Environmental & social inclusion charter

INTRODUCTION

Everyone is welcome to be part of the Audi presents Wilderness celebration, both on and off the stage. Everyone means E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. Regardless of their...
RACE / GENDER / SEXUALITY / IDENTITY / AGE / ABILITY / RELIGION / PRONOUN SIZE or SHAPE...or, anything else for that matter.

We wish for everyone to feel safe, welcomed, and represented at Audi presents Wilderness.

Evidenced across our seven programming pillars, we continually strive to deliver an eclectic offering, celebrating all identities and communities.

Whether in the content we're booking, the topics we're discussing, the performers, partners and producers that we're working with, or the audience we're trying to reach, we aim for Audi presents Wilderness to be broad reaching and inclusive with no hatefulness.

ACCESSIBILITY

Festivals bring together music fans of different backgrounds.

At Festival Republic/Live Nation (FR/LN) we are committed to doing everything we can to promote a culture of inclusion and accessibility for all of our customers.

We aim to provide, and constantly improve on, accessible infrastructure and services, delivered in a way that respects the needs of each individual and does not exclude anyone.

RACE & GENDER

We believe that there is strength in diversity. We welcome all people equally, on, behind and in front of the stage. We continually assess and aim for balance in our performers and partners across all our venues. We work closely with collectives who look to close the gender gap in their industries and promote underrepresented demographics.

We partner with an array of inspiring women chefs, food journalists, restaurants and caterers who share a mutual desire to forge a kinder, more inclusive and sustainable approach to hospitality and address the notorious gender imbalance in their industry.

MENTAL HEALTH AND SAFEGUARDING

We partner with many agencies who work at Audi presents Wilderness to keep everyone safe.

We have developed a safeguarding policy outlining our statement of intent toward the well-being and human rights of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. We also outline the strategies in place to safeguard customers and staff from abuse, including harm and neglect.

We provide a 24/7 all-inclusive safeguarding system meaning whatever support or treatment is required, to be provided as quickly as possible within the festival site. We believe that no one should experience abuse of any kind and that we have a duty of care to protect customers and staff as much as is practicable and proportionate. Helping us deliver our Safeguarding policy are:

Our Safeguarding Coordinators - Prioritising the emotional welfare of our audiences.

Safer Spaces - Every year, we revise our internal Safer Spaces Policy by consulting with our artistic community. We have a zero-tolerance policy for disrespectful, hurtful, or discriminatory behaviour of any nature. We strive to communicate and encourage everyone to follow our Safer Spaces Policy.

Open Road Welfare - Our welfare team provide a supportive environment for anyone who needs it. There to give professional advice, converse with parent(s) and guardian(s), link in with partner agencies, striving to make everybody feel safe and happy to enjoy the full festival experience.

Oxfam - Stewards work across the festival to answer questions, point our audience in the right direction and generally be a friendly face in the crowd.

Code Blue Medical Services - Providing medical care and additional safeguarding support.

The Audi presents Wilderness Info Tent Team - Located in the centre of the arena, our Info Tent Team will answer any questions and help reunite customers with anything they might have lost during the festival.

The Sanctuary - Our home of well-being focusses on every aspect of what it means to care for personal health and wellness. From mindfulness and mental health to developing connections, grief workshops and addiction fellowship groups. The Sanctuary is a dedicated safe space, aiming to nourish our audience and continually striving to open the discussion around a wide range of topics and issues affecting any and everyone. The importance of care for all persons on site is paramount, be that our festivalgoers, artists or crew.

TRAVEL

We strongly recommend and promote low-carbon travel options.

We partner with national coach provider Big Green Coach, work with carshare company Liftshare, and provide shuttle buses from Charlbury train station to provide lower-carbon alternatives to single-occupant car travel. All car parking passes at the Festival include a £1 surcharge, which is donated to Trees for Cities, who will plant trees in the Oxfordshire region. In 2023, we donated £6327 to Trees for Cities.

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

We are committed to implementing closed-loop waste management systems at Audi presents Wilderness and work to support the development of a circular economy.

We apply the following waste hierarchy, as set out in the Waste Regulations 2011:

• Waste Reduction
• Reuse
• Recycling
• Energy Recovery
• Disposal

PLASTICS REDUCTION

To mitigate the environmental impacts of plastic pollution, Audi presents Wilderness does not sell any virgin single-use plastic. This includes sampling containers, cutlery, plates, cups, bottles, serve-ware, sachets, stirrers and straws. We implement a sourcing policy that prioritises:

• Reuse over single use.
• Renewable over finite resources.
• Products with the highest recycled content available, including at least 30% where alternatives are not available.

Audi presents Wilderness has implemented the following measures to reduce the usage of single use plastic:

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

In 2023, the Audi presents Wilderness recycling rate was 49%, we aim to go beyond and to achieve at least a 90% waste diversion rate, though recycling and composting, by 2030. Audi presents Wilderness is zero waste to landfill, as all festival waste is either recycled, composted, or used to generate energy from waste.

