Coldplay revealed their groundbreaking environmental initiatives on their “Music Of The Spheres” world tour.
In 2019, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion indicated that they were considering how to tour more sustainably.
They vowed to lower emissions by 50% from their 2016-2017 global tour in 2022. A year later, the band’s tour carbon emissions dropped 47%. Coldplay said, “This is a good start – and something that our incredible crew should be very proud of – but clearly there’s still room for improvement.”
A sustainability report on the ‘Music of the Spheres’ World Tour is now available.
DHL became the tour’s logistics partner, focusing on advanced biofuels in the air and electric vehicles on land. The band has followed the Oxford Principles for Net-Zero Aligned carbon offsetting to eliminate unavoidable emissions.
Coldplay and BMW created a movable, reachable show battery from recyclable BMW i3 batteries. The battery powers all shows with renewable energy.
They also developed kinetic flooring in stadiums and events to convert audience dancing and movement into energy for shows. The band has scheduled limited travel and sent a sustainability rider to all venues and stadiums to ask about environmental best practices.
In 2021, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin told NME: “The reason we did the BMW commercial [the car manufacturer recently used ‘Higher Power’ for their range of electric vehicles] was because they gave us these batteries for the show that we can power with left-over restaurant oil and solar power. The front audience has kinetic flooring, so when they move up and down, they create power. We have a long way to go, but we must proceed.”
Stages are made of recyclable, lightweight, low-carbon materials that may be reused after tour. Fans in the crowd wear 100% compostable, plant-based LED bracelets. The Ticketing Business reported that collecting, sterilising, and recharging wristbands after each show cut productivity by 80%. The first year of the tour saw an 86% band return rate.
Sustainable lighting and audio production, low-energy LED screens and lighting, and biodegradable confetti are also used.
Martin has explained why eco-friendly music tours make “business sense” in the industry.
“We’re trying to do is actually not advocate at all, but just prove that it makes business sense because that’s where we feel you’ll really get people to change, like ‘Hey you can make more money’,” he told Ellie Goulding on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on December 28
He added that “way more people than you think” care about the environment. “Most people, if they can, care about it,” he said.
Martin said their tour was meant to prove that being green isn’t “some charitable, left-wing, wishy-washy thing, it’s like, ‘No, no, this is the best business sense, too’.”
The band also addressed being called “useful idiots for greenwashing”.
They halved touring emissions with Neste. Neste claims to be the world’s largest producer of sustainable biofuels, but its palm oil suppliers cut 24,710 acres of forest in Indonesia and Malaysia between 2019 and 2020 [via Friends Of The Earth].
T&E senior director Carlos Calvo Ambel said: “Neste is cynically using Coldplay to greenwash its reputation.”
Coldplay replied: “When we announced this tour, we said we would try our best to make it as sustainable and low-carbon-impact as possible, but that it would be a work in progress. Still true. We don’t claim perfection.”
“Before we appointed Neste as supplier of these biofuel products, we received their guarantee that they do not use virgin materials in their production, especially palm oil. We believe they solely employ renewable waste goods like frying oil and wood pulp remnants.
They received criticism for partnering with BMW, but they responded that they had approached other electric car manufacturers but “BMW were the ones that offered to help”.
Coldplay added, “We have no connection to or influence on their corporate policies.” “We just need their batteries to power our shows with renewable energy.”
They said, “We are doing our best, and always genuinely welcome suggestions as to how to do it better.”
Additionally, the band will return to Asia, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand later this year.