When we talk about the environmental impact of live events, the conversation almost always lands on the audience; how they get to site, how many of them there are, how far they’ve travelled. What gets missed is the industry standing behind the barrier – the crew, freelancers and suppliers who build, run and strike the show. Travel typically accounts for around 80% of an event’s carbon footprint but a huge slice of that is generated long before a single ticket holder arrives. That’s why we’re delighted to announce a new partnership between the PSA and onboard:earth.
onboard:earth has worked on exactly this problem since 2015, when it began life as Energy Revolution, a festival industry response to the COP21 climate talks and the discovery that travel dominates event emissions. It became onboard:earth in 2024, refocussed on moving low-carbon travel into the heart of live events culture. As CEO Chris Johnson puts it: “The point of this industry-founded charity is to take the journey together; to collaborate across the sector, share insights on how to collect data easily, understand it, and make changes that work.”
For PSA members, that’s now very practical. The partnership gives our 2,500+ members direct access to onboard:earth’s resource hub, built for the people who move kit, crew and infrastructure around the country and beyond. This includes a Green Travel and Transport Guide, a quick guide to collecting quality travel data, an online carbon calculator, and the onboard:earth app, which lets crew and freelancers log their own travel impact rather than leaving it to head office. Webinar recordings let members pick up best practice in their own time. None of it costs anything, and none of it requires a lecture on climate science – just tools built by people who understand what a get-in day looks like.
Where full reduction isn’t possible – and in our industry, it rarely is – members can offset with confidence through onboard:earth’s Trees+ programme, funding verified, community-led ecosystem restoration rather than anonymous credits. The scale is worth noting: onboard:earth’s community has raised over £864,000 for environmental restoration, offset 18,314 tonnes of carbon, protected 41,108 acres of threatened rainforest and helped plant almost 87,000 trees. In 2026, it has committed to pushing that total to £1m – and every PSA member who offsets a job adds to that figure.
Sustainability initiatives tend to be pitched at organisers and venues, with the supply chain treated as background noise. This partnership is our way of saying that doesn’t sit right with us. Our members are the ones actually doing the travelling – tour by tour, festival by festival – and deserve tools that make tackling that impact simple, not another item on an overloaded to-do list.
If you’re a PSA member, take a look at the sustainable travel resources page and try the calculator on your next job.
