Major festivals are major fun, but they can also have a major environmental impact. When 35,000 people descend on Splendour In The Grass in Woodford, Queensland later this month, there are hidden costs involved for the planet.

But the real costs aren't from the festivals themselves. Up to 90% of the total emissions of any event come from us, the ticket holders, and specifically from the emissions from our vehicles on the way to the event.

"But I've paid extra to be Carbon Neutral" I hear you cry, however our vehicle emissions are not offset as part of claiming a carbon neutral status. It's up to us festival-goers to offset these ourselves somehow.

So it's a good thing then that at the end of this month Splendour In The Grass, recent winner of "A Greener Festival" award, is going the extra mile once again to help us tackle our emissions.

This year Splendour becomes the first event in Australia to set up a dedicated carpooling scheme for ticket holders. The scheme includes parking refunds for campers, and an online carpool matching system courtesy of Jayride.

"What we've done is set up a carpool marketplace dedicated to Splendour In The Grass," Rod Bishop, Co-founder of Jayride, explains, "If you're driving to the festival you can post your ad for free, and then we'll find you some passengers to share your petrol cost and emissions."

"If someone's driving from Sydney to Woodford to attend Splendour then they'll be driving 2,000kms return. And if they do that in your average clunker they'll be putting out around half a tonne of CO2-e in fumes."

"But there's a positive way to look at this, and that's to say 'if we get 1,000 people being passengers [instead] over this distance, we've avoided 500 tonnes of pollution'."

"I think that's a pretty cool prospect!"

But there's more to festival carpooling than just the environmental benefit, and more than saving money on petrol. Just like the Splendour In The Grass itself, people are getting into Jayride for the chance to meet new people, listen to great music and have a great time.

For example Madeline May from Melbourne who says on her ad "I'm just looking for a rad bunch of music lovers to share the journey!"

Or Splendiferous from Canberra who insists "Bring your mixtapes!"

Splendour-goers have jumped on board, and really understand the value on offer. Ramona from Townsville sums it up: "So Splendour In The Grass will be amazing, but what makes it more fun is the road trip down!"

By sharing their travel on Jayride these trendsetters not only making an environmental difference, they're having a great time. Plus, with petrol prices at around $1.50 per litre and rising, more people to share the petrol bill means a cheaper festival for all involved.

Festivals like Splendour In The Grass who have the foresight to enable such shared travel will not only enhance their reputation for performing great environmental work, but also the extra benefits of less congestion, less emissions, less community impact and happier guests.

Carpooling schemes are a win-win proposition for everyone involved and festivals that use them are demonstrating their commitment to being carbon neutral in far more than name alone.

To share your ride to Splendour In The Grass visit Jayride.com.au/Splendour2011.