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Cannes Festival projects a greener ecological footprint.

Writer's picture: M AbtiM Abti

Updated: Jul 31, 2024

The 77th Cannes Film Festival, that is being held in the most popular French Riviera sea resort from the 14th to the 25th May 2024, reaffirms its allure spirit being considered worldwide as one of the most important European film events together with the Venice International Film Festival. Great cinema stars, film directors and producers are parading on the famous Montée des Marches, the iconic staircase in front of the projection building. The acclaimed Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda and Juliette Binoche are the special guests of this edition together with a distinguished Technical Jury led by Greta Gerwig and animated by Juan Antonio Bayona, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ebru Ceylan, Nadine Labaki, Pierfrancesco Favino, Eva Green, Lily Gladstone and Omar Sy.


Besides the most glamorous side, Cannes Film Festival has started for some years a special project to obtain the palmares of event managed in a totally sustainable way through a comprehensive task force to pay an ecological tribute to the Côte d'Azur festival identified by the famous golden palm in honour of the heraldic coat of arms of the iconic Riviera city. In particular, the Film Festival Management is increasingly acting to reduce its green footprint and to fight against climate change.

Photo >> Photo Reporters at the Cannes Festival Red Carpet © FDC

Cannes Film Festival Management has been carrying on a global, proactive and pragmatic eco-approach since 2021. In particular, organisers are willing to cut carbon footprint in every managerial and logistic phase of the event, including the impact of production and mobility.


The action plan has been developing through three main axes:


  • Reducing carbon emissions and waste produced;

  • Giving a second life to residual resources following up the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle paradigm;

  • Encouraging virtuous projects for the natural environment through a voluntary carbon contribution supervised by a committee of experts.


The green heart of Cannes Film Festival is even closer to the Paris Agreement targets, pursuing a process of CO2 emissions reduction on a scientific basis in compliance with IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) mission: reducing greenhouse emissions by at least 21% (compared to the 2019 surveys), with a desired rate of 43%.


Photo >> Red Carpet © MonacoEcoArt and Wix

Since this year's edition, Cannes Film Festival has been reinforcing its footprint eco-managment through a dedicated Festival's Environmental Charter under the umbrella of ISO 20121 certification, by adding two further axes, notably:


  • Defining a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Trajectory;

  • Making the Festival's annual carbon footprint available to the general public via a detailed report.


Thus, the Festival management sets the goal to reduce the overall produced CO2 emissions up to 10,300 tons (compared to the 49,000 tons, estimated in 2019). Both the means of transport used to reach the festival and facilities & equipment are on the spotlight of the improvement commitments. Waste Management, Pollution Control, Energy Efficiency and Natural Resources Use, Training and Awareness, Cooperation and Exchange of Good Practices and Responsible Sourcing are the priorities that the organizers are willing to develop by 2025.


From now, 100% of the festival’s official fleet is electric. Moreover, shared mobility is widely encouraged as well as walking routes. The Festival has already reduced by 79% the number of printed devices through the dematerialisation ticketing and publications, including all promotional devices addressed to international media. What is still published uses paper from sustainably managed forests.

Moreover, the fabric of the Red Carpet is increasingly saved (about 1,400 kilos) while the the length is getting smaller (12% off the volume between 2019 and 2023) and fully recycled.


Photo >> Cannes Festival Screening Room © Mathilde Petit / FDC

The environmentally friendly event management involves every single detail, including the catering. Cannes Film Festival food and drink providers are eco-responsibly committed to prefer fresh and seasonal products, with a wider vegetarian offer from the local production, and to prevent food waste. Plastic water bottles are totally banned, replaced by water fountains, widely located in the Festival district.


Thanks to the synergy among the Palais des Festivals, the various working teams and the Cannes Municipality, up to 99% of waste is treated to favour the upcycling through the 3R (Reuse, Reduce and Recycle) paradigm.


The Cannes Film Festival is then determined to become a leader in sustainable event management with particular concern to for environmental, economic and social issues through a set of principles and practices to be followed at every stage. Notably: planning, organisation and implementation of one of the most popular cinematic events. ***


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By Maurice Abbati

>> Journalist, Editor, Communication, Media and Public Relations Specialist.

>> Lecturer and Author in English language of Technical Articles and the Manual: "Communicating the Environment to Save the Planet, a Journey into Eco-Communication" by Springer International Publishing.


Cover page of PhD manual by Maurice Abbati

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