Climate change has become one of the defining issues of our time, and improving sustainability is a challenge that the Three Choirs Festival is keen to take on. The Festival is committed to careful management of resources and minimising its impact on the environment, whilst still upholding its reputation as the world’s leading choral music festival.

Many of the initiatives we have adopted in recent years have not only reduced the Festival’s climate impact but also increased our efficiency, as well as providing a better experience for Festival-goers and staff. Some of these initiatives are visible to all during Festival week, whilst others are ‘behind the scenes’, but each plays an important part.

One of the Festival’s most significant climate impacts is travel. As the Festival itself approaches each year, travel is unavoidable for artists, staff, volunteers, contractors, and audience members. Recent Festivals have consolidated events into the city centre, which decreases the need to travel during Festival week, not only improving sustainability but also enabling people to attend more events by substantially reducing travel time.

Coach travel is always laid on for audience members to travel to concerts that are not within walking distance from the home cathedral, and this year we are continuing our Ledbury Link minibus scheme, transporting audience members from Ledbury to three evening concerts during the Festival. We have been delighted by the take-up of this scheme over the last two years, and we hope to be able to expand it in the future if funding allows.

Away from travel and transport, you will have noticed our use of e-tickets and digital programmes to save on printing and paper-related emissions, whilst the Festival brochures are printed on recycled paper. Printing the full souvenir programme book only for those who have pre-ordered it has meant that there are far fewer unsold programmes by the end of the week, greatly reducing both paper waste and printing costs. This year we are also trialling giving artists personalised recyclable ID cards rather than wristbands, as so many wristbands have previously been thrown away or lost each year.

The Festival Village is another key area in which we have increased our sustainability over recent years by working in partnership with our suppliers and local communities. We have partnered with Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester city councils to provide recycling bins for cups, plates and bottles, and our catering partners also continue to offer vegetarian and vegan food options.

The year-round staff team employs a hybrid model of working, working in the office one or two days each week for vital face-to-face collaboration, but otherwise largely working from home using a variety of online platforms for meetings, communication and collaboration. Meetings with outside organisations and contractors often also take place online. We have made Ecosia, the search engine and browser platform that uses its profits to support tree planting and climate action, the default browser for all Festival staff, which means that our everyday working routine contributes to environmental projects at no cost to the Festival.

We are grateful to all of our audience members and supporters for joining us on the journey to a sustainable future for the Three Choirs Festival.