Audi presents Wilderness has a waste management plan, and we receive annual reports from the waste and recycling facilities used and tracking our annual reports against previous data. We implement initiatives to achieve this such as:

• Campsite recycling points and bags distributed to campers, allowing them to collect and dispose of their waste and recycling.
• The two-bin system we implement site-wide, allowing separation of food and compostable waste from everything else
• Engagement campaigns such as Leave No Trace, reinforcing our duty to preserve the lakes and land of Cornbury Park.
• We have Collaborations with charities and not-for-profit groups including Oxford Food Hub and Choose Love to rescue food and camping equipment.
• Our deposit return scheme on paper cups, cans and bottles, incentivising recycling in the arena.

WATER & WASTEWATER

• We measure the amount of water consumed at Audi presents Wilderness annually.
• Self-stopping taps are in operation at the festival to minimise water wastage.
• We are investigating the reuse of grey water on site, aiming to reduce the amount of potable water used in our onsite bathrooms once a suitable solution is found.

FOOD

We advise our food vendors and caterers to follow minimum standards with regards to food sourcing.

• Eggs to be free range, fish sourced according to the MSC Good Fish Guide, and meat to be Red Tractor Assured.
• We encourage using vendors local to the festival and ensure several dedicated vegetarian and vegan options are available to festivalgoers.
• We are reducing the carbon footprint of food consumed by our crew by not serving high-carbon food and having at least one meat-free day per week in crew catering.

We are committed to collecting and redistributing any surplus food from the festival and have worked with Oxford Food Hub to help us do this.

ENGAGEMENT AND LOCAL IMPACTS

We are committed to engaging with our customers, staff and artists on environmental issues, and to collaborate with local and national environmental causes and organisations. Our work on this includes:

• The inclusion of The Great Outdoors as one of the pillars of Audi presents Wilderness: We cannot celebrate at this festival without giving the due care and respect for the beautiful environment of Cornbury Park.
• Empowering our staff and artists to play their part in improving the sustainability of the festival, by educating them on the initiatives we put in place across site.

LOCAL IMPACTS AND BIODIVERSITY

We contract an ecological consultant to conduct annual ecological surveys, integrating their recommendations in our plans to ensure that Audi presents Wilderness avoids negatively impacting the Wychwood Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT

As set out in our Green Nation Sustainability Charter, we recognise our responsibility to preserve the live music experience for generations to come and have a tremendous opportunity to influence climate action at Audi presents Wilderness .

We acknowledge the impacts that our business has on the environment, are committed both to telling the truth about the scale of the climate and ecological emergency, and to taking urgent action.

Our primary impact areas are transport and energy, as well as waste, water, food and beverage, and the effect of the festival on the flora and fauna of the site. Each of the festival’s environmental impact areas have been assessed in the context of their impact on, and the contribution to reaching the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals.

APPROACH

Audi presents Wilderness measures its carbon footprint annually, gathering data from relevant stakeholders to calculate its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

We employ a dedicated sustainability team who work as an integral part of the festival planning process, developing a sustainability action plan for the festival and ensuring these actions are undertaken on site.

We know that we cannot tackle climate change alone, and as such we support climate positive initiatives in the broader music industry. Audi presents Wilderness is part of Vision 2025, and has signed up to Music Declares Emergency.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Audi presents Wilderness is working towards Live Nations global target of 50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. This is in line with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, which we are still committed to despite the national pledges at COP being forecast to exceed this level of warming. We will review our progress annually in step with a science-based approach.

We support West Oxfordshire District Council’s Climate Change Strategy 2021-2025 and will work in partnership to achieve the objectives of the Strategy’s five themes, alongside its strategic frameworks including the UK Net Zero Strategy.

ENERGY

The energy we use is the main contributor to the on-site GHG emissions. Our strategy is to first reduce our required usage, and then to replace our energy sources with renewables.

Energy Reduction

• Through our membership of Powerful Thinking we have reduced the power consumption at the festival to a minimum.
• We monitor fuel consumption annually, to determine the potential to reduce generator sizes and related fuel volumes.
• We require that LED festoon and tower lights are used to reduce energy consumption, and that onsite suppliers plan power distribution efficiently.

Replace with Renewable Energy

• This year we will be fuelling Audi presents Wilderness with 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO)
• HVO is a renewable biodiesel made from used cooking oil, which emits 90% less carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) when compared to using regular white diesel.
• We assess our biofuel’s provenance, endeavouring to use European sources that are from a second-generation waste product such as used vegetable oil, not palm derived.
• Battery storage solutions and solar hybrid generators are utilised at Audi presents Wilderness in suitable areas, and we calculate the emissions savings they generate.

To find out more about the methodology used see here.