Making live music events as environmentally friendly as possible is a job performed by thousands of workers who install solar panels, haul litter, collect reusable cups, measure energy use and perform other operational tasks. However, any employee who does this work ultimately falls under the purview of any live event company's sustainability officer. Erik Distler is one of them.
As vice president of sustainability at AEG, Distler leads the company's corporate sustainability program. There are executives in similar roles at Live Nation, ASM Global and Oak View Group – and together, this group is responsible for greening a significant percentage of global events and venues. In February, the band — which Distler says all know each other given that the sustainability space is relatively small — appeared together publicly for the first time during a panel at the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit in Los Angeles.
“The symbolism of us being together on this stage is powerful and we hope it inspires the industry that we're cheering each other on and maybe exploring what we can do together,” says Distler. With the stakes so high, there's an incentive to share information, he says, especially since “this work is really replicable. Everything you do in a venue or festival can, apart from the local infrastructure, be done anywhere else.”
Distler took on the role after working in sports and entertainment for more than a decade. At AEG, he and his team of five design and direct sustainability initiatives across the company 25 festivals, as well as over 50 music venues. nine arenas and similar sized venues. four entertainment areas; and more than 15 tours to date.
AEG has had a sustainability program for 15 years, but when Distler joined in October 2021, his task was to “take our program to its next phase” amid the worsening climate crisis, growing demand for sustainable events among of consumers and new sustainable technologies. and regulations.
“External forces are stronger and more influential than ever before,” he says. “This really moves the industry forward in a way that makes companies prioritize and dedicate internal teams to understand this work, build resources and take action in a meaningful way.”
Distler spent his first three months on the job meeting with 50 internal stakeholders to better understand the business, how to make it more sustainable and get senior buy-in, which he says “was foundational and really paved the way to be more detailed other colleagues”.
From the information gathered, he created a strategic framework around sustainability, along with an official vision statement – “Inspiring the world's many voices to protect our planet” – and a mission statement stating that the company is “committed to operate responsibly and catalyze the influence of live entertainment to preserve the planet for future generations.”
“It's important to have a strategy on a page,” says Distler, “and ultimately a framework that can be used to guide us moving forward.”
This framework also includes a set of focus areas such as carbon and energy, waste and water materials, management and engagement, along with six guiding principles ('cooperation over competition' and 'transparent and frequent communication' with each other) and seven pillars : operations, suppliers, employees, fans, communities and partnerships.
These partners include Schneider Electric, a French multinational energy management company with which AEG has been working for 14 years for support with target setting, strategy, energy procurement, market intelligence and risk management. A Greener Future UK and Three Squares Inc. in the United States are sustainability consultants, while r.World provides reusable cups to all AEG music venues in Denver, along with select venues in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with six Goldenvoice Festivals. For Coachella and Stagecoach, AEG donated 44.2 tons of food to partner Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and 34.6 tons of supplies to the Galilee Center, which provides clothing and other essentials to families in the Coachella Valley.
Distler also asked for additional help. Last year, it worked to hire four people in three new sustainability roles. “It's not uncommon for a sustainability team to be small in number and under-resourced,” he says. “What I see as a big part of my responsibility is making sure our department is financially sound and building and supporting staff and resources.”
In addition to Distler and his new hires, the team also includes a head of data and analytics who is responsible for measuring the impact of AEG events and “all the other people who have jobs like those at festivals that eat, sleep and they breathe it.” In addition, AEG's employee-led People For The Planet group is made up of employees from other parts of the company who want to contribute to sustainability projects.
Overall, this group is “probably pretty emblematic of a sustainability segment,” says Distler. “You may have a small core team, but you have external and internal partners who help get the job done.”
Since Europe has stricter sustainability regulations than the US, the industry there offers good examples of initiatives that could eventually be adopted in the United States. Last November, AEG's O2 Arena in London launched a green rider: a best practice guide for sustainable tours and events that outlines what the venue is doing in key areas.
“It's a great way to sit down with an artist and their management team and figure out what we can do while they're [at the O2] that's really sustainable and ultimately shared with fans,” Distler says of the guide, which was created in collaboration with UK-based sustainability consultancy A Greener Future.
Distler says his team works “constantly” with artists including Billie Eilish, who in June 2022 hosted an event at The O2 called Overheated that featured vegan food and water refill stations alongside climate-focused programming . Last April, after learning that the rock band Muse “was passionate about climate issues,” he says, AEG's Crypto.com Arena made a donation on his behalf and to the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, which works to further clean technology, climate action and the green economy in the city.
Distler on premises at Cali Vibes
Courtesy of AEG
AEG made a donation to the LA Clean Tech Incubator, which works to further clean tech in the city, from AEG's Crypto.com Arena on behalf of the band. Last year, the team also worked with Maggie Rogers to measure the carbon footprint associated with one of her US tour stops and provided that information to Rogers' team, along with mitigation suggestions.
In the US, AEG has launched a comprehensive sustainability program for Goldenvoice festivals — including Coachella, Stagecoach, Cruel World and Just Like Heaven. In particular, Goldenvoice's Cali Vibes serves as a testing ground for sustainability initiatives, including solar panels that illuminate parking lots and turning unpurchased merchandise into staff uniforms, with these projects being studied for possible use at other events.
“I always say sustainability doesn't happen within our team,” says Distler. “Things like litter avoidance or diversion at a festival happen in collaboration with our operations teams, partners and carriers. That requires work that ultimately doesn't get done in the corporate office.”
While the music industry is ultimately responsible for a small fraction of global emissions and waste, Distler is determined about its impact. He recalls being on a panel in New York last fall with chief sustainability officers from large companies with, he says, “huge footprints, like millions of metric tons of emissions.”
And yet, when it came to the audience Q&A, “everyone had questions for me and no one had questions for them.” Given its “effect [on] heart and mind,” the music industry has a responsibility to focus on sustainability, share these initiatives with fans and “set the stage for positive, inspiring and uplifting work.”
It helps that Distler “absolutely” sees real progress being made, with fans, partners, artists and athletes “putting the right level of pressure on businesses to take meaningful action”. He says many of the large companies AEG works with are also taking on sustainability in a more focused way.
“It's sitting down with partners and saying, 'What are your focus areas?' Your goals? Your ambitions?' says. “Then to share ours and see what's next … to see our partners' eagerness and willingness to ideate and brainstorm is really encouraging and signals that the industry is moving in the right direction.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/head-sustainability-music-business-erik-distler-aeg/
