A powerful statement of intent from leading creative industry bodies to transition to clean energy by 2030 has been unveiled at the United Nations Accelerator City Expedition 2 event in Liverpool.

Liverpool City Council’s pioneering journey as the world’s 1st UN Accelerator City for Climate Action has seen the City host a landmark event that brought together leaders from across the creative industries, City officials, and climate advocates to showcase the results of 12 months of ambitious pilots and experimentation aimed at decarbonising live music, film, and TV production across the City.

At the heart of Expedition 2 was a powerful statement of intent, signed by leading creative industry bodies including BFI, Bafta, Creative England, Live Nation, Bafta Albert, Live Green, and A Greener Future (AGF).

These organisations have committed to supporting the transition to clean temporary power by 2030, recognising the urgent need to move away from fossil fuels and embrace sustainable solutions such as renewable grid power, on-site renewables, battery storage, and green hydrogen.

The statement of intent marks a watershed moment for the UK’s creative industries, demonstrating a shared understanding of the challenges ahead and a willingness to collaborate across sectors. The signatories have pledged to:-

• Transition to clean mobile power by 2030, stimulating market supply and innovation.
• Share data and learning, co-create solutions, and foster a culture of sustainability.
• Prioritise demand reduction, efficiency savings, and best practice sustainable solutions.
• Invest in training, standards, skills, and agile access to grid power.
• Frame the transition positively, building confidence and momentum for rapid collective change.

 
Following the year-long programme, Liverpool has now established the City as a blueprint for sustainable cultural production.

Expedition 2 showcased the outcomes of Accelerator Pilots launched at Expedition 1 12 months earlier, highlighting the most promising decarbonisation prototypes for scaling across live events and screen production, and unveil a City-wide toolkit for unlocking rapid climate action in creative industries.

The UN Accelerator City programme has enabled Liverpool to convene a new forum of sustainability professionals across multiple creative sectors, setting annual deliverables that cities can work towards to facilitate accelerated change. The focus for 2025 is the transition to clean temporary power, with the technology and supply chain already in place to support this shift.

Cllr Harry Doyle, Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, said:- “Over the past year, our City has shown the power of collaboration between local government, creative industries, and community groups to drive real progress towards net zero. Sharing these pilot results and blueprints will not only help Liverpool cut emissions from live events and screen production but will also inspire other cities to follow our lead. This summit marks a pivotal moment in our journey – proving that when we come together, a sustainable, decarbonised future for Liverpool is within reach.”

Liverpool stands ready to share its learnings, inspire other cities, and continue leading the way towards a net zero future for the UK’s creative industries.