Coldplay “A Head Full of Dreams” tour live in Barcelona. (Flickr/Daniele Dalledonne)
Reducing carbon emissions
Jessie Haas
In 2021, the British rock band Coldplay, long known for its advocacy, announced a twelve-point plan to cut its touring carbon footprint by 50%. Recently Coldplay announced that the first two years of their Music of the Spheres tour reduced carbon emissions 59% over the previous world tour (https://sustainability.coldplay.com/ ).
This was achieved through several methods, including using solar panels and LED lighting at venues, building sets with sustainable materials like bamboo where possible, and using audience-produced electricity; kinetic dancefloors that generate electricity when fans jump on them, and power-generating exercise bikes. The group minimizes air travel and tries to use sustainable aviation fuel where flying is unavoidable. They pledge to travel to gigs by public transport where possible, for example in Cardiff where they arrived at shows by train in 2023.
The report is a record of progress and continuing innovation. Last year’s report was disappointing, showing that the band had ‘only’ achieved a 47% reduction in carbon emissions. Rather than taking a ‘close enough’ attitude, the group kept working, and efficiency has continued to increase.
New developments include diverting 72% of tour waste from landfills and into reuse, recycling, and composting, up from 66% in 2023. This includes 9,625 meals and 90 kg of toiletries from tour catering donated to unhoused and unsheltered people. Solar installations, along with the kinetic dancefloors and power bikes have increased electricity production from 15 to 17 kWh per show. This can power one of the smaller stages each night and provide charging stations for phones, laptops, and power tools for the crew. Eighteeen shows in 2023 were powered using a battery system made from recycled BMW batteries.
Fan travel was not calculated for this estimate of the band’s carbon footprint, but data gathered on the tour app indicates a higher proportion of fans using public transit, with a significant reduction, about 48%, in indirect emissions compared to previous tours. Half the audience members use public transportation. Four percent of fans travel via zero-carbon means, on foot or by bicycle.
The tour’s sustainability efforts are overseen by a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment at Hope Solutions (https://www.hopesolutions.services/the-team) with support from Live Nation’s Green Nation team (https://bit.ly/GreenNationTouringProgram). The figures were vetted by the Environmental Solutions Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (https://environmentalsolutions.mit.edu/). Additionally, Coldplay is working with Hope Solutions, MIT, Live Nation and Warner Music Group to study the environmental impacts of live music and come up with a carbon footprint baseline, and a methodology other groups can use to literally clean up their acts.
Coldplay lists on their website a large number of charities the band funds, including two solar-powered “ocean cleanup river interceptors” which address the problem of plastics in the ocean, and the Vermont-based One Tree Planted (https://onetreeplanted.org), which allows citizens to fund tree planting around the world. Seven million trees have been planted, one for each concert fan. This has restored 10,000 hectares of land in 24 countries, over 43 planting projects. Partnerships with 23 green travel providers helped fans get to shows via low-carbon transport. All shows feature free water refill stations for fans.
Other climate-aware musicians are making similar efforts. Billie Eilish’s new album, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft,’ was released on recycled and eco-vinyl with all packaging produced from recycled materials. Eilish has also established a global conference focused on young people and the contributions they can make to solving the climate crisis, called Overheated. Radiohead pioneered the use of LEDs in spotlights over a decade ago. The 1975 played four “carbon removed” gigs in London this past February. Having calculated that their shows generated 546 tonnees of carbon, chiefly through fan travel to shows, they removed an equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere through tree-planting and direct air capture.
The growing trend in green music venues and tours reflects the interest of, and pressure from fans. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin told the BBC, “The people that give us backlash for that kind of thing, for flying, they’re right.”
Professor John Fernandez of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative said, “We fully endorse this effort as critically important, scientifically rigorous and of the highest quality. The band deserves significant praise in commissioning the work and acting as the vanguard for the global music industry.”
Jessie Haas lives in a 450 sqaure foot, off-grid cabin in southern Vermont with husband Michael J. Daley, and is the author of 40 books for children and adults.
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