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Mobility & Logistics

Content

  1. Overview and problem statement
  2. Our Benchmark for Tempelhof Lab
  3. What worked well, what can be improved?
  4. Findings and Recommendations
  5. Service Provider Contacts
  6. Further inspiration from the industry

1. Overview and problem statement

Did you know…?

Around 20% of CO₂ emissions in Germany in 2021 were attributable to mobility and logistics? 4

The proportion is even higher in the event industry. On average, 80% of CO₂ emissions for an open-air event are attributable to the attendees’ chosen means of transport to and from the venue: Biking is better than public transport, which is better than driving, which is better than flying. Higher vehicle occupancy lowers the emissions, which means carpooling and full-capacity busses should be encouraged for attendees who must travel by vehicle. 5

The challenge here is that the audience’s mobility can only be influenced to a limited extent by the organizers and bands and can therefore only be influenced indirectly. However, the situation is very different when it comes to event and tour logistics. Climate-friendly travel and logistics should be a priority for production and bands too. To reduce emissions and, ultimately, to set an example and remain credible.

Conclusion: The larger an event, the greater the leverage of mobility and logistics for CO₂ reduction.

CO2 Management diagramm

2. Our Benchmark for Tempelhof Lab

In order to implement the Tempelhof Lab concerts in the most climate-positive manner possible, we targeted these aspects:

MOBILITY

  • Airplane travel (especially for short distances) is eliminated from the band- and crew budget.
  • Transport crew by train (incentivize Deutsche Bahn card/ Deutschland ticket) and electric tour busses/ passenger cars/ shuttles.
  • Efficient tour-routing with focus on urban centers and cities.
  • Sharing is caring: The more people per vehicle – whether car or (tour) bus – the lower emissions per person. This is true for the bands as well as the public.
  • Public transport ticket is included in the concert ticket price, requiring cooperation with the relevant transit authorities.
  • Publicize climate-friendly transportation options ( by bike, public transport) to concertgoers (for example, via websites of the organizers/ bands or social media as well as available event apps).
  • Offer free bike valet or otherwise free, secure bicycle parking.

LOGISTICS

  • Tour logistics: Efficient routing and sustainably driven trucks.
  • Promote awareness to artists and production team about material efficiency (e.g., what production setup is really required?).
  • How can existing local infrastructure be used to economize transportation needs?
  • Use e-vehicles (forklifts, wheel loaders, etc.) or cargo bikes onsite.
  • When procuring goods, prioritize locally produced items in order to keep transport distances short.

3. What worked well, what can be improved?

Mobility

What worked well?

  • Public transportation fees included in the concert ticket and communicated to concertgoers.
  • Free, supervised bicycle parking directly at the concert site, publicized via the organizers’ website and the bands.
  • Cooperation with Jelbi (mobility-app for the best routes and medium of transport inclusive of sharing options in Berlin) to offer transit and bike sharing options to concertgoers.
  • Designated parking spaces for people with disabilities.
  • Carbon offsets for unavoidable travel emissions by audience and production obtained from the climate protection organization atmosfair.
  • Extremely limited number of backstage parking spaces, provided only in exceptional cases (e.g. for the materials required by stage production riggers).
  • Zero air travel by the bands and crew.
  • E-Shuttles for bands and tour crew.
  • Train travel by bands and tour crew.
  • Highest efficient class for nightliners: pollutant class Euro VI.

What can be improved?

  • Collect data on audience travel plans instead of modeling based on anonymous ticket sales.
  • Provide additional incentives for climate-friendly travel, e.g., through raffles, free drinks, discounts on food or merch, etc.
  • Platform (or app) to enable car sharing or shared bus travel for concertgoers.
  • Railcards for core touring crew.

Logistics

What worked well?

  • Use of E- vehicles (for example shuttles, forklifts, golf carts, etc) onsite.
  • Use of fLotte Berlin cargo bikes for onsite logistics.
  • Highest efficiency class for the majority of trucks: Euro VI emissions class.

What can be improved?

