Stefan Edwards is Senior Events Officer at Bristol City Council, he leads on commissioning Bristol Harbour Festival and Bristol Run. Stefan has increasingly specialised in event sustainability and was recently awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to research innovative approaches to decarbonising event power. In this guest article he shares the findings of the research, with specific recommendations for event organisers, and the current projects that have been informed by his learning, including the development world first, Clean Energy Hub pilot in Bristol. Read the article below:

“Last year I was lucky enough to be awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to research innovative approaches to decarbonising event power. For this research, I travelled across the Europe, meeting many amazing people and learning about their groundbreaking approaches to solving this issue. I previously shared a blog about how much I enjoyed embracing slow travel, as a I covered all 3,200 miles by land and sea, with no flights.

Since returning to the UK, I’ve been turning my learning into action via the development of our world first, Clean Energy Hub pilot. Working on this project has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. The battery hub is now up and running at Bottleyard Studios and I can’t wait to see the batteries in action at their first major event, Love Saves The Day, in the coming weeks.

I’ve also published the full report of my findings. In this blog, I’m sharing my key recommendations for or event organisers. Not all these suggestions will work for all events, but it is hoped that events of all type and size can find some positive actions which they can take forward. The full report also makes suggestions for industry bodies and networks, district network operators / National Grid, supply chain and partners, local / regional authorities and national government.

Recommendations for event organisers

• Factor sustainability into every aspect when designing your event. If starting a new event, or moving to a new site, consider access to green mains power and other environmental factors as a key part of the decision-making process.
  
• If budget allows, employ an event sustainability specialist or work with a trusted consultant. If sustainability is embedded as part of someone’s job, support them with training and ensure they have the skills, time and organisational support to deliver improvements.
  
• If staff capacity for sustainability is limited, consider focusing on one topic each year, such as power. This focus can enable bigger leaps in one area, whilst maintaining steady progress in other areas.
  
• Develop a smart energy plan and gather accurate data on power usage to avoid over specifying power requirements. Monitor usage and track improvements year on year or against similar events.
  
• Try to prevent, reduce and more efficiently use power wherever possible. Revisit site layouts, review processes for efficiency and challenge if high power activities are necessary or can be avoided.
  
• Transition to renewable mains power where available. Investigate all existing potential mains power points on your site. Initiate conversations with neighbouring properties or businesses to see if their supplies could be temporarily used for your event.
  
• Push landowners to upgrade mains power. For a very small number of events, financially supporting capital costs for upgrades may be possible.
  
• Where the event organiser owns the land or has a strong working relationship with the landowner, consider the possibility of installing long term green power solutions such as solar, which could partially power the event and be used by other nearby users when the event is not running.
  
• Work with mobile power providers to move away from using diesel and HVO generators as quickly as possible. Bolster with mobile solutions such as batteries or green hydrogen. Some organisers reported finding it easier to tackle their event site one zone at a time, to find the best solution for each area.
  
• If you have already transitioned from diesel to HVO, continue to transition to greener solutions. If you must use HVO whilst transitioning, do due diligence to ensure the best possible sourcing.
  
• Investigate green mobile power providers in your area, supplying batteries, green hydrogen or solar. If options are limited in the supply chain, consider innovating or collaborating with innovators to trial less commonly used sustainable power sources.
  
• Where green power is available, consider using electric plant machinery and site vehicles, recharging it on site and removing diesel vehicles.
  
• Consider hiring equipment such as stages cabins and lighting towers with built in solar or batteries.
  
• Once you have confidence in green power solutions, build this confidence across your organisation and beyond, to combat resistance to change and largely unfounded concerns around reliability and safety.
  
• Encourage behaviour change within your organisation so sustainable choices become the norm and are embedded in the organisational culture and employee values. If your event is part of a larger parent company, consider how you can spread a positive ethos across the other events.
  
• Use your influence to push suppliers to improve. This can be done informally at first, but once partners have had a chance to adjust it should be enforced contractually, with agreements structured to financially incentivise less power usage. Influence should be extended to anyone using power on your event site, such as equipment hire companies, bar providers, caterers and sponsors.
  
• Be bold when dealing with sponsors, expecting the same of them as you do from other suppliers. Refuse to work with sponsors who won’t meet the standards you expect. Explore partnerships with sustainably minded companies where in-kind support may be possible for transitioning to green solutions.
  
• Share knowledge about the improvements you make with other event organisers to encourage positive change beyond your event. When sharing findings consider how they can be applicable to different types of events, especially those with smaller audiences and budgets.
  
• Events which have the appetite to innovate with new technology should take advantage of their position as living laboratories to try things out, which may work in wider society. Engage with other sectors, such as film and construction, when skills might be transferable.
  
• Use your unique position to share positive environmental messaging with your audience and encourage wider behaviour change in society. Showcase innovative green power initiatives with attendees to generate conversation around this topic.
  
• Use your profile to push for systemic and policy improvements related to green power.
  
• Consider booking artists who actively promote positive environmental messaging. Challenge the artists you book if they have excessive power and technical demands.
  
• In cases where environmentally friendly options are more expensive, consider the whole picture and long-term financial benefits. Events with a strong green identity may sell more tickets or attract sponsors which offset these costs over time. Consider ring-fencing a portion of income for sustainability initiatives or ensuring that sustainability budget lines are available across all departments.
  
• As you seek to remove the final, most difficult to remove power emissions, consider that you will experience diminishing returns on your efforts. If you have limited staff time, consider the opportunity loss at this stage if emissions saving from other areas such as transport could be higher.

Given the scale of the environmental challenge we now face, we need to be bolder and more innovative in tackling this issue. Events and culture more broadly, have huge power to influence behaviour change and create positive impacts across society, but event organisers cannot be expected to act alone. Change-makers exist in almost every part of society and the driving forces behind the projects I witnessed originated from a variety of places. On every occasion, the momentum came from passionate, driven individuals and collaboration across multiple partners was key to success.

The personalities I met and the approaches they took varied, highlighting that everyone can find their place and make a positive impact through the actions they take and what they can achieve within their sphere of influence. The task ahead is difficult, but I returned from my trip with renewed faith about what we can collectively achieve.”

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Website – Stefan Edwards / Home | Stefan Edwards

This guest article originally appeared in our May 2026 Vision for Sustainable Events newsletter. Sign up to receive monthly event sustainability news, case studies and guest blogs direct to your inbox.