Environmental values play an important role in Teosto’s operations, and our goal is to become a carbon-neutral organisation. We track the carbon footprint of our operations and offset the annual carbon dioxide emissions they cause.
Our goal is to prevent and reduce the harmful impact of our operations on the environment and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. We track the carbon footprint of our operations and offset the annual carbon dioxide emissions they cause.
We also cooperate broadly with the entire industry to promote the adoption of environmentally friendly ways of working in the music industry. We are part of the Finnish KEMUT network, the goal of which is to foster sustainable development in the music industry. We are also committed to the live music climate roadmap, compiled by the network.
In 2023, we participated in the KEMUT network’s efforts to develop a digital carbon footprint calculator, which is available free of charge to the entire industry. Our own carbon footprint has also been calculated with this calculator. The calculator is available through ELMA Live, the digital toolkit and planning tool for live music developed last year. Our goal is to make climate action and sustainable development part of every music industry operator’s everyday activities.
Teosto measures its carbon footprint annually and offsets the emissions from its operations. Our carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to a quarter of the amount in 2018, which is when we started measuring our emissions.
Use and recycling of materials
We have belonged to the WWF Green Office certification system for more than 10 years. The goal-oriented and measurable Green Office activities reduce the environmental impacts caused by the workplace. We take the recommendations of the Green Office system into account in all of our purchases as well as our fixtures and fittings. We take care of recycling all the waste types generated by our operations at our premises (plastic, cardboard, paper, biowaste, glass, metal, hazardous waste).
Sustainability in our premises
Our new premises in Keilaniemi, Espoo – which we started using in 2021 – have been awarded BREEAM In-Use certificates. BREEAM In-Use is an international environmental certification system that includes categories related to health and wellbeing, energy, water, mobility, resources and waste management, land use and preparing for climate change. Our premises were rated Excellent, which is the second-highest rating.
Energy efficiency
Remarkable share of Teosto’s carbon dioxide emissions are generated by energy consumption. During the renovation of the Keilasatama premises, many improvements were made with the goal of improving energy efficiency. In connection with the BREEAM certification, our property was praised for things such as its energy-saving lighting solutions and its energy-efficient lifts. Users also have the opportunity to adjust the lighting and the temperature. In addition, all the plumbing fixtures use very little water.
Emissions and their reduction
Teosto wants to be a carbon-neutral organisation. Since 2017, we have been tracking our carbon footprint and offsetting our emissions. The tracking covers the carbon footprint of things like business travel, the energy we consume, waste, company cars and commuting as well as the food served at our events.
In 2023, our carbon footprint was a total of 64.2 tonnes (about 54.1 tonnes in 2022). The slight increase in emissions was caused by our extensive international projects, which required more air travel outside our country’s borders than last year.
However, we strive to take our carbon footprint into account in everything we do and generate as little emissions as possible. We only travel when necessary, we use green electricity in our premises, we prefer vegetarian and local food at our events and our company cars are low-emission electric or hybrid cars.
In 2023, our biggest emissions were generated by business travel: 32.8 tonnes (13 tonnes in 2022). Increased international cooperation, for example with our European central organisation GESAC, and major international projects required more air travel than usual during the year. The amount of air travel had fallen to a very low level during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are still critical of air travel and most of our international meetings are remote meetings. In addition to travel, other major sources of our emissions are energy consumption, about 15.2 tonnes (in 2022: 27 tonnes), and leased vehicles, 15.9 tonnes (11.05 tonnes in 2022). Over the years, the radical reduction in the size of our premises has helped us reduce our emissions. The premises have excellent transport links (metro) and the parking facilities have charging points for electric cars. This promotes environmentally friendly mobility.
The calculation for 2023 has been carried out using the music industry’s carbon footprint calculator published in February 2024, which can be found on the industry’s joint sustainability platform Elma.live. Teosto was involved in providing funding the calculator and is now also one of its users. The carbon footprint calculation is based on operations’ consumption details entered into the calculator by the party and on the calculator’s emission factor database, which, at the time of this report’s writing, contains emission factors for 95 common emission sources in the industry.
Although the goal is to reduce the carbon footprint every year, not all emissions can be prevented. For this reason, we offset our carbon footprint by taking part in a WWF Gold Standard-certified project every year.
Emission offsetting refers to revoking the negative climate effects by reducing or sequestering an equal amount of emissions elsewhere. The emissions for 2023 were offset by taking part in the Lango Safe Water Project. It is the first ever Gold Standard project that not only takes into account the environmental impacts but also the gender perspective and actively supports gender equality in the target country. The project provides access to clean water for more than 40,000 individuals while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by around 50,000 tonnes per year. In addition, the project has increased women’s participation in the management of water resources and also reduced domestic violence experienced by women. Read more about the project on the Gold Standard certificate pages.
A free carbon footprint calculator aimed at music industry stakeholders was launched in the beginning of 2024. The calculator has been developed collectively by key industry umbrella organizations, including Teosto.
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