Courts Circuits exists to support, equip, and document new programming practices grounded in cooperation and efficiency — making international bookings in electronic music viable at an ecologically acceptable cost.
Courts Circuits will work to : identify levers for change in programming practices ; experiment different organisational, economic, artistic, and social approaches to implement sustainable touring ; and share the tools needed to scale up these solutions.
General background
Mobility — of audiences and artists — accounts for 60 to 80% of the carbon footprint of a live event on average (Impact CO2, 2025). For the electronic music sector, transitioning to low-carbon travel is no longer optional: it is a climate imperative. The numbers speak for themselves — the world’s most in-demand DJs take an average of 52 flights per year, generating approximately 33 tonnes of CO₂ annually per artist, four times the French national average. When a low-carbon alternative exists, switching to it can reduce an event’s carbon footprint by up to 25% (Le Collectif des Festivals, 2022).
Yet this shift cannot happen without the full involvement of the sector’s professionals, and it must account for the specific challenges of the electronic music ecosystem: widespread economic precarity and artists’ dependence on live income; soaring production costs, including frequently prohibitive rail fares; deepening inequalities between a small number of internationally celebrated and highly paid DJs and the majority of artists who cannot live solely from their artistic income; and the critical question of who is best positioned to drive this change without penalising those who are already most vulnerable or underrepresented.
In this context, how can we shift booking practices to make it more sustainable yet not harming those who are already the most vulnerable ?
Our Approach
Courts Circuits exists to support, equip, and document new programming practices grounded in cooperation and efficiency (“artistic short circuits”).
« Artistic short circuits » or sustainable touring are a low-carbon, collaborative alternative to conventional touring models, offering a concrete response to these challenges. By pooling programming across multiple promoters, systematically choosing low-carbon transport where available, and programming a greater proportion of local artists, this approach has the potential to reduce an event’s carbon footprint by up to six times.
Our approach to sustainable touring rely on the following commitments :
– Reducing carbon emissions from artist travel by actively developing low-carbon mobility practices across the sector.
– Shifting international bookings practices towards a more sustainable and inclusive approach.
– Local anchoring of events, working on two complementary approaches :
· Bottom-up : giving emerging artists easier access to their local events, turning those into genuine showcases for the local scene.
· Top-down : facilitating knowledge and skills transfer between touring artists and local cultural actors.
– Fostering cooperation, mutualisation, and structuration of electronic music professionals, towards a common green transition strategy .
– Improving artists’ work conditions and wellbeing to reduce psychosocial risks.
– Making changes in practices visible to audiences, as way to raise awareness on their own consumption habits.
Our Values
Courts Circuits as well as all project partners (venues, artists, promoters, booking agencies) commit to the following five principles:
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Geographically coherent touring, planned collaboratively with other venues using the methodology developed by the Courts Circuits team.
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A sustainable touring pace, compatible with healthy working conditions and designed to reduce psychosocial risks.
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Low-carbon transport by default (primarily rail) with air travel strictly avoided whenever a train alternative exists.
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Local artist programming: each Courts Circuits date integrates artists drawn from the local talent pools of partner venues along the tour route.
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Complementary and alternative formats alongside DJ sets or live performances: workshops, talks, interviews, roundtables, or outreach sessions with audiences less familiar with the culture.