  • Unable to meet the objective of 100% e-vehicle use in logistics due to lack of availability.
  • Unable to implement use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel in logistics because vehicle manufacturers are not yet liable for the use of HVO due to lack of experience.
  • Euro VI emissions class was not used for all trucks; in the future, aim for 100% use and also consider use of e-vehicles 6 and nightliners for alternative transportation modes.
Mobilitätskonzept Grafiken und Texte

4. Findings and Recommendations

  • Around 80% of the public traveled to the concerts by train, public transit, on foot or by bike. For comparable events, this rate is typically 40% 7. This measure prevented 900 tons of CO₂ emissions.
    • Integrate public transit fare into the event ticket to incentivize its use
    • When selecting the event location, ensure good public transit connections (S-train, U- train, railway, bus stops).
    • Notify ticket buyers about the included public transit fare via ticket sellers and event organizers.
  • Offering bike parking with 4,000 spots was worthwhile and completely full in good weather.
    • Plan bike parking based on the season and the weather.
    • Promote bike parking availability at an early stage, for example on websites of event organizers, bands, etc.
  • Inaccurate data on audience’s travel modes
    • Ask the audience about their travel choices through onsite surveys (e.g. at the entrance via QR code). Artists can spread climate-friendly travel awareness through announcements.
  • The project team did not have the capacity to develop a platform (or app) for car sharing or shared bus travel for the audience.
    • Use existing solutions on the market or outsource.
  • Subsidized public transport tickets for employees were not offered because talks with the public transport provider failed. Nonetheless, the 9-euro monthly transit ticket in effect during the concert period in Germany helped ensure that crew and employees could travel cheaply by public transport.
    • If there are no discount public transit offers, talk to the public transit authority at an early stage.
    • If necessary, include the cost of employee transit fares in the budget.
  • E-vehicles in production were sometimes not charged overnight and could not be used the following day.
    • Offer onsite briefings and training of the relevant employees in production on e-vehicles and charging options.
    • Plan the use and charging times of e-vehicles as precisely as possible.
  • Due to shortages of production materials, short delivery routes could not always be used.
    • When selecting suppliers, pay attention to short delivery routes, e.g. by selecting regional service providers.
  • Especially in the area of heavy trucks, there are currently hardly any climate-neutral trucks (electric, fuel cell) on the market.
    • Ensure early availability of trucks with the highest emission class (currently Euro VI).
    • Request and demand certificates, information on fuels used (HVO, bio-diesel, hydrogen).
    • Start talks with truck/bus manufacturers at an early stage to see if they will provide available electrically powered logistics vehicles as part of a joint pilot project.
  • Despite all measures, climate-neutral mobility & logistics were ultimately only achieved by purchasing carbon offsets.
    • When selecting an organization, look for certifications (e.g. CDM Gold) and projects with a long-term commitment of CO₂.
    • Include CO₂ offsets in the event budget as an additional incentive to reduce emissions.
  • No Fly Policy was effective and easy to implement.
    • Communicate policy to crew and band/artists at an early stage and justify choice of train as means of transport.

5. Service Provider Contacts

Disclosure on completeness

6. Further inspiration from the industry

Other bands, tour agencies and event organizers are also beginning to implement climate- and environmentally friendly practices. They are not only changing their own behaviors, but also trying to positively influence their audiences:

Massive Attack are planning to do their 2023 tour entirely by rail and are relying on trains for all tour logistics and travel. In addition, the band has developed a guide for 1.5 degree compliant touring together with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, which offers recommendations like “plug and play,” i.e. instead of renting and transporting the bulk of equipment for the tour, relying more on the conditions in the respective venues. 9

Coldplay, as part of their “Music Of The Spheres” world tour, worked with SAP to develop an app and make it available to fans: The app combined interactive, immersive experiences with information. For example, the audience could choose between different travel options and see how much CO₂ is generated by varying modes of arrival and departure. To encourage their fans to use environmentally friendly transportation, Coldplay linked it to merchandise discounts. At the same time, the app offered interactive games where players learned more about Coldplay’s efforts around sustainability. 10

German band Seeed took their fans on the journey: Together with their audience, an NGO that teaches refugee women how to ride bikes, and an advocacy group for cyclists, the band biked to their own concerts in Berlin – and then dropped off their bikes for free at the guarded bike valet service onsite.11

What might also interest you

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Labor Tempelhof is a project of Cradle to Cradle NGO, KKT GmbH – Kikis Kleiner Tourneeservice, Loft Concerts GmbH, Side by Side Eventsupport GmbH

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Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media

Federal government commissioner for culture and media

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H.I.T. fertilizer

Humus fertilizer from the contents of dry toilets.

NPK-Dünger

Liquid fertilizer containing the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphate (P) and potassium (K).

900 tons of CO₂ emissions

This is equivalent to either 900 flights from Frankfurt to New York or 297,000 kilometers of driving in a petrol car.

CO2-Streamer

Device in which CO₂ is ejected into the air, creating a white mist.

C2C quality

C2C textiles are fully recyclable and material healthy. The fabric itself is recyclable and the fibers washed out during the laundering process are harmless to the environment. In addition to the fabric, dyes, ink and process chemicals used in production are also optimized for material health. Social standards are met during production and renewable energy is used.

