A groundbreaking initiative is set to transform how live music and major events are powered in Britain. This weekend, tens of thousands of festival-goers descending on Clifton Down in Bristol will witness more than just a stellar lineup – they’ll be part of what organisers are calling a global first in sustainable event production.
Lorde, Little Simz and Wet Leg will take to the stages at Forwards festival, with both performance areas running almost entirely on clean power. A compact hydrogen plant, paired with mobile battery units charged from renewable sources, will supply the energy. The only byproduct from the hydrogen setup is pure water – water the artists themselves will be invited to sample once their sets conclude.
From Massive Attack’s Groundbreaking Gig to a Movement
The roots of this project trace back to Bristol’s own trip-hop legends Massive Attack, whose 2024 homecoming show at the same venue achieved the lowest-ever carbon emissions recorded for an event of that scale. That performance became the catalyst for something far bigger.
Act 1.5 – a collaboration bringing together artists, technical crews and scientists from across the creative industries – worked alongside the band on that 2024 show. They were determined the concept shouldn’t end there.
Robert Del Naja, Massive Attack’s founding member, said the 2024 event was never intended as a one-off. “This project was always about systemic change,” he explained. “It’s gratifying to see this permanent legacy of decarbonisation for all major festivals and film and TV productions in Bristol.”
The West of England mayoral combined authority stepped in with financial backing, while the Greens-led Bristol city council threw its weight behind the scheme. Clean energy providers and Bottle Yard – the region’s largest television studio – also signed up. Television productions including the drama Mavis Eccleston have already tapped into the clean power programme, known as the CPP.
The Technology Behind the Silence
What sets this weekend’s festival apart is the scale and ambition of the power solution. GeoPura has installed a compact hydrogen power plant to drive the main stage. The secondary stage and supporting areas run on battery units – specifically second-life batteries supplied by Zenobe – topped up with electricity from renewable providers. Backup generation relies on hydrotreated vegetable oil.
John O’Sullivan, a senior figure with Act 1.5, said the most noticeable difference is precisely what you might not expect. “The only thing you notice is the quiet,” he observed. No rumbling diesel generators. No fumes. Just the music.
The geography and geology of Clifton Down present unique challenges. The site cannot access the National Grid for green energy, and the economics of temporary events make it impractical for individual festivals to fund their own clean power infrastructure. Ben Price, head of partnerships at Team Love, which organises the festival, called the backing a “gamechanger”. “We need the backing of public money to de-risk it,” he said.
About a dozen events across the summer have benefited from the CPP, including the Bristol Balloon Fiesta. This weekend’s performances represent the pinnacle of that work.
Spreading Beyond Bristol
Mark Donne, lead producer at Act 1.5, was unambiguous about the scheme’s significance. “There isn’t any comparable programme anywhere, in terms of scale, design or sectors procuring and acting together – no precedent or comparison,” he stated.
The team is already in discussions with other mayoral authorities across England about rolling out similar initiatives. International interest has also emerged, according to Act 1.5 sources.
Actor Jonathan Pryce, who appears in Mavis Eccleston, backed the project with a pointed observation about the summer’s extreme weather events. “Drama, music and art are activities that allow us to understand difficult realities,” he said. “But they also provide spaces to imagine a better future and find ideas and designs to reach it.”
Del Naja was more blunt in his assessment of the broader picture. “So much time has been wasted by real bases of power,” he said. “National governments, transnationals, the tactical misdirection of corporate media – and now the world finds itself surpassing 1.5 degrees and chronically unprepared.” He added that projects like Act 1.5 demonstrate that change doesn’t have to wait for political will. “We have the imagination, the intelligence and the will to act now, and act with the required intent.”
Why it Matters
For too long, the entertainment industry has pointed fingers at governments and corporations for failing to act on climate change while quietly burning thousands of litres of diesel behind the mixing desk. This weekend in Bristol, that argument collapses. Here, regional public money, political commitment and creative ambition have combined to deliver something genuinely unprecedented – a replicable blueprint for zero-emission live events at scale. If this model spreads to other mayoral authorities and eventually becomes standard practice across Britain’s festival circuit, television productions and outdoor events, the reduction in carbon emissions could be substantial. More importantly, it proves that the transition to clean energy doesn’t require waiting for Westminster or Wall Street to find their moral compass. Sometimes, the future arrives first in a field in Bristol, powered by hydrogen and good old-fashioned determination.
