Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d be well aware that we’re in the midst of a climate crisis. It’s important for everyone to do their part to minimise impact, and it’s just as crucial for major conglomerates and even bands to do their part, too – which is something Coldplay is taking a stand on.
Speaking to BBC, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin announced the band wouldn’t be touring their new album due to concerns over the environmental impact of playing live.
“We’re not touring this album,” Martin said. “We’re taking time over the next year or two, to work out how our tour can not only be sustainable [but] how can it be actively beneficial.”
“All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job,” he said.
According to Triple J’s Hack, “a two-week, 15-show tour racks up about 28 tonnes of carbon emissions; about the same amount as an average household would produce in a year.”
Coldplay played 122 shows across five continents in 2016 and 2017 for their A Head Full of Dreams tour. Considering the staggering numbers, it’s no surprise they want to make their world tours as green as possible.
“Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that environmentally,” Martin told BBC. “We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neutral.”
“The hardest thing is the flying side of things,” he noted. “By, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single use plastic, to have it largely solar powered.”
“We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s no so much taking as giving?”
Coldplay isn’t the only band set on making their tours eco-friendly. Last month, Billie Eilish told Jimmy Fallon she is attempting to make her upcoming 2020 Where Do We Go? World tour green.
“We’re trying to be as green as possible on the entire world tour,” she said. “We’re actually bringing someone from REVERB, which is basically this company that specialises in the best, and most healthy and green ways to do everything.”
“So there’s no plastic straws allowed, the fans are going to bring their own water bottles, there’s going to be recycle cans everywhere. If something is recyclable, it doesn’t matter unless there’s a recycle bin…Plant-based food and everything.”
Billie Eilish also joins The 1975 in an effort to make touring eco-friendly. Earlier this year, the British band teamed up with Swedish teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg on an environmental statement track, have created sustainable merch and even donated ticket sales to reforestation charities.
The WWF is encouraging Coldplay, and no doubt other artists, in their efforts to go green. “It is fantastic to see world-famous artists stepping up to protect the planet.
“We all have a responsibility to lead by example in the face of this climate and nature crisis – inaction is not an option if we are to preserve our planet for future generations,” Gareth Redmond-King, WWF’s head of climate change told BBC.
It’s so inspiring to see such influential artists not only use their platforms for good, but also hold themselves accountable for their impact on the environment.