Textiles in Cradle to Cradle quality

C2C textiles are fully recyclable and material healthy. The fabric itself is recyclable and the fibers washed out during the laundering process are harmless to the environment. In addition to the fabric, dyes, ink and process chemicals used in production are also optimized for material health. Social standards are met during production and renewable energy is used.

Textile materials

A large proportion of all clothing manufactured and sold today is made of synthetic fibers. Polyester alone has a market share of around 50%. Textiles made from natural fibers, i.e. fibers from renewable raw materials, are usually dyed or printed with environmentally harmful dyes. In addition, chemical substances are used in the production process, for example to fix the dyes. These chemicals do not only endanger the environment but also the health of the people who work in the production process and who wear the garments. Thus, whether a garment is truly sustainable depends not only on the fabric, but also on all the other materials used. Because with every laundry cycle, the garment automatically loses thousands of microfibers, which then end up in the waterways. And that’s exactly what these fibers have to be designed for. In other words, regardless of whether the fabric is made synthetically or from natural fibers, only materials that are appropriate for us humans to come into contact with during production and wear and that are biodegradable when they end up in the environment as washed-out fibers should be used in textile production. C2C textiles are designed according to this principle.

recover phosphorus

Starting in 2029, wastewater treatment plants in Germany – depending on the size of the community served – will be required to recover phosphorus from wastewater, sewage sludge, or sewage sludge ash.

C2C certification

Certification according to the Cradle to Cradle criteria is carried out by the Products Innovation Institute (PII), which is based in San Francisco and Amsterdam. The organization certifies products based on five criteria, in each of which four different levels can be achieved. The PII and Cradle to Cradle NGO are independent organizations.

Osmosis filter

In the osmosis filter system, gray water is first purified on a biological basis, then pressed through a bio-membrane filter, which almost completely eliminates solids, viruses and bacteria from the water. The final step is ultrafiltration, which ensures almost 100% sterility.

>> Further information on the osmosis filter

Black water and gray water

Black water and gray water are different categories of wastewater. Black water is water contaminated with fecal matter. Gray water is water that is slightly polluted and free of fecal matter, such as rainwater or wastewater from hand-washing sinks.

Euro standard

As the European exhaust emission standard, the Euro standard sets limits for the emission of air pollutants. They are defined in Europe by the EU. Compliance is measured and checked in the laboratory when new vehicles are type-approved and, in the case of trucks and buses, also in real-world operation. Euro 6d has been the strictest standard for passenger cars since January 2021, and Euro VI for trucks (over 3.5 tons). While the emissions standard sets limits for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate mass and number, it says nothing about a vehicle’s CO2 emissions. These are defined for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in a separate EU regulation.

Easy langage

Leichte Sprache (easy language) is a simpler and less complex form of everyday German. It is aimed at people who find it difficult to read or understand a text in everyday language. In texts in easy language, for example, there are no foreign words or abbreviations. The set of rules is published by the Netzwerk Leichte Sprache. It is comparable to Easy Read in English.

Plasticizers

Plasticizers are added to plastics, coatings, adhesives and textiles to make brittle materials soft and supple. Many of the substances used as plasticizers are considered to be harmful to the environment and human health. In addition to plasticizers, packaging can also contain other harmful substances that may be used up to certain permitted limits but still reduce the recyclability of the material.

PVC

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a plastic polymer and is produced as rigid PVC (drain pipes, window profiles, etc.) as well as soft PVC. Soft PVC is used for floor coverings, films, children’s toys, hoses, cable sheathing, seals, etc. and consists of up to 40% plasticizers, some of which are harmful, especially as they are released to humans and the environment during production and use of the products. Due to the many additives, PVC is hardly recyclable and is usually incinerated (thermal recycling), which produces toxic dioxins.

Canceln

Canceling (cancel culture) refers to the exclusion of individuals or organizations that are accused of offensive, discriminatory or racist statements or actions, among other things. The term is also used by people who are accused of this behavior. The term and the actions behind it are the subject of much public debate, see here and here.

Sir David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough is a British naturalist, writer and wildlife filmmaker best known for his award-winning nature documentaries.

Social ticketing

Offering different price categories for an event, adapted to the respective financial circumstances.

FLINTA*

FLINTA* stands for Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Trans and Agender. It stands for anyone who is not a cis man. Cis or cisgender is the opposite of transgender. The asterisk includes all non-binary gender identities as a placeholder.

Which way to Panama?

