Billie Eilish is not only one of the most prominent names in music today, she's also one of the leading voices on climate activism in the music industry. And she's apparently taking a page out of Massive Atack's book to make her European shows more sustainable. The British group have shared its Act 1.5 project, an initiative to decarbonize their industry. "Live music events and their touring cycles are carbon intensive & high polluting activities, and their incredible popularity cannot justify any denial of" the Paris Agreement's 1.5 celsius limit, the group shared on its website earlier this year.
To demonstrate the efficacy of Act 1.5, Massive Attack staged a one-day festival in Bristol, U.K. Actions taken included powering the festival via renewable energy sources and including access to public transportation within the cost of the show's tickets. After that, Eilish's mother Maggie Baird apparently reached out to a climate action group to ask "'How do I Act 1.5 Billie’s European dates?’" Massive Attack collaborator and Lead Producer on the Act 1.5 initiative Mark Donne told NME. "I think where we’re going to get the breakthrough with Billie’s European tour [July 2025] is on rail—we’re working out a deal at the moment with Trainline. Where all across Europe we say, ‘How about a nice hum-dinging discount?’" He said. "Billie can say, if you’ve got a ticket to my gig you get this discount code and you travel by rail."
Eilish has already introduced sustainability measures into her shows, including serving plant-based meals for the artists and crew while on tour which reportedly saved 8.8 million gallons of water. She even helped to launch and fund REVERB's Music Decarbonization Project, through which she "powered her headlining set at Chicago’s Lollapalooza last summer with zero-emissions battery systems that were charged on a temporary 'solar farm' set up on site," per Billboard.
Massive Attack staged some more Act 1.5 shows in Liverpool this November to celebrate the city being named a "U.N. Accelerator City" for climate change. "What's exciting about what’s happening here in Liverpool with Act 1.5, is that any city can come to us now and say, 'What are you doing? And how are you doing it?' We want to pluralise that information and share it. In terms of the other artists—apart from the fact they’re great —we wanted to make sure we had a demographic spread. I wouldn’t have presented them as a three night festival or anything like that," Donne said to NME. "In fact, if we’re doing what we’re doing correctly, you shouldn’t know these shows are any different from normal."
“We know that as an artist, as much as we can critique a promoter [we want to work with them]. In the same way, I never get drawn on criticising other artists about private jet use or anything. One artist digging out another artist is the worst thing that can happen. No matter what I agree with or disagree with," Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja said. "The one thing we do want is for artists and promoters to have these proper positive scraps about getting stuff done, because that’s the way it’s going to work.”
