Coldplay - Music of the Spheres World Tour
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Sustainabilitiy
When we first announced the Music Of The Spheres Tour, we hoped to make it as environmentally beneficial as possible and reduce our direct carbon emissions (from show production, freight, band and crew travel) by 50%. We’d like to share how it’s been going; some things work and some things need improving.
The emissions data from the first 12 months of the tour has now been collated, assessed and independently validated by Prof. John E. Fernandez of the
MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative.
On a show-by-show comparison, the Music Of The Spheres Tour has so far produced 47% less CO2e emissions than our last stadium tour (2016-17).
This is a good start – and something that our incredible crew should be very proud of – but clearly there’s still room for improvement.
Now that we’re into the second year of the tour, we’ve started to run the entire show (audio, lights, lasers etc) from an electric battery system that allows us to use 100% renewable energy as efficiently as possible. We have been using electric vehicles and alternative fuels wherever we can, as well as reducing waste and plastic usage to a minimum.
Thank you to all the brilliant people and creative minds who’ve helped us so far .
Thankyou too, SO MUCH, to everyone who’s come to a show and made all of this possible. You have helped charge the show batteries on the power bikes and kinetic dance floors; travelled to shows by foot, bicycle or public transport; used the recycling bins; ride-shared; brought refillable water bottles; returned the LED wristbands after the show. And just by coming you have had a tree planted, and helped a range of environmental organisations like The Ocean Cleanup and ClientEarth (a team of lawyers who defend the environment).
Thankyou all and hopefully this time next year we will have made big improvements. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to send them via this link.
With love
Coldplay
Working with One Tree Planted, we have supported 21 planting projects across 17 countries from ecosystem regeneration in the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil to revegetating Marna Banggara in Australia.
Planting trees in areas that have been degraded or deforested has helped the environment by accelerating and assuring the re-establishment of healthy forests.
Here are some examples of the planting projects:
All our data and environmental impact assessments from both the A Head Full Of Dreams Tour (2016/2017) and the first year of the Music Of The Spheres Tour were shared with the team and leadership at the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. They have independently validated and quality-assured the data as well as the calculation methodologies, assumptions and rationale for the tour vs tour comparison.
“Based on a detailed review of the work of Coldplay’s sustainability team in assessing and advising the band and management on the CO2e impact of touring, we fully endorse this effort as critically important, scientifically rigorous and of the highest quality.Prof. John E. Fernandez MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
MIT ESI endorses this work as an important and substantive step toward a new era of eventually achieving carbon neutral music events by major artists. The band deserves significant praise in commissioning the work and acting as the vanguard for the global music industry as it begins to take seriously the reality of living and making music in the Anthropocene.”
Our figures are based on actual emissions reductions and do not factor in any carbon offsetting or carbon credits. We note that, as yet, there is no industry standard for sustainable touring or centrally-mandated methodology for emissions reporting in this sector. This is something that we will continue to promote and try to establish. We have made all efforts to align ourselves with the principles of recognised standards such as Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol and follow best practices and guidance.
All of the tour’s sustainability efforts have been overseen by a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment at Hope Solutions and Live Nation’s Green Nation team.
As the tour’s Official Logistics Partner, DHL have been instrumental in minimising emissions from freight and transportation and will continue to offer solutions to minimise logistics-related emissions: from packing efficiency, to advanced biofuels on sea and air, to electric vehicles on land. DHL’s GoGreen team supported us with our freight impact assessment, taking all the data from our freight forwarder and plugging it into the EcoTransIT freight emissions calculation tools. The methodology and assessment is consistent with leading industry guidelines including EN16258 and the Global Logistics Emission Council’s (GLEC) framework.
We have not included fan travel to and from the venue in our direct emission figures.
However, the initial data gathered by our tour app, developed in partnership with SAP, suggests a higher proportion of fans travelling by public transport and a significant reduction in indirect emissions compared to previous tours.
We are grateful to all local transport authorities who have provided free or low cost public transport to our shows.
We’re proud that the tour is able to support the following brilliant organisations.
