Coldplay lead Chris Martin has stated why he believes eco-friendly tours make “business sense” in the music industry.
The British band took off on their ‘Music Of The Spheres‘ tour last year with a renewed focus on environmental sustainability. The new enterprises included cutting direct emissions by 50 per cent compared to their last tour in 2016 and 2017, using 100 per cent renewable energy and having solar installations at every venue. Shows also featured energy-generating exercises bikes and kinetic dance floors that turned fans’ movement into power.
Their new attempt came after four-piece announced they were taking time to consider how they would tour in the future in order to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. Martin has now opened up why their new approach is not only more environmentally sustainable, but also makes more sense financially.
“What we’re trying to do is actually not advocate at all, but just prove that it makes business sense because that’s where we feel you’ll really get people to change, like ‘Hey you can make more money’,” Martin told Ellie Goulding on BBC Radio 4’s Today program on December 28.
He also said that “way more people than you think” are interested in looking after the planet. “Most people, if they have the luxury of being able to care about it, care about it,” he added.
Martin added that they were trying to show through their tour that being green isn’t “some charitable, left-wing, wishy-washy thing, it’s like, ‘No, no, this is the best business sense, too’.”
Back in summer, new figures shared by Coldplay showed that they reduced their carbon emissions by nearly half with their eco-friendly world tour, which visited South America, the United States, the UK and more.