Coldplay Sets New Standard in the Entertainment Sector with Groundbreaking Sustainability Report

In a welcome move, globally renowned British pop band Coldplay made history by becoming the first music band to publish a comprehensive sustainability report of their world tour. In 2024, the band issued a statement highlighting their achievements so far in their sustainability journey, which mainly focuses on reducing their tour waste, popularly known as the spheres world tour.

Coldplay sustainability report sets a new precedent within the entertainment sector. The band's environmental solutions initiative not only underscores the urgency of addressing environmental challenges but also demonstrates that implementing sustainable practices is feasible and beneficial across all economic sectors, a fitting complement to the aptly named "Music of the Spheres" Wold Tour.

In the past few years, the entertainment industry has increasingly embraced sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, implementing various initiatives to reduce environmental impact, carbon emissions and promote social responsibility. Here are a few examples:

Music Industry Initiatives

Music Climate Pact: In response to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), leading music companies have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for net-zero by 2050 and a 50% reduction by 2030.

Film and Television Production

Albert Certification: Established by BAFTA, Albert is an environmental organization that promotes sustainable practices in film and TV production. It offers a carbon footprint calculator and certifies productions that implement eco-friendly measures.

Good Energy: This non-profit advises on incorporating climate change themes into film and TV narratives, aiming to raise awareness and inspire action through storytelling.

Corporate Commitments

Paramount Global: Since 2020, Paramount has published annual ESG reports detailing its sustainability strategies and progress, underscoring its dedication to environmental and social governance.

SM Entertainment: This South Korean company has outlined nine strategic initiatives focused on sustainable management across environmental, social, and governance dimensions, aiming to lead in cultural sustainability.

Sustainable Venues

Climate Pledge Arena: Located in Seattle, this arena operates entirely on renewable energy, utilizes rainwater collection, and has achieved zero-waste status by eliminating single-use plastics and diverting 90% of waste from landfills.

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These initiatives reflect a growing commitment within the entertainment sector to integrate sustainability and ESG principles into their operations and content, setting new standards for environmental and social responsibility

The Significance of Coldplay's Sustainability Report:

Driving ESG Recognition

By publicly disclosing their sustainability efforts, Coldplay has set an important precedent for other artists, musicians, and entertainment organisations to follow suit. This move places sustainability firmly on the radar of the entertainment sector, building greater awareness and encouraging collective action.

For example, bands use a lot of flights during tours, so Coldplay openly "mostly" flies commercial, and for all flights pays the surcharge to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). While not perfect, at least openly supporting initiatives heading in a progressive direction, instead of sticking with the status quo, is refreshing, and underlines the massive logistics linked to touring bands.

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Amplifying Entertainment Industry Influence

Through their enduring popularity, Coldplay holds a unique position to inspire millions of fans and industry peers. By openly sharing their initiatives, Coldplay has the potential to catalyse positive change throughout the entertainment industry. This increased focus on sustainability can drive the adoption of ESG practices across music festivals, live events, and the broader entertainment supply chain.

Promoting Environmental Stewardship

By evaluating their carbon footprint, energy consumption, waste management, and touring practices, Coldplay aims to reduce their environmental impact. Their efforts highlight the feasibility and necessity of adopting sustainable practices in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving resources, and directly supporting technologies that clean up and restore the planet.

For example, they highlight using either reusable or recyclable materials for stage construction, energy-efficient LED lighting, coming to concerts on electric vehicles to support new green technologies and even biodegradable confetti. Additionally, water use and waste awareness are top of the programme, and this critically involves the band promoting that awareness on venues that do not currently have firm policies in place to address it. Yes, Coldplay can exert such pressure to change practices and adopt, but it raises the question of whether less influential acts could possibly do the same.

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Encouraging Social Responsibility

Perhaps more insightful is the push to encourage fans, via discounts, to use low carbon transport like power bikes to get to the shows, via a free app. Collecting and tracking fan data through the app also comes with a pledge to plant one tree per ticket sold, but it also provides a platform to display ongoing environmental progress data openly as initiatives continue.

This commitment to inclusivity and community engagement is a testament to their understanding of the wider societal impact of their actions. By proactively addressing issues such as fair employment, supply chain ethics, and charitable initiatives, Coldplay serves as a role model for fostering positive social change within the entertainment industry.

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Sustainability in All Economic Sectors:

By demonstrating that even a high-profile music band can make significant strides towards sustainability, Coldplay shatters the notion that implementing sustainable practices is restricted to specific industries. Their example inspires businesses across sectors to consider their own ESG responsibilities.

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Takeaway

Coldplay's Music of the Spheres sustainability report or Spheres tour marks a watershed moment for the entertainment industry, highlighting the rising importance of ESG principles, sustainable touring and sustainability practices. However, all the tour-based initiatives aside, what this does is provide a new avenue to bring the climate discussion into the public arena. Countries, and their respective media, have varying records on how transparently they choose to portray the climate crisis.

For example, the UK's Guardian newspaper has, for some time, declined to use the terms 'global warming' or 'climate change' in favour of 'climate crisis', to persistently emphasise the urgency of the situation. US media, on the other hand, seem disinclined to portray quite the same urgency, and are instead influenced by prevailing national political sentiment

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Owning the Problem

Climate needs to be part of our everyday lives and vocabulary, so we can collectively accept this is happening first before we can societally address the problem. Where media may fall short at times, the entertainment sector may stand to better influence the hearts and minds of people by straightforward example. Thus, we would be better served if Hollywood developed more pragmatic, realistic climate themes in its output, instead of effectively greenwashing it out of public thinking via ignorant, blithe narratives.

By leading the way, Coldplay showcases that sustainability is not limited to any particular sector but rather should be operational to all businesses. As the influence of entertainment expands, the sector's commitment to sustainability can have a profound impact on raising awareness, inspiring positive change, and driving the transition to sustainability across the global economy.

Follow more ESG news and views at our Featured Articles, or compare ESG progress across economic sectors via our Company ESG Profiles.

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