Sustainable energy and social responsibility at Spain’s long-running summer festivals
Summer concert seasons across Spain feature some of the country’s most established festivals, each carrying a legacy of nearly three decades. Organizers now face the challenge of reducing their environmental footprint while preserving the communal spirit and cultural impact of live music. Across this landscape, concert events are adopting concrete, scalable solutions to minimize emissions and promote greener practices without compromising festival experience.
One emblematic example is the Benicàssim International Festival, known as FIB, a pioneer in the modern festival format. This year marked its 28th edition, during which the event substantially lowered its carbon footprint by preventing more than 31 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. This achievement arose from a strategic alliance with Repsol, a leading energy company focused on sustainable energy solutions. The partnership helped the festival reduce emissions while maintaining reliability and performance across the event schedule.
As part of the collaboration, Repsol supplied energy for the three festival days using renewable sources, including over 11,000 litres of renewable fuel. The setup also featured solar panels to recharge mobile devices and a program to repurpose cooking oil from festival food trucks. Used oil was collected for transformation into renewable fuels, illustrating a circular approach that minimizes waste and extends fuel life cycles.
Another veteran festival, Bilbao BBK Live, achieved emissions reductions well above 90 percent in its eighteenth edition by adopting decarbonized energy solutions tailored to the festival’s Bilbao setting. The path to lower emissions builds on Repsol’s energy management, which aligns with the event’s size and energy demand while delivering dependable power and reduced environmental impact.
The region’s emphasis on renewable resources extends to solar, wind, and biomass derived fuels that Repsol uses to power festival operations. These fuels—including used cooking oil and animal waste-derived materials—support energy needs for the festival’s thirty generators and contribute to a notable drop in emissions. In this scenario, the estimated CO2 release for a large event decreased from about 150 tonnes to around 10 tonnes, showcasing a tangible environmental benefit and a scalable model for other gatherings.
In a forward-looking move, Repsol also piloted a project featuring two wind turbines and 300 square meters of photovoltaic panels. This system supplied energy to one of the Bilbao festival stages and stands as a representative blueprint for future large-scale events seeking to integrate wind and solar power into their energy mix.
Sustainability among Spain’s younger festival leaders
The efforts of Spain’s older, more established festivals have set a high bar and serve as a benchmark for younger festivals entering the scene. Arenal Sound, which began in 2010, has already become one of the country’s most sizable music gatherings and is expected to surpass last year’s attendance of more than 300,000. The organizers are pursuing sustainability as a core pillar of growth, signaling a trend that other events will likely follow as they scale up.
Recent activity at Arenal Sound demonstrates a robust commitment to reducing environmental impact. The festival expects to avoid emitting over 83 tonnes of CO2 and will rely on Repsol to provide more than 30,000 litres of renewable hydrotreated vegetable oil for the event’s generators. In keeping with a broader green strategy, the company will collect the 600 litres of used cooking oil from food trucks for recycling and convert it into renewable energy. Solar-powered mobile charging stations and other energy-efficient amenities are part of the plan to minimize energy waste while maintaining the festival experience for attendees.
Across these initiatives, the collaboration between festival organizers and energy providers reflects a concerted effort to demonstrate that large cultural events can be environmentally responsible. The experience of Benicàssim, Bilbao, and Arenal Sound offers a replicable blueprint for integrating renewable energy, waste reuse, and circular fuel solutions into event operations, without sacrificing the scale or energy needs required to deliver a memorable live music experience for fans.