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Chris Martin admits that eco touring has “a long way to go”
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 9 December 2021
Chris Martin has admitted that there is still “a long way to go” to make touring entirely environmentally friendly. However, he says, with the plans Coldplay have put in place for their world tour next year, they have been able to make their live shows more sustainable in ways the band “didn’t dream were possible”.
Speaking to Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2, Martin said: “We’ve been working with some amazing brains to see how we can cut down as much of the environmental impact as possible. We still have quite a long way to go, but we’ve already come quite a long way. And there are some things that we didn’t dream were possible [that] are possible”.
Coldplay, of course, announced in 2019 that they would not tour again until doing so could be made “environmentally beneficial”. The world then went into an extended period when they couldn’t tour anyway, but in October this year they announced plans for 2022 dates, which would employ various pieces of technology and other initiatives in order to reduce the environmental impact of the shows.
For example, the gigs will be powered entirely by renewable energy, including via solar installations at every venue, waste cooking oil, a kinetic stadium floor that will generate energy from fans dancing, and kinetic bikes that fans can ride on to provide power to the show while they wait for it to start.
Audience members will also be encouraged to travel to shows in the most environmentally friendly way possible – with discounts in the venue for those who do – and there will be drinking water freely and readily available at every concert in an effort to cut down on plastic waste. A tree will also be planted for each ticket sold.
While these shows might not actually be “environmentally beneficial” as yet, the tour will test various different ways to lessen the impact of touring, the learnings from which can then be taken on board by other artists. One of the remaining issues, of course, is the air travel between countries, not least because the band have admitted that they will continue to use private jets.
