The Carbon Footprint of Ilosaarirock Festival
The carbon footprint of Ilosaarirock Festival has now been calculated. The calculation is based on the 2010 festival, and it covers all the direct and some of the indirect greenhouse gas emissions. This detailed analysis will be the basis of a regular emission measurement of the festival. The evolution of the carbon footprint will be followed every year.
The carbon footprint reveals the contexts where environmental improvements are most
urgently needed. The aim is to make the footprint smaller year by year, and the future goal
of the Ilosaarirock Festival is a carbon neutral and environmentally friendly event. It is not
easy to obtain a comprehensive idea of the environmental impacts of a large festival with its
several side effects, but this calculation is a remarkable opening for a more ecological and
climate-friendly festival culture in the future. We are lucky to have partners who kindly lend
us their environment-related expertise and help to make the improvements happen: to being
with, the carbon footprint calculation was a part of the thesis by Mikko Rantanen from the
North Karelia University of Applied Sciences.
The carbon footprint of the Ilosaarirock Festival has been drafted on a 'from gate to gate' basis. This means that it covers the direct emissions produced during the festival and the indirect emissions generated by the vehicles as well as by the travels and transport of the festival employees, artists and the audience. The calculation covers those emissions associated with transportation that are easily measurable as well as emissions caused by tools and machines, electricity consumption, waste management, the production of printed matter, etc. The calculation does not cover other environmental impacts of the festival, such as indirect emissions caused by the production of the items that were sold at the festival.
The size of the footprint
The carbon footprint of Ilosaarirock Festival consists of three parts. The first part is the programme, i.e. the emissions caused by the journeys of the artists, both domestic and cross- border. The second one is the emissions caused by the production of the festival, including technical construction, transportation of goods, electricity consumption, waste management and the production of printed materials. The third part is the emissions caused by the journeys made by the festival audience. In this context, the distances covered were estimated on the basis of an audience survey.
The total greenhouse gas emissions by the Ilosaarirock Festival in 2010 were 624 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- The programme: 106 t CO2e (17% of the total)
- The production: 97 t CO2e (15.5% of the total)
- The audience: 421 t CO2e (67.5% of the total)
The emissions caused by the programme and the production are equal to the emissions incurred by driving 30 times around the world by car. A similar amount of emissions as that caused by the journeys made by the audience would be released from 92 flights around the globe. The whole greenhouse gas emission load is similar to 413 return flights from Finland to New York or 2,646 car trips from the one end of Finland to the other.
Programme
There were 64 Finnish and international bands and artists playing at the Ilosaarirock Festival in 2010. The Finnish artists travelled mainly by their own buses or cars, while the artists from abroad travelled mainly by minibuses or by plane. The Finnish artists travelled more than 50,000 kilometres in total.
The emissions caused by the journeys made by the artists and the transportation of the stage equipment totalled 105.7 t CO2e. Flights by the artists accounted for the largest share, generating 85% of the total emissions of the programme. The emissions associated with the programme were 17% of the total emissions of the festival.
Production
The production is the most complicated component of the festival arrangements. The majority of people involved with the festival were working in the production (paid employees, volunteers and subcontractors and their staff). The emissions were calculated for seven different elements of the production.
1) Construction and technical equipment
Emissions caused by tools and machines, construction equipment, technical equipment
and the employees were considered.
2) Energy
The majority of the energy consumed during the festival was produced with renewable
energy sources. The average electricity consumption per visitor was 1.04 kWh in 2010.
Only 0.63% of the energy was produced with an engine generator that runs on oil.
3) Waste management
Every festival visitor produced 1.1 kg of landfill waste and 1.71 litres of toilet waste. A
share of 16.7% of the total amount of waste was recycled.
4) Transportation associated with catering
The total number of kilometres covered during the transportation of food, drinks and
the equipment required for the catering services was more than 10.000 km.
5) The office of Joensuu Pop Musicians' Association
The office uses green electricity. The emissions are caused by heating, commuting and
the trips made on the van owned by the Association.
6) Printed materials
A total of 3,700 kg of PEFC certified paper was consumed for the printed materials
produced for the festival.
Audience
The journeys made by the audience cover the emissions caused by all the people visiting the festival, excluding the artists. An audience survey was the basis for calculating the emissions. In total, the audience travelled 7.5 million kilometres by car, over 4 million kilometres by train and 0.62 million kilometres by bus.
The journeys made by the audience generated a total of 421 t CO2e. This is 67.5% of the whole greenhouse gas emission load of the festival.
- Travelling by car: 318 t CO2e
- Travelling by train: 94 t CO2e
- Travelling by bus: 8.7 t CO2e
Pop Forest
The Pop Forest (Poppipuistikko in Finnish) is Ilosaarirock Festival's very own forest that forms a part of the Koli Cultura's special tree park. The birch trees planted in the park originate from the same climatic region. A planted tree is a reminder of the nature and symbolizes the importance of nature conservation. More trees will be planted every year in groups consisting of same species. The Poppipuistikko is also characterized by tree circles named for special occasions.
The carbon footprint is a widely used measurement of the greenhouse gas impact of a certain product, service or even person. The main greenhouse gases that create the greenhouse effect and accelerate the climate change are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrogen oxide (N2O). A commonly used unit is a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2e). The equivalent indicates the total global warming potential on the 100-year scale of all three gases (CO2 valued as 1, CH4 as 23 and N2O as 296). The vast majority of emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels.
