Viva la vida verde : Coldplay saves the environment, one concert at a time
Coldplay made history by becoming the first music band to publish a comprehensive sustainability update suo moto in June 2023 after completing a year of their seventh world tour "Music of the Spheres"
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“When she was just a girl, she expected the world,
But it flew away from her reach….
“In the night, the stormy night, she'd close her eyes,
In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly,
And dream of para-para-paradise.”
- “Paradise”, Album : Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay, September 2011
The Coldplay Story
As a part of the Global Citizen movement’s call for action, in a befitting interpretation of lyrics of eight contemporary songs, Khanyi Mlaba quotes the lyrics of the song Paradise to propose that while Paradise is not a song that addresses the impending issue of climate change directly, it can still be construed to be one. Her parsing of the lyrics is perceptive, as the song talks about a child’s version of an untainted world - devoid of socio economic issues, pollution, discrimination, extreme weather or negative impacts of climate change.
This interpretation is very on brand for the pop culture phenomenon that is Coldplay because it speaks strongly to the larger narrative of the band. Formed in 1996 at University College London, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion shot to megastardom with Coldplay in record time and have retained the throne for ruling the charts for nearly two decades now. What sets them apart from their counterparts is their collective zest to constantly reinvent themselves. Most of their lyrics have a profoundness, which they weave closely with the music to create an emotionally rewarding experience. Whether it is their texturally rich rock ballad Yellow or their Everyday life album that was emblematic of unifying themes such as love, war, racism, faith, gun control, friendship, climate change, police brutality and more - Coldplay’s narrative has been to push their own boundaries, mastering the art of reinvention. Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri aptly observes that Coldplay’s trajectory of growth widened the "roster of artists inspired by them" creating "a rich multi-genre legacy" which impacted a variety of mainstream and indie musicians worldwide.
Unafraid to lose their stardom and taking it on the chin when the critics branded them as clichéd, Coldplay never shied away from evolving into a better version of themselves. The band has also been open about their politics and played an active role as a catalyst on many occasions. Their activism is as evident in the larger than life production of their live performances as it is in their strategic appearances at events such as the Superbowl half time show where they openly sported the pride flag in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Negative environmental impact of concert tours
As is the case currently with most industries, sustainability reporting is not a mandate for the music industry. Research from Cambridge University by Matt Brennan, Jo Collinson Scott, Angela Connelly and Gemma Lawrence in 2019 studied the tours of five musicians using a carbon tracking tool, for festivals in Scotland. The researchers found that the artists added 19,314kg of CO2 into the environment in just six months during the music festivals which is the equivalent to taking nearly twenty return flights from London to New York. Meanwhile, recent estimates suggest that a live concert emits 405,000 tonnes of GHG emissions in the UK each year.
Assessing the severity of the shocking figures in the two infographics above, a report released in 2021 by the United Kingdom-based Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research suggested that music industry stakeholders can help significantly slash tour-related emissions by monitoring transportation and energy use.
As a matter of fact, there has been an urgency in the air for a decade about the leadership needed in the music industry to spearhead the era of accountability and transparency. There was a growing chasm in the business of music. One that existed between the gigantic revenue generated from various sources like performances, endorsements and merchandise sale, and the capital dedicated towards genuine ESG efforts to generate a positive environmental impact from the business.
Coldplay’s green credentials = Impact driven entrepreneurship
It is not as if artists have not lent their voice to positive causes before this. They have done so across decades, but technology has shrunk the globe beyond human comprehension. The business of music is witnessing unprecedented numbers from sales at world tours, where each concert is being conceptualised at a scale that was previously unfathomable. Additionally, from the point of view of entrepreneurship, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), between 1988 and 2015, 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global GHG emissions. Arguably, these 100 companies are in the driving seat when it comes to tackling climate change and reducing global emissions.
Coldplay has gained its place as one of the historic bands with a strong consistent brand story while being amongst the most successful entrepreneurs of the music industry driving top notch revenue. Technically, one can still argue that it is still a band and not a business. While sustainability reporting isn’t mandatory in the UK unless one is a FTSE 100 company or turn over £36 million or more, when it comes to the music industry Coldplay can be considered, in stature, among the top 100 companies equivalent.
This is exactly where Coldplay becomes a changemaker in our opinion - they put their money with their mouth is, without having a mandate imposing the responsibility on them. As multi-hyphenate intention driven artists-entrepreneurs-citizens, they recognised the need of the hour to use their brand and its business as a vehicle to communicate the positive environmental impact they make, thereby spearheading a new era of accountability in the music industry.
With the publication of the Sustainability Update on the sustainability initiatives incorporated in their seventh world tour -“Music of the Spheres” that started in March 2022 and sold more than 7 million tickets in June 2023 when the update released. With the 12 point neatly drafted update, they made history as they elevated the ethical standards in the industry manifolds and became one of the most environmentally friendly major touring artists across the globe. This update was not just an effort in the direction of recording their initiatives, it was serves as a yardstick for those who want to communicate their ESG, sustainability and social impact efforts effectively.
The infographic below gives a bird’s eye-view of the update as it highlights the band’s strategy and emphasis on measurement, processes, and alignment with internationally recognized frameworks. They adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and benchmarked its current tour against the previous one. They have set clear goals to reduce their CO2 emissions by almost 50%. The report also outlines initiatives and partnerships that have empowered them to reach the set goals, thus providing readers with transparency and accountability.
To use cutting edge tech for its initiative, Coldplay partnered with SAP to create the Coldplay Music of the Spheres World Tour app to provide fans with insight into the planetary impact of their travel to and from the show, guiding them to make more sustainable choices. The app provides Coldplay with greater transparency into the environmental impact of the tour and a direct connection to fans. Ticking all the boxes for a piece of technology, that can be a part of the Tech for good movement.
Last but not the least 10% of the revenue from the tour was donated by Coldplay to environmental organizations such as ClientEarth, The Ocean Cleanup, Climeworks, Sea Shepherd, Project Seagrass, Sustainable Food Trust. And finally, collaborating with One Tree Planted, for every ticket sold they planted one tree.
This is the phenomenal story of a group of changemakers and how four tech enabled entrepreneurs took up the responsibility of using their creative business to ensure a positive environmental impact. We tip our proverbial hats to Coldplay for their passion, empathy, climate consciousness, collaborative spirit and for leading from the front.
Recommended background music for this newsletter :
“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones.”
– Coldplay