The Eilish environmental effect

Billie Eilish, the 24-year-old U.S. singer-songwriter whose moody, genre-defying music has won 10 Grammies and two Oscars, has her own take on how to mark the end of a long run of shows. After her latest tour, Hit Me Hard and Soft, Eilish took a health break, worked on new music – and released an environmental impact report measuring the success of her efforts to slash the carbon footprint of arena tours. 

Eilish, who has sold the digital equivalent of 80 million albums, comes by her green credo honestly. Her mother, actress Maggie Baird, ran a no-meat, no-waste household, where paper towels and Christmas wrap were banned. (Baird now operates Support + Feed, a not-for-profit advocating for a global shift to plant-based food systems.) 

When she started touring, Eilish was horrified by Big Music’s indifference to sustainability. “You would not believe how wasteful this industry is,” Eilish told a CNN reporter last year. Speaking to organizations who wanted to work with her, she says, “You ask them what their plan is to be more eco-conscious, and nobody had a plan.” So she started demanding one.  

With less acclaim than her music has brought her, Eilish has become a Gen Z climate champion. She attended the 2022 Met Gala in a Gucci dress made from recycled materials, lectured Vogue magazine on climate disruption, required concert venues to provide free water-bottle filling stations, and offered vegetarian meals to concert staff. Her Overheated climate-action initiative produced a documentary on climate change, alongside an ongoing series of formal climate conferences.  

Eilish and Baird also teamed up with Reverb, a non-profit consultancy focused on greening concerts and festivals. Reverb’s environmental impact report demonstrates the results that spirited leadership can produce. Eilish’s 2024/2025 tour raised US$13.3 million for climate organizations, delivered 7.7 million plant-based meals (reducing food-related emission by half), and avoided 135,000 single-use water bottles. Since the biggest climate impact of arena shows is the transportation required for tens of thousands of fans, Eilish’s team worked with each venue, Google Maps and local transit to plot the greenest alternatives. Best of all, Reverb says, many venues have turned these new practices into ongoing operations.  

Unlike many climate crusaders, Eilish is bullish about the possibilities for change. “The main message I live by is that things don’t always have to be done the way they’ve always been done.” 

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