What the world is saying about ecomusicology, ecological sound research, and sustainable performance.
New research from the CLMA finds weather-related disruption to Canadian live music events has risen eightfold since 2022, placing up to $3 billion in economic value at risk by 2040. The accompanying Climate Contingency Toolkit offers decision-making frameworks and hazard-specific procedures to help live music professionals plan for and respond to climate-related disruption.
A report from South Korea's first low-carbon K-pop concert, Sustainable Wave, where mobile battery systems replaced diesel generators, artists used reusable tumblers, and audiences measured their own carbon footprint, while fan-led group Kpop4Planet urges agencies and government to turn measurement into real emissions cuts.
The 2026 Ecoacoustics Congress brings together researchers, artists, and practitioners exploring how soundscapes reveal the health of ecosystems, with keynote speakers on marine ecoacoustics, acoustic culture and evolution, and primate communication, alongside workshops on acoustic localisation, species distribution modelling, and listening on Country.
South Korea's first carbon-neutral eco-friendly music festival brings together god, EPIK HIGH, Zion.T, BOL4, and SORAN at Incheon Munhak Stadium — proving that sustainability can be experienced naturally through music, without heavy messages, as audiences enjoy their favourite artists while thinking about the environment and the future.
Echoes of Earth, recognised by A Greener Future (AGF) as Asia's most environmentally progressive music festival, returns for its eighth edition with upcycled art installations, solar stages, biogas food courts, and nature-based music — proving that large-scale festivals can lead with sustainability at their core.
Launched alongside Billie Eilish's sold-out O2 Arena residency, Overheated is a grassroots, youth-led climate summit that brings together activists, musicians, scientists, and community leaders to confront the climate crisis. Featuring speakers like Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Vanessa Nakate, it has grown into an international movement proving that music can be a powerful platform for environmental action.
UK festivals alone generate a staggering 25,800 tonnes of waste, pump 22,876 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and consume 185 million litres of water every single year — a level of environmental destruction that is no longer sustainable. Massive Attack's record-breaking low-carbon concert in Bristol proves that radical change is not just possible but urgent: the entire live music industry must act now before the damage becomes irreversible.
Composer and pianist Hao Huang explores how teaching about music and the environment can help students understand their connections to human and other-than-human communities — drawing on ecomusicology, acoustic ecology, and the UNEP declaration that music is one of the most powerful media to communicate environmental messages worldwide.
Korea Arts Group's seventh environmental concert blends documentary storytelling with film music and musical OSTs to deliver a gentle but powerful message about environmental responsibility, marking a decade of the Ulrim concert series dedicated to social and ecological themes.
Coldplay reduced their touring carbon footprint by 59% compared to their previous world tour using kinetic dancefloors that generate electricity from dancing fans, recyclable LED wristbands, solar installations, and train travel — surpassing their 50% emissions reduction pledge for the Music of the Spheres tour.
From Beethoven's Pastoral to John Luther Adams' Become Ocean, the BBC Proms explores music's evolving relationship with nature — juxtaposing innocent pastoral celebration with the fear and anger of contemporary composers confronting climate breakdown and mass extinction.
Julia Wolfe's 2023 environmental call-to-arms 'unEarth' had its UK premiere at the Barbican — a climate change oratorio complete with bells, whistles, fifty words for tree, and images of imploring children, prompting debate over whether music can truly serve as activism.