The concept with the code question “Which way to Panama” was introduced in 2017 by the concert organizer FKP Scorpio. The aim is to be able to offer visitors simple and uncomplicated help in any emergency situation by naming this code sentence.

Initiative Barrierefrei Feiern
(IBF)

Nationwide collective (in German) of people with disabilities and their allies advocating for accessible cultural opportunities

Awareness

Awareness means being aware of problems and conflicts. Awareness concepts create safe spaces in which all people can feel comfortable because no assault or discriminatory behavior is tolerated. The definition of what is assaultive or discriminatory for a person or a group is not questioned.

Inclusion

Social inclusion means the accentuation, inclusion and equal participation of all people in a society.

Waste separation

Proper waste separation is not that simple. Even in Germany, where there is a comparatively extensive separation system. For example, a pizza box is made of cardboard, and therefore paper. But soiled by grease and pizza remnants, it still doesn’t belong in the waste paper bin, but in the residual waste bin.

At the Tempelhof laboratory, we have set up two residual waste garbage cans at each of the nutrient islands, a bio garbage can for leftovers/food waste and another bio garbage can for the biodegradable tabelware. In addition, a garbage bag was hung up for the collection of PET bottles, which the public was allowed to bring onto the grounds.
The background of this composition, which is quite different from the system known from everyday life in Germany: The disposable tableware was to be composted in a separate field trial, because industrial composting facilities are set in specific temperatures and composting cycles to ensure that food and food residues can be composted without residue. However, these cycles do usually not composte biodegradable tableware items. This does not mean that this tableware is not compostable – the ZirkulierBar research project has already demonstrated this by adding shredded biodegradable disposable tableware to the humus composting process. But composting takes place at a different temperature and for a different composting time than, for example, vegetable peelings, for which the cycles of industrial composting plants are designed.

Planetary Boundaries

Planetary boundaries define the safe operating framework for humanity. If these ecological limits are overstepped, our natural ecosystems collapse and the existence of humankind is endangered. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has defined nine such boundaries, six of which have been considered exceeded since 2022.

resource-positive

This means that the cultivation of a plant has an overall positive impact. A plant from regenerative agriculture has been grown in such a way that the cultivation increases the nutrient content in the soil, the biodiversity in the cultivation area or the quality of the water in the region. The cultivation of the plant therefore has a positive impact on all the resources that are needed in the cultivation process.

Real costs

Real costs can be shown when the so-called external effects arising from the production or consumption of a product are included in the price. These are usually negative externalities, for example environmental damages or health damages caused by the production or consumption of a certain product. Usually, these costs are not covered by the pollutur, but by society. As a result, there are differences between private returns of economic activities and the returns or costs to society as a whole. In this specific example of food at events, the real costs of a dish can be calculated by measuring the resource consumption and CO₂ footprint incurred in the production of a certain dish, quantifying it and adding it to the price. Calculating real prices would make many products that are harmful to health and the environment significantly more expensive than before, and generally more expensive than sustainable or C2C products.

Cradle Village

The Cradle Village was an area equipped with pavilions between the entrance and the stage. It was part of the educational concept around circularity and C2C onsite. Various NGOs were represented there as well as some C2C cases exhibited as educational projects.

Regenerative agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is an agricultural approach that focuses on soil and plant health. The goal is to build healthy, fertile soil through agricultural cultivation, thereby increasing yields while creating positive impacts on carbon and water cycles as well as biodiversity. The approach contrasts with conventional agriculture, in which the use of pesticides, heavy agricultural machinery and monocultures, among other things, reduces biodiversity and causes lasting damage to soils. Regenerative agriculture can complement organic agriculture, which avoids the use of hazardous substances but is often associated with lower yields than conventional agriculture.

Biofuels

Biofuels are fuels obtained from biomass. The environmental friendliness of these also depends on whether their raw materials are in competition with the food production industry (for example, corn) or whether the fuels are obtained from residual materials.

Smart grids

In smart grids, power load management improves the utilization of the existing infrastructure and thus makes more efficient use of energy.

Peak Shaving

Peak shaving can be used to stabilize the power generated by energy networks. Periods in which a particularly large amount of power is available (power peaks) are capped.

Green hydrogen

Green hydrogen fuel uses renewable energy instead of conventional energy for the electrolysis to produce hydrogen. Its production makes sense in regions where sufficient renewable energy sources in the form of sun or wind are available to power water electrolysis.

Battery Regulation

Among other things, this regulation is intended to make a battery pass mandatory in order to provide incentives for recyclable battery design and the recycling of battery components.

