New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Earns Evergreen Certification for Sustainability and Community Impact
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (“Jazz Fest”) presented by Shell USA, Inc. (“Shell”), has been awarded the Evergreen certification by the Council for Responsible Sport (“Council”). Jazz Fest, a 55year-old New Orleans institution known for its celebration of music, art, and culture, is the largest cultural festival to ever achieve Evergreen certification.
Jazz Fest welcomes around 500,000 visitors spanning eight days and features numerous artists and local vendors. Since 2022, Shell and the Jazz Fest team have worked together to continue to enhance a broad range of sustainability and community impact goals, incorporating these principles into daily operations that monitor and seek to minimize the festival’s environmental footprint.
The achievement of Evergreen certification recognizes these activities were assessed in adherence to the independent Council’s rigorous certification standards and verified by several environmental and social indicators. Jazz Fest earned this distinction by achieving more than 90% of the total best practices in the Council’s guidelines (PDF) for responsible events.
"Large scale events, like Jazz Fest, that meet enhanced criteria for social and environmental responsibility, show the way for other events to do the same. The Jazz Fest team, and their long-time partner Shell, executed plans to increase waste-diversion, offset the event’s carbon footprint, and implement community engagement programs, elevating the festival’s previous Gold Certification to Evergreen" shared Kat Phelan, Board Member of the Council.
"Big thanks to everyone who attended Jazz Fest and participated in the Shell Recycle Rewards program,” Quint Davis, Producer/Director of Jazz Fest, expressed his appreciation. “It’s a great honor for the Festival to receive the Evergreen certification. Our partnership with Shell and the community has allowed us to grow our sustainability program and continue our commitment to the cultural, social, and economic well-being of New Orleans."
2024 Jazz Fest Sustainability Program Highlights:
- Avoided 153.12 metric tons of CO2 from the air
- Diverted 99.57 metric tons of recycling from landfill including 9.48 metric tons of food waste composted
- Created 181* jobs over a four-week period (includes 100 jobs created for the overall Shell program)
- *2024 pre-production and 8 Festival days
- Used 16,744 gallons of water at refill stations, equivalent to 133,952 single-use 16 oz bottles
- Recycled 21,113.87 lbs of cooking oil, converted to fuel for local shrimping boats
- Rewarded festival goers for recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans; the third year for Shell’s Recycle Rewards program
- Supported the Shell LiveWire Louisiana Accelerator Program, promoting entrepreneurship and employment across 13 parishes. The Shell LiveWire program began in 2023 in Louisiana and has graduated 48 entrepreneurs since inception.
The two-year certification of Jazz Fest was completed in May 2024.
About the Council for Responsible Sport
The Council for Responsible Sport is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with a vision of a world where responsibly produced sports and events are the norm. Since 2007, the Council has helped event organizers measure, manage, and verify their events' social and environmental impacts. The Council provides independent verification and certification for events, ensuring they meet high standards of environmental, social, and economic responsibility. Hundreds of certified events are among the world’s leading examples of responsible sport. In partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Council has digitized its certification process with the ReScore App, a platform that simplifies event reporting and enhances sustainability tracking. https://www.councilforresponsiblesport.org/
About the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell
Established in 1970, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival or Jazz Fest, annually celebrates the unique culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. It is considered one of the world’s greatest music festivals. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc., the nonprofit organization that owns Jazz Fest, uses the proceeds from the event for year-round activities in education, economic development and cultural enrichment. For information visit, www.nojazzfest.com.
