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12 December 2021

Chris Martin On Eco-Touring: “We Still Have A Long Way To Go”

Coldplay Music Of The Spheres Million Tickets
Photo: Edd Westmacott/Alamy Stock Photo
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Chris Martin has spoken about the problems facing Coldplay as they attempt to ensure that their upcoming shows have as little an imnpact on the environment as possible.

Speaking to Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2 ahead of their In Concert show, 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”.

In an interview with NME back in October, Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman said that the band had already “made a great start” with planning the sustainable shows. “Whatever we end up doing, will be a Phase One, but there always has to be an improvement and a continual cycle. If you want to pick holes, and I’m sure someone can and will, I think that’s fine: what you have to do is embrace the idea of continued progress. It has to be an ever-evolving situation.”

Back in 2019, Coldplay announced that they would not tour again until doing so could be made “environmentally beneficial”. In October this year they announced 2022 dates and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of the shows.

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.

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