Authentic green electricity

Authentic green electricity means that the supplier invests part of the revenue from the sale of green electricity in the development of new plants for the generation of electricity from renewable sources. In this way, the provider helps to ensure that the electricity mix improves in the long term and the share of renewable energy grows steadily. Im Germany, such providers can be identified by labels such as “ok-power” or “Grüner Strom“.

Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle (C2C) is an approach to a circular economy that goes a little further. Instead of producing less waste, using fewer resources, causing less environmental damage, or merely aiming for climate neutrality, products and processes are to be designed in such a way that added value is created as a result. In other words, a positive impact on the climate through a new way of handling resources. Because if we only cause less damage through our actions, we only delay the problems we cause, but do not solve them.

We can only solve climate and resource problems permanently by setting positive goals. By consistently integrating our actions into biological cycles and creating technical cycles, we achieve real added value: ecologically, economically and socially. C2C products consist of materials that are healthy for people and the environment and can circulate in biological and technical cycles. If a material in a product is automatically consumed (for example, the abrasion from a tire while driving or fibers from a T-shirt that are washed out in the washing machine), then this material must also be suitable for ending up in the environment. It must therefore be completely biodegradable.

All other products must be designed in such a way that all their components and materials can be separated and reused again and again. Either directly, after remanufacturing or repairing, or through a recycling, which preserves the quality of the material. In the production of such C2C products, we use only renewable energy, preserve or improve the quality of water and soil, and have fair and humane working conditions.
Business models such as product service models, beneficial use or leasing help to keep materials and products in the cycle.

>> more information

Circular economy

Derived from the EU Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan, the term “circular economy” encompasses “all stages of value creation – from product design and production to consumption, repair, waste management and secondary raw materials fed back into the economy.”
The transformation of our current linear economy, (resources are taken from the earth, used and then mostly become worthless waste) to a circular economy is an overarching policy goal in the EU and in all member states – including Germany. The German government is currently (as of June 2023) developing the so-called National Circular Economy Strategy, which aims to reduce the need for newly extracted raw materials. A circular economy and resource conservation are thus intended to contribute to climate neutrality and decarbonization.

In the case of the Tempelhof Lab, we attempted to design as many aspects of the concerts as possible in such a way that resources are kept in circulation or incentives are provided for this. Ideally, this meant using a C2C product or C2C process with a positive impact on people and the environment. Where this was not possible, an alternative was sought that was sustainable in the classic sense, i.e. at least caused less harm than a conventional solution.

CO2 compensation

Organizations that offer compensation for CO2 emissions can be certified according to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) standard. Gold Standard is a standard developed by an alliance of non-governmental organizations such as WWF, which is considered the most demanding standard for voluntary emissions trading.

These contacts are merely a selection, without any claim to completeness. The selection is based on the companies with which the Tempelhof Lab project worked or had contact.

Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO)

Hydrotreated or hydrogenated vegetable oils (HVO) are oils that have been chemically converted into hydrocarbons and can thus be used as fuel. They are used as an addition to or substitute for diesel fuel and emit up to 90% less CO2 compared to diesel. Oil plants, residues from the agricultural industry, but also used cooking oils can be used as raw materials for HVO. If residual or waste materials are used, production does not compete with food production and causes lower CO2 emissions in production. If HVO is produced from palm oil, the greenhouse gas balance deteriorates considerably because rainforests are cleared for the cultivation of oil palms. Therefore, a supplier should be chosen that guarantees the exclusion of primary palm oil as a raw material.

atmosfair

Offsetting CO2 emissions is not a sufficient strategy for achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, and certainly not for taking climate-positive action. The provider atmosfair points out exactly this on its website and thus encourages active action. The climate protection projects supported by atmosfair are for the most part twice certified: Under the standard of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and under Gold Standard (standard developed by an alliance of NGOs such as the WWF, which is considered the most demanding standard for voluntary emissions trading). atmosfair is transparent in its use of funds and, according to its own statements, only supports projects that take into account other important aspects of environmental protection in addition to the CO2 aspect.

Tempelhof Lab

The Tempelhof Lab concerts took place under very specific conditions: Tempelhof Airport as an open air location in the middle of Berlin, 60,000 visitors per concert and full support of the bands involved. Solutions that were feasible and sensible in this scenario may not be sensible or possible under other framework conditions. Conversely, some great C2C ideas were not scalable for this size of an event, but work perfectly fine under other framework conditions. Therefore, the goals described in this Guidebook and the measures derived from them are not a universally applicable checklist, but rather highlight opportunities and the right questions to ask for the most climate- and resource-positive event possible.