Wembley introduces sustainability rider

Wembley Stadium has introduced a sustainability rider to encourage greater environmental thinking within the live events sector.

The rider will provide advice and guidance for all organisations, promoters and touring artists that host events at Wembley. It will outline considerations and recommendations of how to make more sustainable choices and reduce the environmental impact of live events.

Wembley already works closely with bands and promoters to implement green initiatives. Last week, Coldplay announced that next year’s shows at Wembley will be 100% powered by solar, wind and kinetic energy, in a world first for a stadium show.

Earlier today (Thursday), Coldplay announced that it had added new dates at Wembley, taking the total number up to 10. This will eclipse the previous record number of Wembley dates by an act on a single tour, which was jointly held by Taylor Swift after she staged eight shows at the stadium this year, and Take That who performed eight shows in 2011 as part of their Progress Tour.

Wembley’s new sustainability rider was created through consultation with environmental professionals and forms part of the Football Association’s overall sustainability strategy.

Wembley Stadium director Mark Lynch said: “Sustainability, and reducing the impact of large events, is integral to our ambition to provide a world-leading, inspirational venue. This new sustainability rider sets out our vision and values. It will act as a conversation starter with artists, promoters and event owners, to see how we can work together to make a positive impact on the environment and local community around us.”

Ruaidhri Dunn, the FA’s head of procurement and sustainability, added: “We are very proud of our achievements in recent years to continually improve how we embed sustainability, including Wembley Stadium maintaining the ISO20121 standard for sustainable events management.

“However, we want to make further progress. This new sustainability rider will enable us to move forward with the next phase of our sustainability efforts.”

Last year, the FA launched its ‘Playing for the Future’ strategy to drive forward its environmental ambitions up until 2028. Central to that plan was reducing the environmental impact of Wembley, with a clear focus on reducing energy consumption, avoiding waste, improving recycling rates and reducing water consumption.