A Greener Festival (AGF) has announced all 25 winners of the Greener Festival Award for 2016. These are the first events to receive the award since it’s relaunch last year, with additional requirements demanded of any events who apply.
An Awards ceremony for winners was held at EPIC, Eurosonic Noorderslag, in partnership with Green Event Netherlands on Friday 13th January, 2017. AGF Director Teresa Moore presented certificates to winners including Glastonbury Festival (UK), Das Fest (Germany) and Body & Soul (Ireland). “Events who have achieved the Greener Festival Award 2016 have shown an incredible dedication to walking the talk, minimising the environmental impact of their events and using them as a positive and much needed portal for change,” Co-Founder of AGF, Claire O’Neill said. “It has not at all been easy, with the most challenging assessments to face events in our 10 year history.”
To participate festivals are required to complete a self-assessment looking at 11 categories of sustainability including travel & transport, waste, local ecosystems and external reach and behaviour. Independent AGF Auditors visit the event to inspect the actions on the ground, and work with the organisers post event to gather supporting evidence and data. “We are happy to get the award once again, for the 5th time in a row the Greener Festival auditors recognised Boom with the Outstanding prize,” said Artur Mendes from Boom Festival. “It is the only eco award for festivals that we give credibility as there is a team visiting the festivals and this year the evaluation was more thorough and detailed; Boom is totally independent, no sponsors, and engaging in sustainability is made strictly with our own resources and an amazing contribution of our fabulous Boomers. On the other hand, we are using the Boom experience to reforest the Boomland and act on many fronts such as charity, on the integration of people, and positively affect the surrounding area of the festival which is one of the poorest in Portugal with unemployment rate of 16% and more than 50% pensioners.”
The full list of 2016 winners are:
OUTSTANDING
Boom Festival (Portugal)
We Love Green (France)
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Cambridge Folk Festival (UK)
DGTL Festival (Netherlands)
Glastonbury Festival (UK)
Green Music Fest (USA)
Heart of Glass Heart of Gold (France)
Øya Festival (Norway)
Welcome to the Future (Netherlands)
COMMENDED
Bona Nit Barcelona (Spain)
Das Fest (Germany)
Extrema Outdoors (Netherlands)
Greenbelt Festival (UK)
Kew the Music (UK)
Liberation Festival (Netherlands)
Malmofestivalen (Sweden)
Northside Festival (Denmark)
Primavera Sound (Spain)
Wood Festival (UK)
IMPROVERS
Arla Food Fest (Denmark)
Body & Soul (Eire)
LaSemo (Belgium)
Metal Days (Slovenia)
Nozstock: the Hidden Valley (UK)
Paradise City (Belgium)
