2025 Highlights at a Glance
- We raised £103,143.91 for community & environmental projects in 2025!
- One quarter of our audience arrived on coaches and trains, reducing car emissions.
- Our food traders continued their climate-conscious cuisine with only 0.45kg CO₂ per plate (vs the UK average of 2kg).
- We pulled off a UK festival-first, supplying biogas across the site for showers and cooking (instead of LPG)!
- Every contractor who brought structures travelled less than 100 miles to get to the festival site
Behind the scenes at Shambala, we’ve been reflecting on another incredible year – full of new beginnings and plenty of the trademark magic you all bring with you.
But on the sustainability front, we did face a slight setback: our overall festival footprint rose from 1,072 tonnes of CO2e to 1,128 tonnes. It’s a small increase, but a frustrating one.
A few key factors contributed. We sold fewer Green Traveller tickets than hoped, which in turn led to releasing more car parking and adding 26 tonnes of transport emissions. Similarly, we ended up allocating more crew and artist parking than ever before, resulting in another 24 tonnes. On top of that, we used more wood and fuel in the build than expected. These are important indicators, and we’re already digging into them to make sure we course-correct for next year – including reusing that extra wood for site decor in 2026.
But we also hit some major sustainability firsts – including becoming the first UK festival to use biogas for all cooking and showers on site. This biogas was made from sustainably sourced UK waste materials – everything from seaweed to spoiled veg – transformed into clean energy. And for the first time, every contractor who brought structures (tents) to site travelled less than 100 miles, with an average journey of just 93 miles (and the closest coming from only 12 miles away!) – reducing our transport emissions even further.
Our crew catering legends also continued their brilliant, holistic work: three-quarters of their ingredients came from within the UK and a third from local, organic farms.
And you played your part too. One in four of you arrived using low-carbon public transport, and together you raised over £10,000 for our annual Pay It Forward campaign – supporting families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to join us.
Dive into our full Impact Report for the year here.
Here’s to our shared Adventures in Utopia – and to another year of purposeful, planet honouring fun. x