Live music has a way of turning ordinary nights into memories that last a lifetime.
Seeing one’s favorite artist live in concert is something that is on the bucket list of music fans everywhere. The lights dim, the crowd roars and for a few hours, the outside world ceases to exist.
People spent a whopping $19 billion last year alone to attend concerts all over the world. But an often neglected side of the multibillion dollar industry is the environmental impact of these shows.
Moving thousands of pounds of equipment from one location to another takes its toll on our planet. Who was going to tackle this problem that kept mounting day by day? Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion of the British rock band Coldplay stepped up to the plate.
When Coldplay announced their “Music of the Spheres World Tour” in 2021, they made headlines. Not only for their first tour in five years, but for the aspirations that the band held.
Their goal? To reinvent what it means to tour responsibly in the midst of a climate crisis.
How were they going to do that? By introducing a 12-step plan with one major headline: Cut carbon dioxide emissions in half compared to their last tour in 2017.
But that was in 2021. It’s 2025 now, and the band has logged over 200 shows with over 10 million people attending this tour.
At the heart of the plan was one major goal: cut tour-related carbon dioxide related emissions in half compared to their 2016 “A Head Full of Dreams Tour.” As of June of 2024, the band has not only met their 50% target, but exceeded it.
Each concert is powered by a variety of renewable energy solutions. Solar panels laid behind the stage and on top of the speaker towers which charge as soon as they arrive in the venue, wind turbines placed on top of the towers, using the first ever renewable show battery (in partnership with BMW) and even the audience themselves, help give the show the power it needs for the night and to help the magic come to life.
On average, the fan power produces 17 kilowatt-hours per show, which they use to power a 20 minute set on the C-Stage.
Another one of the band’s promises was waste management and in that arena, they’ve thrived. They have swapped to biodegradable confetti, inflatables used during the show are reused from night to night, and 86% of the glowing LED wristbands that light up the shows are returned and recycled after each performance.
But the most tangible difference? Reforestation.
In the initial 12-step plan, the band promised to plant a tree for every ticket sold. With a total attendance of 12.3 million people, the band has matched that number and planted trees across 24 different countries, with an additional three million set aside for projects in the Amazon rainforest. The initiative covers 10,000 hectares of land, signaling a follow-through to their promise of ecological restoration that extends far beyond the tour.
Coldplay’s efforts to take better care of the planet while on tour has caught traction, not only within their fanbase, but around the music world. Those light up wristbands you see at concerts nowadays? They were the first ones to do them.
The “Music of The Spheres World Tour” has proven to be more than just a spectacle, it’s a case study on how one of the biggest bands in the world can begin to reshape the music industry’s carbon footprint.
Many artists have walked the walk of touring green, but Coldplay have shown what a follow-through on those talks looks like, reducing emissions but keeping the same great show that has made them a “must see” act.
What makes the band’s commitment to sustainability and their success with it so striking is the scale. Planting over 12 million trees, recycling nearly nine out of 10 LED wristbands, and significantly reducing their carbon dioxide emissions isn’t some half-baked promise or gesture; it’s a measurable change with an impact that will be felt for years to come.
It also sets a precedent for how musicians are to run their tours moving forward. If one of the biggest bands in the world is able to make measurable change on the largest scale, what’s stopping everyone from following suit, no matter the audience?
What began as a promise made by four musicians from the suburbs of London has evolved into a new standard for the music industry — a blueprint that outlines how a world tour doesn’t have to come at the cost of damaging our planet.
