- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Music festivals seek greener footprint
Three planes, 270 tonnes of equipment, 800 square metres of stage: the figures from Madonna's massive free concert in Rio in May sounded like they came from another age.
These days, megastars are usually keener to claim a smaller footprint.
Coldplay, who just headlined Glastonbury Festival in Britain, recently announced they had cut carbon emissions on their world tour by 59-percent compared with their last tour in 2016-17.
They have taken innovative steps including solar panels and even a special dance floor that generates electricity from the movement of the audience.
Critics point out they are still flying around on planes, and there was particularly opprobrium in 2022 when they announced a partnership with Finnish oil giant Neste.
Though Neste promised to help them use sustainable biofuels, the Transport and Environment campaign group said Coldplay were being used by the oil firm as "useful idiots for greenwashing".
Though the overall impact is hard to measure, one study by University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute in 2010 estimated that Britain's industry alone generated 540,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Climate group Clean Scene found that the top 1,000 DJs took 51,000 flights in 2019, equivalent to 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
- Climate commitments -
As a result, all the big festivals now have climate pledges and initiatives, from composting and car-pooling schemes at Coachella in California to renewable energy usage at Glastonbury.
One festival that has taken a lead is We Love Green in Paris, as the name suggests.
Some 110,000 festival-goers attended last month's event to see artists including Sza, who travelled with "almost no equipment" according to Marianne Hocquard, the festival's head of sustainable development.
She said that was down to the festival ensuring they have much of the equipment needed by its artists, and setting energy caps for performances.
Others have taken radical steps: the Bon Air festival in Marseille canceled DJ I Hate Models this year after learning that he was coming by private jet.
Many events now encourage their attendees to take greener modes of transport.
We Love Green launched a partnership with the French Cycling Federation to organise convoys of bikes for this year's edition, and said 14 percent of ticket-holders came on two wheels despite the dodgy weather, up from eight percent last year.
But there is a limit to how much can be done.
When Taylor Swift played Paris in May, the city mayor's office said there was a surge in arrivals of private jets at local airports.
Private jet operators have been jumping on entertainment events such as festivals or the Euro 2024 football tournament to boost their business.
There was little about the climate in a recent press release by private jet operator KlasJet, which said: "When you're traveling to an amazing event like Euro 2024, the last thing you want is for your experience to be ruined by a delayed flight."
F.Santana--PC