THEthe Sanremo Festival 2026 did not pass the environmental sustainability exam. Despite the promises and even the improvements made from year to year, the singing event failed to convince Legambientewhich rejected the 2026 edition, confirming that the great event of Italian song does not yet meet the parameters necessary to be considered “friend of the planet”.
Legambiente: the 2026 Sanremo Festival is not “sustainable”
The verdict did not come from a distant office. AND was launched by Angelo Gentili, national secretary of the environmentalist organisation right in the beating heart of the Ligurian race. Precisely during a meeting at Casa Sanremo, the large “living room” of the Festival, where Gentili was to present the next edition of Festambientethe famous ecological festival that takes place every summer in Maremma, considered a European model of sustainability.
The environmental impact of the festival, beyond the songs
The main problem of an event like Sanremo, explained Legambiente, is its very size. Every year, the Ligurian city is literally invaded by thousands of people. Not just the competing artists, but an army of technicians, journalists, professionals and tourists. This crowding generates enormous pressure on the territory in terms of energy and resource consumption.
Legambiente’s analysis exposes Sanremo’s fragilities regarding its very heavy ecological footprint. (Getty Images)
Crowding, traffic and waste: the main problems
The ecological footprint of the event, in fact, is fueled by the massive electricity consumption required from television production, from the city traffic that goes haywire And from CO2 emissions linked to the continuous movements of guests. To this we must add the issue of waste. The enormous sets and promotional materials used during the week, often in the end they become waste that is difficult to dispose of in a virtuous way.
Progress, what has been done in the 2026 edition
Having said this, it must however be recognized that the edition led by Carlo Conti, with Laura Pausini and Pilar Fogliati, did not stand idly by. The Municipality has implemented an update of the sustainability action plan which introduced several interesting innovations.
To reduce the use of private cars, for example, electric shuttles have been set up and regional trains have been added to facilitate those arriving from out of town.
Eco-islands and LED lighting
For waste management it has taken a step forward thanks to the use of “computerized eco-islands”intelligent bins, and the use of electric vehicles for night collection, which are less polluting and noisy. And for the lighting has chosen LEDa technology that guarantees significant energy savings compared to old light bulbs. However, for Legambiente, all this represents only the beginning of a still long journey.
Comparison with other festivals
The criticism leveled by environmentalists it is not a sentence without appeal, but an invitation to do better. There are already more than 150 events in Italy, such as Umbria Jazz or the Festival dei Due Mondiwho demonstrated how it is possible to combine entertainment and respect for nature. Sanremo, being the country’s main showcase, should be the leader of this revolution.
The challenge of the Sanremo Festival according to Legambiente
To obtain “sufficiency” in future editions, the event will have to focus more decisively on sustainable mobility and even more widespread separate waste collection. AND, another key point will concern the use of short supply chain organic productsthose foods that travel little from the producer to the table, for all the refreshment areas linked to the event.
The objective must be to reduce climate-altering emissions, making the Festival not just a moment of leisurebut a true example of circular economy applied to culture.
