Kilimanjaro Live are proud to announce that the festival they curated and staged on behalf of the Corona brand, Corona Sunsets 2023*, has become the UK’s first ever Blue Verified Festival through Oceanic Global’s Blue Standard. The Blue Standard is a cross industry sustainability standard that empowers industries and businesses of all sizes to take measurable actions that protect our blue planet and establishes universal accountability for sustainable business leadership. Today Kilimanjaro Live confirms that Corona Sunsets has been awarded the Blue 2-Star Seal for their work to remove single-use plastics and implement comprehensive sustainability measures festival-wide. With kindness to our planet and sustainability at the heart of the Corona Sunsets project, the Blue 2-Star Seal is testament to the hard work and commitment of all involved.
The 2-Star Seal was awarded to Corona Sunsets for:
- Exceeding local waste management regulations
- Eliminating 6+ single-use plastic items festival-wide
- implementing three Blue Actions which are best practices for comprehensive sustainable operations . These include offering plant-based & locally sourced menu items, using natural & reusable materials for festival signage and setup
It takes small ripples to create waves of change and Kilimanjaro Live supported Corona Sunsets in riding the crest of that global wave change.
Corona is partnered with Oceanic Global, and from the outset, Kilimanjaro Live’s brief was that Corona Sunsets UK should aim to become the UK’s first Blue Verified festival. The entire global festival series implemented a comprehensive sustainability programme, assessing all sustainability efforts against the NGO’s award-winning Blue Standard. “The set of standards given to us by Oceanic Global were very ambitious, and rightly so. Sustainability should be part of everything we do when running an event. We engaged Hope Solutions to help us meet those ambitions and we are very proud of having achieved the Blue Standard.” says Zan Lawther, Event Manager. “They were incredibly helpful in finding ways to assist us with educating festival goers and festival contractors alike and we trialled several new initiatives to tackle waste reduction and the eradication of single-use plastic on site.”
Zan Lawther explains, “Receiving Blue Verification is monumental, it shows we’re moving closer towards large scale public entertainment events, which are kind to the planet.”
The aim for Corona Sunsets was to fuse the brand’s aesthetic values with the traditional English countryside, in order to create a haven for fun, learning and expression. Attendees were invited to step out of their daily lives and experience a collective moment of reflection, as the sun set behind the iconic mandala that is Corona Sunsets’ main stage.
“We worked to guide our partners in delivering the key logistical components to provide a seamless, relaxed experience for our customers, artists and everyone involved in building the festival, whilst being vigilantly mindful of our commitment to sustainability” explains Zan, ” It pushed and challenged us to think and act differently, but those small purposeful changes, make an incredible difference to our planet. The Blue Verification literally means the world to us.”
Editor’s Notes:
*Corona Sunsets: More than a music festival, Corona Sunsets delighted festival goers with experiences inspired by that luminescent sunset moment; from live art installations to culinary experiences, all designed to wonderfully connect party goers with nature at the golden hour. As well as two stages of classic contemporary and up and coming artists, breathwork-sessions hosted by bestselling author and host of BBC Radio 1’s ‘Decompression Session’ Stuart Sandeman, aka “breathpod”, allowed festival goers to disconnect from their daily lives whilst enjoying nature. Whilst Michelin-starred chef, Brad Carter, wowed with a workshop on bringing nature into your daily diet surrounded by the luscious green expanse of Hatfield Park.