Recrafting the practices of live events for climate action: the case of the Act 1.5 festival

High carbon practices are common in commercial live music events, a sector trying to reconcile growth with climate action. In August 2024, Act 1.5 held a one-day festival on Bristol Downs in the UK. The show aimed to push environmental performance beyond current practice with the goal of being the lowest carbon event of its kind. Transformative actions at the festival are analysed here through the lens of social practice. Environmental performance considerations were embedded from the outset and materially shaped the design of the event, recrafting the practices of power, mobility and food. Ten key actors that were central to the design and delivery of the event were interviewed to explore how such high ambitions for environmental performance were realised in practice. Transformation insights focus on distributed leadership as a stabilising force for recrafting sustainability practices; embedding environmental objectives in event design; partnerships and collaboration across event supply chains; demonstration effects and learning for sector transition. The article shifts attention away from individual behaviour towards the non-consumption practices of organisers, artists, suppliers and intermediaries that shape the conditions under which consumption occurs.