Coldplay is committed to reducing carbon emissions on tours, and the “Viva La Vida” singers just announced that they managed to reduce their carbon footprint of touring by 59% during the first two years of their eco-friendly “Music of the Spheres” world tour, compared with the previous stadium tour in 2016-17.
These results – evaluated on a show-by-show comparison – were verified by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, according to the band’s statement on their official website.
“As a band, and as an industry, we’re a long way from where we need to be on this,” the band said. “But we’re grateful for everyone’s help so far, and we salute everyone who’s making efforts to push things in the right direction.”
An update on our tour’s sustainability initiatives 💚https://t.co/h5kB6ENdI1#MusicOfTheSpheresWorldTour pic.twitter.com/puCcIl4iAQ
— Coldplay (@coldplay) June 3, 2024
The band first announced their intention to reduce their direct carbon emissions — from show production to freight, along with band and crew travel — in 2021 when they revealed a 12-point plan to cut the carbon footprint of touring by 50%.
The plan included minimizing air travel, as well as encouraging and inspiring fans to use bikes and public transportation to attend shows. They embraced innovative practices like solar panels, kinetic flooring, and exercise bikes that help power the venues. The whole tour routine turned out to be an interactive experience where fans contributed by powering gigs with exercise bicycles or by using a dancefloor that generated electricity when they danced on it. With every ticket sold, a tree was planted, and it resulted in 7 million new trees across 24 countries and 48 planting projects so far.
Other key elements shared by the band involve deployment of two solar-powered The Ocean Cleanup River Interceptors, donation of 9,625 meals + 90kg of toiletries from tour catering to the unhoused and unsheltered, and cutting 72% of all tour waste diverted from landfill and sent for reuse, recycling and composting.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 past December, Chris Martin, the vocalist and co-founder of Coldplay, said he wanted to prove sustainable touring was attainable.
“What we’re trying to do is actually not advocate at all but just prove that it makes business sense,” he said.
“At the end of the day, for a lot of people, that’s their primary consideration in every wealth bracket,” he added. “So we’re really trying to show on this tour that being clean and green isn’t some charitable left-wing wishy-washy thing. It’s like, no, this is the best business sense too.”