The Music of the Spheres tour will begin in Costa Rica on 18 March 2022 – a symbolic country as all of its energy consumption comes from renewable energy – and continue to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, USA, Germany, Poland, France, Belgium and the UK.“When [I] say, ‘I need you to jump up and down,’ I’ll literally need you to jump up and down, because if you don’t, then the lights will go out.”
– Coldplay frontman Chris Martin explained to the BBC.
To lower its emissions the concerts will be powered by solar panels, waste cooking oil and Coldplay’s fans, through a kinetic stadium floor and electricity-generating power bikes, which fans can use to actively charge the show’s battery. The customized stadium floors were created in partnership with BMW.
The stage will be built from recycled steel and bamboo, and the show design will be adapted to local materials and equipment as much as possible. They will upgrade to ultra-efficient equipment such as low-energy LED screens, laser and lighting system and a PA system with up to 50 percent less power consumption compared to the previous tour that will also dramatically reduce environmental noise outside the venues.
Coldplay will avoid private planes and will pay a surcharge to use Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The fuel is made from renewable waste materials. It’s important to note that biofuels still emit GHGs, although they are better than traditional fuels, as they are waste and do not need to be extracted in a highly polluting manner.
Coldplay also partnered with Swiss carbon capture company Climeworks.
“We pledge to drawdown any unavoidable emissions according to the Oxford Principles for Net-Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting.”
Climeworks’ machines remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it safely or package it for commercial use in products such as fizzy drinks. CCU/CCS technologies to need a lot of energy to even function, which is why Coldplay will also be focusing on nature-based solutions such as reforestation, rewilding, soil and seagrass restoration, partnering with OneTreePlanted to plant a tree for each ticket purchase.
“Coldplay has announced their next tour Music of the Spheres World Tour to have at minimum a net-zero carbon footprint and as such have built a portfolio of solutions to help them achieve this goal by the end of the new touring cycle.”— Climeworks
Fans will be encouraged to use low-carbon transport to the event. If fans can document their transport on an official tour app they become eligible for certain discounts. Based on fans’ use of the app , Coldplay will calculate the total carbon footprint of travel to and from shows.
The tour will also include onsite activations, powered by solar and kinetic energy. These activations will feature interactive and educational experiences highlighting innovations in clean technology and the natural world.
Learn more about Coldplay’s sustainability pledge.
