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 witheducating 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.
ABOUT OCEANIC GLOBAL
Founded in 2016, Oceanic Global (OG) reconnects humanity to the ocean as the beating
heart of the earth and provides tangible solutions and blueprints for coexisting in harmony
with the natural world. The 501c3 non-profit builds tools, mobilises communities, and
develops educational resources and standards that inspire global action and catalyse cross-
sector change. In 2018, Oceanic Global launched the Blue Standard (Blue), a first-of-its-kind
cross-industry standard that establishes universal accountability for responsible business
leadership, with over 400+ global businesses in 30+ countries and 7 global governments
engaged to date. Oceanic Global is based in New York, New York, with international hubs and
volunteer bases in New York, London, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Tulum, and Hong Kong.
Reflective of its global reach, the organisation has additionally been the official non-profit
and production contributor to United Nations World Oceans Day since 2019.
