No more excuses: sustainability is the only way forward.

We are optimists, and we think the future can be bright if we put in the effort. We must take sustainability seriously, knowing that a music event can negatively impact the surrounding air, soil, water, resources, and inhabitants. That's why we think it's important to lead by example, improve ourselves year after year, and know that we still have a long way to go.

Through socially responsible entrepreneurship, we strive to achieve our vision by inspiring our visitors and partners to take action in their own lives and communities, ultimately leading to a more sustainable future for all. For more details and data about our sustainability efforts, we kindly direct you to A Greener Festival's extensive reporting here.

01. 6 key pillars

Maximizing the sustainability of seven key pillars, including travel and transport, energy, food and drinks, materials, water, nature and environment and community.

02. Data

Gathering and analyzing data to understand our ecological footprint and identify areas for improvement.

03. Awareness

Creating awareness and influencing our stakeholders to live more sustainably by providing the most sustainable festival experience possible.

Our six key findings

Yearly Progress

Identifying Emission Sources

Promoting Public Transport

Reducing Artist Travel Emissions

Optimizing Third-Party Transport

Transitioning to Clean Energy

Our six key findings

Yearly Progress

In our second year of operations, we're proud to report a significant reduction in our carbon footprint. Despite expanding our activities, our total emissions decreased by an impressive 21% in 2023. This achievement highlights our dedication to sustainability.

Identifying Emission Sources

We recognize that a significant portion of our carbon footprint comes from third-party transport and production activities, constituting 38% of our emissions. This awareness allows us to target areas for improvement effectively.

Promoting Public Transport

Through partnerships with ÖBB, we've incentivized eco-friendly travel options. In 2023, around 88% of our visitors utilized public transport, particularly the free night trains to Vienna and back. This resulted in a remarkable decrease in emissions from public transport compared to previous years.

Reducing Artist Travel Emissions

We've witnessed a substantial reduction in emissions from artist travel, thanks to shorter flight distances and efficient travel planning. This proactive approach led to a significant decrease in emissions associated with artist transportation.

Optimizing Third-Party Transport

By employing more accurate data on freight weight and fuel consumption, coupled with the increased use of eco-friendly trucks, we've successfully reduced emissions from third-party transport and freight operations.

Transitioning to Clean Energy

One of our significant achievements is the increased proportion of electricity sourced from the grid and the complete elimination of fuel consumption for generators on-site. This transition to clean energy aligns with our commitment to minimizing our environmental impact.

Influencing our stakeholders to live more sustainably.

Paradies Garten is not just committed to making changes within the organisation of our event; we also strive to inspire others. We are aware that some organisations use big words with little impact to boost their image (aka greenwashing) – but we realise that open and transparent communication, both the good and the bad, is the only way forward. By sharing our findings and best practices, others may find the answers they were looking for. In the end, we hope this will lead to a more sustainable event industry.

Social awareness

A significant change since 2022 was the expansion of our citizenship campaigns and the introduction of an expanded safer space policy, aiming to strengthen a more positive and resilient festival culture on our grounds. One of these initiatives was the Citizenship Manifesto, seeking to engrave more diversity and inclusivity in our team and lineup. These values were extensively shared on the ground – and the entire Paradies Garten core team participated in a dedicated workshops.

Our booking policy has changed drastically over the years, paying close attention to three crucial criteria: increasing the share of local artists, female-identifying artists and POC (people of colour) artists. We do not use quota, but we believe that more diversity (and equity) in our lineup benefits our festival in every way possible.

In 2022, we launched the Angels of Paradise, a team of dedicated and easily identifiable volunteers on the ground that’s ready to listen, assist and help anyone in distress (from suffering harassment to feeling unwell after taking drugs or alcohol). These motivated people have been trained to handle difficult situations and assist visitors with any issue, big or small. The feedback has been positive, but improvements can be made, like adding more volunteers and providing more training beforehand. So that’s exactly what we’ll do before next summer’s festivities.

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