Coldplay to open OVG’s Climate Pledge Arena
Coldplay will be the first act to play Oak View Group’s (OVG) Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle – the world’s first carbon-neutral certified arena.
The band’s frontman, Chris Martin, previously told BBC News that Coldplay would put touring plans on hold as they investigate how to make their concerts more sustainable.
“Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that environmentally,” said Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin.
“We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neutral. The hardest thing is the flying side of things. But, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single-use plastic, to have it largely solar-powered. We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s not so much taking as giving?”
The band will fulfil their dream by performing at the 18,100-seat Climate Pledge Arena, which will be powered exclusively by renewable energy sources.
The arena will also be a functionally zero-waste building from day one and will eliminate all single-use plastics by 2024.
“We’re so excited to have Coldplay who wholeheartedly believes in and supports sustainability efforts, be the first to play”
Coldplay, along with support act We Are King, will perform at the former KeyArena on 22 October, marking the official reopening.
Tickets go on sale on 15 September at 10:00 PST through Ticketmaster. Amazon Music will also be streaming the show live on Prime Video for all customers – with or without a Prime membership – as well as Twitch, and on the Amazon Music app.
Oak View Group CEO, Tim Leiweke, says: “We’ve embarked on what some may say was an impossible journey to turn this historic landmark into a world-class net-zero carbon certified arena that’s first of its kind. This is why we’re so excited to have Coldplay who wholeheartedly believes in and supports sustainability efforts, be the first to play in the building for what will be a night to remember.”
The concert will be the first public show at Climate Pledge Arena as a part of a weeklong opening celebration across the Seattle Center Campus.
Other opening week festivities include the VenuesNow Conference (hosted by OVG), a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Seattle Kraken’s inaugural home opener marking its first season.
Today’s news follows Leiweke’s call to arms for the live entertainment industry to take action on climate change. Read the full IQ interview here.
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Tim Leiweke: “Climate change is the fight of our lives”
Oak View Group (OVG) co-founder and chief executive Tim Leiweke has issued a call to arms for the live entertainment industry to take action on climate change.
“Climate change is without a doubt the fight of this generation’s lives,” he tells IQ. “At OVG, we believe that we, along with the whole live entertainment industry, have a unique opportunity to inspire others to take action on this era-defining issue,” adding that sustainability is one of OVG’s core values.
The global sports and entertainment company, along with ecommerce giant Amazon, is a few months out from opening the world’s first carbon neutral venue, Climate Pledge Arena (CPA) in Seattle.
“It hasn’t been easy, but I’m proud and excited that CPA will become the world’s first certified carbon neutral arena when it opens later this year. It’s also going to lead the way with commitments to zero waste from events and using recycled rainwater to service the NHL ice-rink,” explains Leiweke.
OVG and Amazon have set their sights on the 18,100-seat arena becoming ‘the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable arena in the world’ – a commitment underpinned by four goals.
The first goal is to maintain CPA’s carbon elimination by eschewing fossil fuel consumption for daily use; generating renewable energy from onsite solar panels; reducing all carbon emission activities and offsetting those not possible – like transportation – by purchasing credible carbon offsets.
“We have a unique opportunity to inspire others to take action on this era-defining issue”
CPA will also aim to eliminate single use plastics and achieve zero waste by ‘greatly simplifying the supply chain’.
Finally, the arena, home to ice hockey team NHL Seattle, will conserve water via its ‘rain to rink’ system which will harvest water off the roof and collect into a 15,000-gallon cistern. According to OVG, the system will save 50,000 gallons annually.
Other ways the CPA will conserve water include waterless urinals and ‘ultra-efficient’ showers, significant on-site retention tanks reducing stormwater runoff and water bottle filling stations throughout the arena.
Beyond this the CPA will have an advisory committee with partners at Amazon; create transparency and public reporting on initiatives progress; host arena events that celebrate the environment and its commitment to green operations; partner with educational institutions to utilise the arena as a classroom for environmental education.
Leiweke says that OVG is taking the learnings from CPA to guide future projects: “All of our arenas in both the US and around the world, from the UBS Arena in New York to Co-op Live in Manchester, are putting sustainability at the heart of both design and operations”.
If all goes according to plan, the UBS Arena (cap. 19,000) in Belmont Park, New York, won’t be far behind CPA in achieving a carbon-neutral status.
The arena, scheduled to open in time for the 2021-2022 National Hockey League season, is projected to be 100% carbon neutral by 2024 – which will make it the first to do so on the East Coast of the US.
“Climate Pledge Arena is going to lead the way with commitments to zero waste from events”
The UBS Arena is currently being built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (Leed) standards.
Elsewhere, Manchester’s Co-op Live (cap. 23,500) is leading the way for environmentally sustainable arenas in the UK, both in terms of design and future commitments.
