The EU's Green Deal - Where Does Music Fit?

Claire is CEO of A Greener Festival (AGF), Director of Sustainability for HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant, Producer of the Green Events & Innovations Conference with ILMC, Chair of the Green Group for the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) and sustainability advisor to industry body LIVE Green. A disruptor to business as usual in the industry with 15 years at the forefront of event sustainability. Claire developed AGF as a global operation providing certification, consultancy, training and sustainability support, with clients such as Glastonbury Festival, RHS, The O2, UTA, AEG, FKP Scorpio, Kilimanjaro Live and Wembley Arena. Claire worked with Paradigm Agency to launch the Green Artist Rider in 2019. Continuously challenging the status quo, Claire pushes the sector to improve and live up to its green aspirations and provides the tools to do it. Claire has also been an Aerialist for over 10 years, performing with productions such as Arcadia Spectacular, the 80m high ArcelorMittal Orbit, and as Mary Poppins, flying the London Olympic Stadium roof for the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Niklas Nienass, born 1992 in Marl/Germany, is Member of the European Parliament for The Greens/EFA. He grew up in Aachen, only a few kilometres away from the Belgium and Dutch border. Since 2013 he lives in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – the northeastern seaside state that shares an island with Poland. In 2020 he finished his master studies in Good Governance with a thesis on internaRonal space law. The focus of his poliRcal work lies on strengthening European cohesion through regional development and cultural policy.

Holger Jan Schmidt is one of Europe's leading networkers in the music festival branch. Among various topics he has a special focus on sustainability and social responsibility for festivals and events. Holger is General Secretary of YOUROPE – the European Festival Association, the most important representation of European popular music festivals with more than 100 members from 25 European countries. Part of his duties is the project management of the international Take A Stand initiative and campaign for the (live) music sector, which was launched in 2017 to create a movement encouraging social cohesion in our society as well as promoting awareness and tolerance. He also leads the pan-European think-tank GO Group (Green Operations Europe) that focuses on sustainability related and environmental issues at events.

Laurence Graff joined the European Commission in 1993, first working on automotive issues and subsequently on environmental matters. She spent a few years working on linkages between environment and trade, before starting to work on climate change, since more than 15 years by now, ranging from international climate negotiations to more specific policy files such as aviation, shipping, international markets or fluorinated gases and the ozone layer. She was also a cabinet member attached to the Commissioner responsible for climate change and the protection of the environment when the first climate and energy package was sealed in 2008, in the run up to the Copenhagen. As from 16th January, she will be the head of IT unit in CLIMA, as well as being involved in activities related to the implementation of the Climate Pact.

Linnéa Svensson is a project manager and sustainability consultant working in the event industry with cultural, social and sporting events. She project managed the Green Roadmap for the Norwegian Arts and Cultural Sector, lectures a course in Sustainable Event Management at the Norwegian Business School and is the author/co-author of multiple practical guides in sustainability for festivals and sporting events. She is one of the co-founders of Green Operations Europe and holds several board positions in the Norwegian music industry.