Green Guardians 2024: Coldplay, Pixmob, Showpower & more
Welcome to the first part of IQ Magazine’s 2024 Green Guardians – our annual recognition of those eco-warriors and innovators at the forefront of the battle to make the live entertainment industry more sustainable.
The Green Guardians is spearheaded by IQ and an international panel of sustainability experts to highlight and congratulate companies and organisations who are improving the live music business when it comes to being more environmentally friendly.
This year’s list includes 22 entries across a wide range of event suppliers, campaigners, and solutions providers, all of whom are working tirelessly to reduce the carbon footprint of the live entertainment business.
IQ will publish entries across all categories over the coming days, and you can find the whole cohort in the latest edition of IQ here.
In 2019, Coldplay said they would not tour again unless they could do so in a sustainable way. Having set ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions, the band confirmed this year that they had exceeded expectations as their Music of the Spheres World Tour continues to raise the bar.
When the tour was announced in late 2021, the band revealed a 12-point plan for cutting their carbon footprint, including a pledge to reduce emissions from production, freight, and travel by at least 50% compared with their previous A Head Full of Dreams stadium tour.
In June, the group announced they had smashed their target: “We’re happy to report that direct CO2e emissions from the first two years of this tour are 59% less than our previous stadium tour, on a show-by-show comparison,” the band said in a statement. “These figures have been verified by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative.”
The ongoing trek has seen an 86% average return and reuse rate of LED wristbands, with 33 European shows powered entirely by a tour-able, recycled battery system. Additionally, over 20 partnerships with green travel providers have helped fans get to the shows via carbon-low transport, making an impact onstage and offstage.
Working with Coldplay and their ambitious green touring goals, PixMob developed the world’s first compostable wristband (the ultrabright 7-LED wristband) for the active Music of the Spheres World Tour.
The device is manufactured using a plant-based plastic derived from renewable sugarcane from Thailand. It is designed for refurbishing onsite using simple tools. Each wristband works for three shows, after which it requires a change of battery and sanitisation before being reused. At the end of the product’s life, the plastic casing is removed and decomposes in two months in an industrial composter or two years in regular compost. The electronics are sent to electronic recycling centres.
The company says that since launching its recycling programme, more than 3m wearables have been recycled, and PixMob’s touring crew has recovered over 86% of wristbands at each Coldplay show – a notable achievement as fans tend to keep them as souvenirs.
Coldplay, with the help of PixMob, reduced the carbon footprint of their Music of the Spheres Tour by 59% compared to their previous outing.
Netherlands-based Showpower Global has been working alongside ZAP Concerts to install and manage the SmartGrid battery power system on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour. The mobile touring system provides 100% of the band’s main stage with battery and renewable power, where available.
The team behind SmartGrid report that road-tested technology is greatly improving the reliability, efficiency, and performance of the machinery, which is being updated on a venue-to-venue basis.
For the recent European leg, Showpower first used SmartGrid in Athens before taking it to Bucharest, Budapest, Lyon, Düsseldorf, Rome, Helsinki, Munich, Vienna, and Dublin. The company says that consistently powering a major global tour with the same battery system while crisscrossing different countries is a world first for touring artists and stadium shows.
By the end of the European leg, the system had been deployed at all 33 stadium shows, proving its effectiveness for entire tour legs and making it a viable option for other sustainability-conscious touring acts. In addition, 10m tickets have been sold and 10m trees committed to being planted.
As one of a rising crop of young acts who are placing sustainability at the heart of their careers, Lime Cordiale are looking at every aspect of their activities to ensure they are minimising their carbon footprint. Working with Suitcase Records, they became the first Australian band to release an album, Enough of the Sweet Talk, on vinyl using EcoVin, a new low-carbon PVC that reduces the CO2 output of standard vinyl by 92.5%. The band is also working with US-based thrift store retailer Savers to produce merch on upcycled tees.
In partnership with FEAT.Live, a $1 Solar Slice from every ticket sold across the Enough of the Sweet Talk Tour will go towards decarbonisation and action on climate change, while on their upcoming UK and Europe tour, the band will travel on a bus running on fuel produced from HVO, reducing fuel emissions by up to 90%. To achieve this, the band’s tour bus supplier, UK-based Vans for Bands worked with their engineering team to ensure that the busses would run efficiently on HVO.
Vans for Bands also worked with their wholesale fuel supplier to ensure that the entire tour could be run on HVO, due to its limited distribution across Europe. It’s one of the very first times a tour has been run end to end on the emissions-reducing fuel.
FEAT.Live is an Australia-based, artist-led agency working to address climate change by using the music industry’s influence. The organisation aims to improve the environmental impact of festivals and tours by supporting sustainable practices through its Solar Slice ticket surcharge.
To date, FEAT.Live has promoted renewable energy by encouraging investments in large solar farms; solar and battery setups for backstage areas; hybrid lighting towers; and electric tour vehicles. Their Solar Slice projects have also supported bush regeneration, rainforest plant- ing, and ocean conservation efforts. Between 2024 and 2026, FEAT.Live plans to dial in on rewilding and restoration.
The agency is partnering with conservation groups to help meet the United Nations’ goal of restoring 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030. They will help artists invest in First Nations-led projects to restore degraded landscapes and manage these areas long-term. Additionally, FEAT.Live is developing a project to help the live entertainment industry cope with the risks of extreme weather events.
EarthPercent is the music industry’s climate-focused foundation. It aims to make the planet a stakeholder in music by working with artists and industry groups who donate a small share of their revenue. This money is then used to support climate justice and environmental organisations.
To date, the foundation has distributed over $1m to its grant partners, guided by an advisory panel of climate experts, scientists, and youth activists. Artists like Moby and Swedish House Mafia have recently joined in, pledging a percentage of their earnings to the planet.
This year, EarthPercent launched Sounds Right, a multi-partner initiative that recognises nature as an official artist on streaming platforms. Artists including Brian Eno and David Bowie, Ellie Goulding, and Umi, V from BTS released tracks featuring the sounds of nature, whose streaming royalties fund her conservation via EarthPercent.
With more tracks being released later this year, this initiative is projected to raise $40m by 2030. The organisation is also expanding its Earth As Your Cowriter initiative, through which artists can credit the Earth as a collaborating songwriter, raising funds through publishing royalties.
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