The Coldplay lesson: Are concerts sustainable?
TRANSPORT, energy and waste are the main sources of environmental impacts of concerts, both indoor and outdoor.
Foreign artists take a commercial flight or use private jets. Local celebrities and fans travel to the concert venue, the latter driving their personal vehicles or taking public transportation.
While public transportation and carpooling reduce emissions, urban mobility in Metro Manila and nearby areas has long been an issue for millions of Filipinos as jeepneys, taxis, buses and tricycles, and private vehicles fight for road space.
Data from Yard, a certified B Corporation, shows that 15 percent of the population takes 70 percent of the flights every year and produces 7 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per person. The average amount of CO2 emissions produced by celebrities in 2022 — only by their private jets — is 3,376.64 tons each.
On energy usage, a concert will typically use around 500,000 watts of electricity. This is equivalent to 500 light bulbs, each using 1,000 watts. The majority of concerts are powered by diesel generators which emit a lot of CO2 pollution. A study by the United Kingdom’s Green Festival Alliance reveals that power requirements account for 70 percent of CO2 emissions.
Concerts also produce millions of kilograms of waste each year. The main culprits are disposable plastic cups, plastic water bottles, food containers, etc. The recycling bins are not enough, often overflowing at the concert’s end.
However, concerts using renewable energy (RE) and solar panels can address CO2 pollution.
Coldplay, together with BMW, developed the first-ever mobile rechargeable show battery and used other renewable resources such as hydrotreated vegetable oil, solar power and kinetic energy.
47 percent less emissions
Concert promoter Live Nation Philippines reported on X (formerly Twitter) that Coldplay was the first band to hold two sold-out shows last month at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan with a seating capacity of 55,000 people.
Coldplay is an award-winning and critically acclaimed British rock band that is currently on a world tour to promote its ninth studio album, the “Music of the Spheres.” With a total of 176 shows, the tour, which kicked off in March 2022, is expected to finish in November 2024. CNN Indonesia’s Muhammad Feraldi Hifzurahman described it as “a musical experience that must be tried at least once in your life.”
Coldplay — composed of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion — planned “to make the Music of the Spheres World Tour as environmentally beneficial as possible and reduce their direct carbon emissions” by 50 percent.
Based on the Emissions Report released by Coldplay and assessed and independently validated by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, the Music of the Spheres World Tour has so far produced 47 percent less CO2 emissions during the first year of the tour compared to their last one (2016-2017).
Highlights of the Sustainability Report include:
– Five million trees planted via One Tree Planted; one for each concertgoer. Five thousand hectares of land restored across 17 countries and 21 planting projects.
– One solar-powered River Interceptor deployed in Klang River, Malaysia, via The Ocean Clean-Up, removing 158 tons of waste and 13 tons of ocean-bound plastic since the tour’s start.
– 86 percent average return rate of the reusable, plant-based LED wristbands.
– 15-kilowatt-hour average power per show generated via invenue solar installations, kinetic dance floors and power bikes, enough to power the performance each night and provide the crew with phones, laptops and toolcharging stations.
– 95 percent of shows with free water refill stations for fans.
– 553 tCO2e saved by purchasing Sustainable Aviation Fuel for flights.
– 66 percent of all tour waste diverted from landfills.
– 3,770 meals and 73 kilograms of toiletries donated from the tour for the unhoused and unsheltered.
– Financial support to environmental organizations such as ClientEarth, The Ocean Clean-Up, Project Seagrass, Angat Buhay, etc.
The feasibility paper, “Create a Model for an Eco-Friendly Music Festival in the Philippines,” which we submitted during our graduate studies at the Asian Institute of Management, finds that concerts can be sustainable — as long as they are a shared responsibility by the government, the concert organizers and the fans. All parties must commit to ensuring that the environmental and social impacts are significantly minimized.
Government must start crafting policies and programs governing sustainable event management where CO2 emissions are properly managed.
Coldplay has embraced sustainability measures such as RE use, low-carbon travel, tree-planting activity as a carbon offsetting measure and water refilling stations, among others. Other concert organizers must adopt similar practices.
As concertgoers, we have to keep in mind our actions. We can use public transportation, do carpooling or ride-sharing and bring reusable water bottles. We can use returnable containers for food, wear sustainable clothing over fast fashion and be mindful of the surroundings and our impact on the local ecosystem. To start, we can make sure trash is disposed of.
The author (ludwig.federigan@ gmail.com) is the executive director of the Young Environmental Forum and a nonresident fellow of Stratbase ADR Institute. He completed his climate change and development course at the University of East Anglia (UK) and an executive program on sustainability leadership at Yale University (USA).