sustainable option, but we never took the time to crunch the numbers,” said Cat McGill, co-founder of Live to your Living Room.
“According to research, nearly three-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the UK music industry are derived from live music performances, so it’s essential to see what we can do as a sector to bring this number down.
“Of course, going to gigs at venues and attending festivals is still an eco-friendly leisure activity, especially given a flight from London to New York and back generates about 2.7 tonnes of CO2 per person.
“But livestreaming a gig is a great way to enjoy the music you love while helping make the world a little bit greener.”
Note: There currently isn’t a standardised calculation methodology for calculating emissions, so all the comparisons in this article should be considered approximate.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9888
https://co2.myclimate.org/en/portfolios?calculation_id=8206502