Sustainability - Ecological Futureproof

We have eliminated all diesel generators in the city center (8 of them) since 2019
- we keep an energy limit on locations: what technical plan is possible with this power that is available?
- we have added connections to the city powergrid in cooperation with the municipality to replace generators, which can also be used for other events

At an early stage, we used a battery as an alternative to a generator at the Oosterpoort location (2020)

We actively encourage the municipality and Safety Region to see the battery as a fully-fledged alternative to generators. We do this through knowledge sharing and constant contact about developments and bottlenecks.

We actively encourage the municipality to use green hydrogen on location as an alternative to the aggregate. In 2023 we placed an active hydrogen aggregate on the Grote Markt, in the middle of the city center. In 2024 we placed an active hydrogen generator at our artist village.

We generate our energy fossil-free: All fixed voltage is dark green, other uses, such as stoves, run on HVO.

To learn more about HVO: Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil, and set up a small expedition with partners and suppliers to the factory in 2023.

We switched in 2019 to hardcups for our own catering, including at Eurosonic Air, the free-to-air program at the Grote Markt

We promoted and facilitated a pilot in 2019 with the venue Oosterpoort, which also switched to hard cups after the pilot

We have been reusing our stage images and venue designations for years in modular form

We have been reusing our banners for years. Different campaign images can hang side by side.

We use a multi-year campaign in design in order to be able to reuse signage.

After research and consultation, we chose to do limited separation on site, due to the waste separation factory. With transportation of different streams scattered across the city this seemed to be a less sustainable choice.

We were curious about the process of the wastestreams. In cooperation with the municipality we set up an expedition to the waste separation factory with partners and other local businesses.

We started the Solidarity Eco Tax in 2022: an added tax on the ticket price through which we pass on the real price for the impact of visitors' travel movement.

We started Green Tour Support in 2022 to help artists experience sustainable touring. This project had an update in 2024 to support more artists in experiencing sustainable travel.

We drive our on site transport with HVO in collaboration with our partner Pieter Smit with our own transport for both materials and people

Started in 2019 we systematically switch to local suppliers for our needs.

We have introduced efficient transport by 2022: we drive a truck on HVO along various suppliers across the country to combine smaller freights in one efficient route.

By 2024 we managed to get all smaller freights by local suppliers and this idea became obsolete.

We have been using a Transport Hub just outside the city since 2019: we collect materials outside the city and create one combined package per venue in the city.

We drive the packages by location out through the city center to minimize transport movements. We can maximize efficiency and control the use of HVO for the last mile in the city by using the Transport Hub.

We have partnered with Choo Choo since 2023 and offer European train transportation at low cost as a service for our visitors. This service has also been made available, and has been adapted by other festivals.

Because we cannot get all our visitors off the plane, we purchase Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

We started a systematic switch to vegetarian catering in 2019, starting with backstage catering and office catering and since 2023 all our catering, frontstage and backstage, is vegetarian.

We partnered with The Fork Ranger in 2023 as well. Together we have built a training course to help organisations make sustainable food choices. This service has also been made available for other festivals in 2024.

We encourage restaurants in Groningen to make snacks vegetarian in line with our catering when ESNS takes place.

We actively monitor and adjust our crew catering numbers, and in doing so have drastically reduced our food waste.

Furthermore, we have had a system in place since 2020 that allows ingredients and meals to be (re)used for several consecutive days, which has further reduced our food waste.

At the artist village and crew catering we have a syrup station for soda’s, this is more sustainable than soda drinks.

We limit the use of bottled water on site and promote the use of local tap water.

We use the existing water infrastructure at the venues that we cooperate with.

We are still looking into our options to reduce our water usage, but found out we can make more impact on water reduction by focussing on our food and materials first.

We have tested twice with Semilla Sanitation Hub for urine treatment.

Since 2018, a sustainability coordinator has been appointed as a permanent position. We also work with an internal sustainability working group to get different departments to work together on this theme.

We are an active member of the Green Deal Circular Festivals since its inception in 2019. We developed our own Roadmap Canvas in 2021 to help us build a multi-year plan (and have been helping other events with this since 2022).

We co-founded GROENN in 2023. GROENN is an organisation founded to share knowledge about sustainability practises with other local organisations. This is done in collaboration with Paradigm, Noorderzon and Bevrijdingsfestival Groningen.

We are one of the initiators of Innofest and we have been using our event as a testing ground for innovations by entrepreneurs since 2016. We did a zero-measurement assessment of our impact in 2018 and have been actively monitoring our emissions since then. On top of that, we love collaborating with municipalities and universities in our Energy Tech & Tunes Programme.

We take time to support students in research projects on sustainability as well.

In 2022, we launched a new initiative that invites our community to support our sustainability efforts. The Solidarity Eco Tax is a financial contribution on top of the ticket price, which is directly invested in various initiatives to diminish the C02 emissions of the travel of our community.