The roof alone boasts 10,500 square-metres (1.5x a football pitch) of rooftop solar panels, air source heat pumps, high spec insulation and façade designed to reduce cooling and heating requirements.
The venue’s architecture is paired with renewable energy, low carbon technologies and intelligent building controls such as LED lighting design and smart building systems to minimise energy use).
Plus, in a bid to meet Manchester City Council’s 2038 net zero carbon goal, the venue is also using 100% electric fuel.
Taking note from CPA, Co-op Live will also use 100% rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, bathroom use and water efficient catering, and will aim to be zero waste.
The Co-op Live development is targeting Breeam (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) ‘excellent’ accreditation.
Other arenas OVG is currently developing include Moody Center, Austin; Coachella Valley Arena, Palm Springs; Savannah Arena; Cardiff Bay Arena; and Santa Guilia, Milan.
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OVG, Amazon team up for first carbon neutral arena
The former KeyArena in Seattle is to become the first carbon neutral venue in the world, powered exclusively by renewable energy sources.
Ecommerce giant Amazon announced it had secured the naming rights to the 18,100-seat arena yesterday (25 June). The venue, home to ice hockey team NHL Seattle, is to be known as the Climate Pledge Arena.
The online retailer has pledged to make the venue the first-ever net zero carbon certified arena when it opens in summer 2021, with zero waste production, ice made from reclaimed rain water, locally sourced food and an elimination of single use plastics by 2024.
The project, a joint collaboration between Amazon, NHL Seattle and venue operator Oak View Group (OVG) – which is funding the reconstruction of arena – has reportedly reached the $1 billion mark, partly due to the upgrades required to achieve carbon neutral status.
OVG has hired Seattle architect Jason McLennan, a specialist in sustainable design, as chief sustainability consultant for the arena.
“It’s not just about one arena. It’s the platform,” says OVG CEO Tim Leiweke, who is leading the arena development efforts.
“We must take steps to build arenas and stadiums that front-and-centre align with our zero-carbon mission statement”
“We challenge music, facilities, concert tours, and sports. It is our time to step up to face the challenge of our generation. We must take steps to build arenas and stadiums that front-and-centre align with our zero-carbon mission statement.”
“Instead of negotiating the assets, we’ve been brainstorming: What if we did this? What if we did that?” adds Tim’s brother, Tod Leiweke, president and CEO of NHL Seattle.
“Every day, we get to promote this idea of a sustainable world. It’s a beautiful vision, that we can change the course of what’s happened to our planet and dream of having a zero-carbon footprint. It’s going to require investment and policy, but it’s absolutely possible.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says the arena’s name is to serve as “a regular reminder of the importance of fighting climate change”.
“We look forward to working together with Oak View Group, a new Climate Pledge signatory, and NHL Seattle to inspire global climate action,” says Bezos.
Amazon created its climate pledge last year with activist group Global Optimism, pushing for corporate America to achieve net zero carbon by 2040. Current signatories include Verizon, Infosys and consumer-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB).
Earlier this week, Amazon announced the Climate Pledge Fund, a US$2 billion venture capital fund dedicated to investing in clean energy.
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Norwegian DJ embarks on carbon neutral tour
Norwegian DJ and producer Matoma, real name Tom Stræte Lagergren, is preparing for a climate-neutral concert tour.
Prior to the upcoming US leg of Matoma’s One in a Million tour, the DJ has partnered with climate advocates Chooose to measure the carbon footprint expected from the tour and plan to neutralise emissions.
According to the DJ, the tour will be the first to actively remove unavoidable emissions, using carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in Finland. The aim is to reduce tour emissions by twice the initial footprint, removing 20 tonnes of CO2 from the air.
“We’re thrilled to be actually removing the remaining carbon with our partners in Finland, and continuing to find new ways and technologies to solve this global problem,” says Lagergren.
“We’re thrilled to be actually removing the remaining carbon and continuing to find new ways and technologies to solve this global problem”
The DJ and his team will also reduce emissions on a local scale, using public transport, eating vegetarian meals, staying in sustainable hotels and making an effort to limit electricity consumption.
The tour kicks off on 16 January in Austin and wraps up on 18 April at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California.
The approach is the latest attempt to tackle touring’s carbon footprint, adding to Massive Attack’s academic study into the industry’s carbon emissions and plans to tour by train, Coldplay’s touring hiatus and A Greener Festival’s Green Artist Rider initiative.
Experts will gather to discuss the environmental impact of touring and how to mitigate it at the next Green Events and Innovation (GEI) conference in March.
Photo: Tore Sætre/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Coldplay go on touring hiatus over eco-concerns
Coldplay have put a temporary hold on their touring career, and will not tour their next album at all, due to concerns over live music’s environmental impact, frontman Chris Martin has said.
Speaking to BBC News, