Next month's Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool is one of the biggest - and highly-anticipated - events taking place in the UK this year. It is expected to generate 65,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, but the show also brings joy to the 161 million viewers. Matt Grey, CEO and founder of event:decision, an event impact reporting and mitigation organisation, weighs up the environmental cost with the social benefits...
Matt Grey Photo Credit: SuppliedThe 67th Eurovision Song Contest is just around the corner and excitement is building for the international competition. But while thousands of Eurovision fans prepare to flood the streets of Liverpool and millions of people prepare to host Eurovision viewing parties in their own homes, sustainability experts have been busy calculating the carbon footprint of the large-scale event.
We've calculated the carbon footprint of Eurovision as approximately 65,000 tCO2e; that's the same as parking 250,000 double-decker buses nose-to-tail and using a hose pipe to fill each one with carbon dioxide. If parked around the coastal perimeter of the UK, these would encircle the entire UK, twice.*
So is it a carbon headache or a reason to jump for joy?
Thirty-seven countries take part in the Eurovision Song Contest and each entry brings up to 25 people with them. When you calculate flights, hotel accommodation, food and drink, ground travel, accommodation, and the energy it takes to host such a mammoth television production to 161 million viewers, you are talking big numbers.
Now factor in the production and broadcast crew, staffing the ACC Liverpool and associated venues, crew, and stewards, that’s a lot of people. You also need to consider the 11,000 people travelling to Liverpool for three Eurovision events [two semi-finals and one final] and this all has an adverse impact on the event’s carbon footprint.
In 2022, Eurovision, the longest-running annual international televised music competition in the world captivated a TV viewing audience of 161 million people and was streamed live into 500 cinemas in the UK.
Furthermore, more than 8.8 million people in the UK alone watched the Grand Final of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest – an increase of 20 per cent on 2021 – and witnessed the United Kingdom’s Sam Ryder take second place in the competition.
The 65,000 tCO2e figure can be concluded from the following stats:
Flights – 879 tCO2e
Energy consumed at the venue – 30 tCO2e
Hotels accommodation for participants – 90 tCO2e
Food and beverage for participants – 46 tCO2e
Audience travel – 4,450 tCO2e
Audience hotel accommodation – 356 tCO2e
Broadcast/streaming – based on 161 million viewers watching a four-hour performance with four people sharing a screen – 59,000 tCO2e
Yes, it’s a lot. But on a per person basis, it’s approximately the same as one pint of beer or one glass of wine, per viewer. How does that compare with the joy that Eurovision brings to so many? Is it a price worth paying?
Believe it or not, a close approximator to joy arising from the Eurovision Song Contest has been measured.** A study by Imperial College London, published by BMC Public Health in 2018, concluded that just taking part increases life satisfaction. In fact, life satisfaction is measured as increasing by four per cent for every increase of 10 places on the final scoreboard. For participating countries, just competing at the ESC is associated with higher life satisfaction among the population.
When you look at it like that, the joy of 161 million people also adds up to a lot. Now weighed against the carbon footprint per viewer as roughly one pint of beer or glass of wine… well, the voting is open.
*Coastal perimeter of the UK at 12,429km (Wikipedia); London double-decker bus at 10m length, one bus equals
c.0.25 tCO2e when filled by volume.
** Filippidis, F.T., Laverty, A.A. “Euphoria” or “Only Teardrops”? Eurovision Song Contest performance, life
satisfaction and suicide. BMC Public Health 18, 582 (2018). ********doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5497-3
