This weekend, tens of thousands of fans will watch artists such as Lorde, Little Simz, Tems & Goldie perform at FORWARDS on Clifton Downs, Bristol. While the ground beneath them may be dry and parched following a summer of droughts and heatwaves, the air they breathe will be significantly cleaner and climate emissions free, thanks to the West of England Clean Power Pilot.

This unprecedented initiative – part of the evolving legacy of Massive Attack’s carbon emissions world record breaking Bristol show in 2024 - unites two of the region’s most important & growing sectors - live music events & film/tv production. The world-first project is a collaborative partnership between the West of England Mayor, the UN affiliated ACT1.5 project, multiple clean power providers, Team Love (FORWARDS and Love Saves the Day) & the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol. This progressive pilot, supported by Bristol City Council and Arts Council England, has guaranteed clean power to major festivals and productions, and aims to help provide cleaner air for those who attend, live near, work on, or perform at this season of cultural events and filming activity in Bristol and the wider region.

Audience at Forwards Festival Bristol

In recognition of this landmark climate action, artists performing on the West stage at FORWARDS will be invited to drink the emissions generated by their performance – 100% pure water – thanks to the use of Green Hydrogen provided by the winner of the King’s Award for Innovation, GeoPura.

Designed to break down barriers between sectors requiring the same technologies and expertise to play their part in the climate effort, the pilot aims to create a blueprint for commercially viable, sustainable production and events. The ambition is to scale the model in 2027, extending its benefits across multiple sectors and paving the way for adoption elsewhere in the UK and internationally.

Both the Lorde performance on 28 August, a special one off concert for FORWARDS Presents, and FORWARDS Festival across the bank holiday weekend 29/30th will benefit from power decarbonisation via the use of pioneering Green Hydrogen technology (GeoPura) and a fleet of scalable battery units provided by Greener Power Solutions, Zenobe and Instagrid.