Efforts include Green Touring Support and our partnership with SkyNRG, who use Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to reduce the net emissions of air travel.

Because our goal with ESNS is to have Europe come together, and we want to meet each other, we decided to design this on the basis of solidarity. We split the cost to all, no matter if you come from Amsterdam or Warschaw.

We started the Green Touring Support in 2022. We invite ESNS acts to share with us their concrete plans for sustainable transport on their own tours. Acts can request the difference between the regular tour costs and the green tour costs from ESNS.

In the first two years, we focussed on supporting their summer tour and the travels to festivals they got booked at after playing at ESNS. But we found out it is better to support them earlier on. That is why we now support them in their travels towards ESNS.

All artists playing at ESNS will receive information on travel possibilities towards Groningen including the possibility to apply for financial support. The support will consist of a maximum of 500 euro to pay the difference between normal travel costs and sustainable travel costs.

We have launched this before the edition of 2024 and with huge success, after 3 days we had to stop the application of the support, so we are able to help more artists in the new setup.

Each year, the Music Moves Europe Awards are presented at ESNS. This prize, supported by the European Union, hands over awards to emerging artists. ESNS added a Green Touring Voucher for the winner of the Grand Jury Award. This winner is stimulated by supporting them with costs to experience sustainable practices and we actively support them with knowledge.

The Roadmap Canvas is a tool to create your own roadmap to becoming a circular and climate neutral festival. Developed by ESNS, in collaboration with the Green Deal Circular Festivals. Read more about it here.

Since the start of the project in 2019, ESNS has been an active member of the Green Deal Circular Festivals.

The Green Deal Circular Festivals (GDCF) is a cooperation of the Dutch government and a growing community of European frontrunner festivals, who have pulled together to speed up the transition towards circular and climate neutral festivals. The GDCF is facilitated by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment.

We use the monitoring tool of Green Deal Circular Festivals. Next to using it, we also collaborate in the development, with feedback rounds and testing for future development.

GO stands for Green Operations. GO Group is an independent, pan-European, cross-industry think tank to inspire people in the music festival and events industry to run their operations greener, smarter and more sustainable. GO Group was initiated at the 1st International Green Events Conference in Bonn in November 2010. YOUROPE co-founded the group alongside Green Events Conference, Green Music Initiative (GMI) and Bucks University in early 2011. Since then, GO Group stimulates exchange and leads the discussion about social and ecological responsibility. The group inspires and connects hundreds of festivals, initiatives and scientists.

https://yourope.org/project/go-group/

YOUROPE is proud to present the European Green Festival Roadmap 2030 as part of its three-year project Future-Fit Festivals. These guidelines on sustainable events are based on the requirement of the EU Green Deal – cutting emissions by at least 55% by 2030. It also considers the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and industry requirements. The Roadmap is the result of a collaboration with experts from A Greener Future and Greener Events Norway as well as YOUROPE’s GO Group think tank.

ESNS is proud to be a part of the focus panel of the European Green Festival Roadmap 2030!

https://yourope.org/know-how/green-roadmap/

In collaboration with other festivals in Groningen: Noorderzon, Bevrijdingsfestival Groningen and Paradigm, the GROENN initiative was created, where we share knowledge about sustainability with the municipality and other festivals and strengthen connections to the sustainable transition in the city.

Our ideal is a future-proof Groningen in which people, society, environment, material and energy go hand in hand and where our creative mission does not become forgotten.

https://www.wijzijngroenn.nl/

ESNS was one of the founding members of Innofest in 2016. We have opened up our festival as a testing ground to help find new sustainable solutions. That these solutions successfully reach the market is incredibly important. Innofest links these impact innovations to a practical test site and puts together a pilot with the entrepreneur.

During testing, the entrepreneur is supported by a producer who ensures that test demand and test lab fit together seamlessly.

https://innofest.co/en

In our search for new sustainable possibilities and information, we developed our social partnership. We support and collaborate with organisations in their search to make a positive impact. We build on new solutions and give them a stage to present themselves to our industry. Since our start in 2023, we have collaborated with these two initiatives:

Choo Choo

We travel a lot, but we also definitely want to consider the impact on the earth. Therefore, we want to travel sustainably and preferably without hassle. Unfortunately, this turns out to be quite difficult. Choo Choo helps you with your sustainable travel needs. Without wasting time and complicated hassle, and with an attractive price.

https://choo-choo.eu/

This collaboration has led to the Mobility as a Service option on trains for festivals in Europe. An example can be found in our very own ticket shop.

Fork Ranger

Fork Ranger translates climate science into stories and recipes to ensure everyone can be part of the solution. Their mission is to use food as the starting domino for systematic change.

Doing something about climate change often feels like missing out on the good life. It’s time to build a better version of the good life: one that has purpose and protects vulnerable people, plants and animals. It’s time to 'bring balance to the forks'.

https://www.forkranger.com/