A Greener BRIT Awards...

The BRIT Awards 2024 with Mastercard will be the greenest ceremony in its history as the event has announced it will be strengthening its all-round commitment to environmental sustainability. 

A renewed focus on the event's impact this year - and for years to come - will build on the foundational importance the BRITs has always placed on environmental and social concerns.

The BRITs aims to play their part in helping to counter the global climate emergency. A long-term vision that will see BRITs constantly review, innovate and adapt to deliver the awards’ sustainability goals. The ambition is that the 2024 ceremony will only hold its title of ‘the greenest focussed BRITs’ for 12 months, before the 2025 event claims the accolade, as every year lessons are learned and successes are built on to ensure each subsequent ceremony is better than the last. 

Just some of the initiatives adopted this year include a 5% reduction target for  emissions made by production vehicles and front of house catering. All suppliers and businesses working on the show have been asked to commit to incorporating sustainability into their own planning, which should have a positive long-term impact not just  for the BRITs but on other events they are involved with, as best practice is shared and applied.  

To ensure the awards’ efforts have an impact beyond just one (admittedly spectacular) night of the year, The BRITs have announced they will be partnering with Music Declares Emergency and signing up to the No Music On A Dead Planet campaign so they can both learn from, and inspire, the music community as it collectively takes steps to ensure fans can enjoy their favourite artists and songs whilst creating positive environmental actions.  

To help The BRITs improve its sustainability a significant amount of data – covering everything from how audience members get to The O2 arena in London to where the food served on the night is sourced – will be collated across the 2024 ceremony by Julie’s Bicycle. The not-for-profit organisation has been applying its environmental expertise to calculate the ceremony’s carbon output for nearly a decade. These insights will inform the staging of future events and help inspire a new mindset across the BRITs, one that puts sustainability at the core of every decision organisers make, big or small.  

The BRITs has pledged to work collectively with the music industry to deliver on the goals of LiveGreen’s Beyond Zero pledge. Roxy Erickson, Co-Director of environmental consultants Creative Zero, is helping the team to coordinate and help deliver these goals, while Heard provides impact communication support and training to ensure The BRITs’ sustainability messaging can have maximum impact and transparency as efforts progress. 

These new initiatives build on the event’s existing environmental and social impact commitments which have put The BRIT Awards on a path to meaningful sustainability.  

The awards have also collaborated for the 11th year with Life Water. Not only has this partnership helped to lead the ceremony away from single-use plastics, but it has also seen The BRITs donate over 10,000 cases of clean water to parts of the world where access to drinking water is extremely limited.  

Additionally, the waste generated by the ceremony has been consistently reduced at each event.  Thanks to the O2 arena’s innovation, compostable food packaging and reusable cups will be served at this year’s ceremony.  Even the backstage passes and branding boards are going green in 2024 as recycled materials are being used for the first time.

Other waste reduction initiatives have also seen the adoption of paperless tickets for the audience attending the ceremony, while elements from the show’s iconic stage sets are donated each year to The BRIT School so they can be recycled and reused by aspiring, future talents. 

Reflecting The BRITs’ social commitments, the Croydon-based college, which trains students in the performing arts and technology, along with charity Nordoff & Robbins Music Therapy are the two main beneficiaries of The BRIT Trust, which receives proceeds raised by the awards each year.  Meanwhile the annual BRITs Week gigs, which are staged just ahead of the ceremony itself, have seen the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Florence + the Machine, Bastille, AJ Tracey, Idles, The 1975, alt-J, Sleaford Mods, Jessie Ware, Yungblud, Anne-Marie, Mabel and many more, play special shows in aid of War Child, raising £7m to date for its vital work around the globe.   

 “While we can feel pleased with the progress The BRIT Awards have made towards becoming more sustainable over the past decade, we know there is a great deal more to do on this critical issue which artists and labels, and fans and the wider public feel so passionate about, and we cannot afford to be complacent.“ explains BPI CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE of the decision to strengthen The BRITs environmental commitments. “That is why in 2024 we are not just redoubling our efforts but also deepening our focus. We want to ensure The BRITs make increasingly meaningful strides towards becoming a fully sustainable event while also contributing to a greener industry - whether that is how the music of our nominees is made and distributed or how the show itself is staged and organised. The BRIT Awards have always sought to showcase the coming together of creativity and innovation, and we are drawing determinedly on this same pioneering spirit as we look to produce a more sustainable ceremony – this year and in future.” 

Read our BRIT Awards Environmental Policy here. 

Ahead of this year’s ceremony, we will be going backstage to look at some of the sustainability initiatives that will make The BRIT Awards 2024 with Mastercard the greenest BRITs yet…