A weekend of music in Liverpool this autumn will test a series of proposals to radically decarbonize the events industry, with Massive Attack, Idles, and Nile Rodgers and Chic headlining. Announced as the United Nations names Liverpool its first Accelerator City for climate action, the Act 1.5 Presents series will cut audience transport emissions, as well as using a fully renewables-powered site, a plug-and-play stage setup to reduce gear transport, and zero landfill waste removal, all hosted at a meat-free M&S Bank Arena from November 28 to 30.
To combat emissions from fan transport—overwhelmingly the greatest hurdle to event decarbonization—the first block of tickets will be sold to Liverpool locals, with a fee added to grant buyers unlimited public-transport access on the day of the concert. (The shows end at 10 p.m., while transport networks are still running.) There will also be public transport incentives for those, in the second ticketing block, traveling from outside the city.
The series follows Massive Attack and Act 1.5’s trial of various climate initiatives at a massive day festival last month in their Bristol hometown. The event marked the first practical phase of Massive Attack’s longtime partnership with Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The research also includes plans to scale for and collaborate with smaller venues.
“Our recent Bristol show demonstrated beyond question that major live music events can be Paris 1.5 compatible,” Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja said in a press release, referring to the Paris Agreement goal to prevent global heating beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. “Audiences embrace change enthusiastically,” he said, and Liverpool’s UN Accelerator City status is a chance to test “more dynamic pilots and experiments to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. This idea and this insistence are not going back in any box. We’re delighted to see artists like Coldplay testing elements like localised ticket pre-sales as recommended in the Tyndall Centre Paris 1.5 decarbonisation road map and encourage other artists to do so freely. The talking stage is over, it’s time to act.”
Addressing the Massive Attack partnership and Liverpool’s UN climate action programme, Nile Rodgers added that Chic’s We Are Family Foundation has “been sounding the alarm and working in the climate change space for years, as have Massive Attack, and now it’s time for all of the music and film communities to get onboard. Yes, we’re going to have a party at Liverpool Arena, but we’re also going to act!”
