You decide – is Coldplay’s ‘sustainable tour’ eco-friendly or greenwashing?

All merchandise will be sustainably made and ethically sourced and free drinking water will be available to all. Coldplay also want to ensure that plastic bottles are eliminated from every venue.

10% of all earnings will be given to environmental causes. These include ClientEarth, One Tree Planted, and The Ocean Cleanup. More funding is always appreciated and hefty profits mean a sizeable donation.

The benefits of these initiatives should be obvious, given the size and scope of a Coldplay tour.

Having such huge audiences (the band’s last tour saw 5.4 million tickets old) be confronted with eco-conscious initiatives and strategies will help boost the industry’s urgency to make greener gigs and concerts.

We could see standalone apps and fan discounts become the norm, and if these new innovations like sustainable dancefloors prove to be successful there’s a probably chance they’ll eventually become a standard. You may end up moshing for the greater good before too long.

Why is the band facing criticism?

All this sounds great on paper, but Coldplay hasn’t been without its detractors.

For one, the band made such a big deal of not touring until it was ‘beneficial for the environment’, yet this was not stuck to. Coldplay’s 2022 tour will be better than the average run-of-the-mill effort made by most bands, but it still isn’t carbon neutral.

It would be better to not tour at all, if we’re really talking about massively reducing emissions.

In addition, the band will be travelling exclusively by private jet all around the world. Small, exclusive planes are a huge environmental problem, and have risen in use by 31% in Europe since 2005. It feels a bit hypocritical for fans to be incentivised to use low-carbon transport when the band themselves will be using one of the worst methods available to get to each location.

Some Twitter users have also pointed how effective a kinetic dancefloor will really be. Can bicycles and pressure plates really generate enough power to keep a massive, stadium-filled show running? Many are doubtful.

Oh for goodness' sake #bbcpm – how many watts do you get from jumping up and down on a dance floor? Clue: probably not enough to power a drone, let alone a private jet. Complete and utter #greenwashing, @coldplay.

— Matthew Marks (@MatthewMarks42) October 14, 2021

Frontman Chris Martin responded to some of these outcries by admitting he has no suitable comeback.

‘There’s always the question of why tour at all? We don’t really have [anything to say] except we would really like to. We could stay at home and that may be better. But we want to connect with people and do it in the cleanest way possible.’

While greenwashing accusations may seem cynical and paranoid, it’s important to remain vigilant in the face of constant claims of sustainability.

We’ve written a ton before about how companies mislead audiences in order to present themselves as ‘clean’ when often their practices don’t follow through.

Approaching any company, artist, or act with suspicion is important to ensure that you’re not being taken for a ride and duped out of your cash.

Coldplay’s tour begins in March next year. Regardless of which side you stand on, there’s no doubt that millions of tickets will be sold and many music fans will give the band’s standalone app a try.

Let’s see if the carbon emission numbers afterwards stack up – hopefully we’ll be pleasantly surprised.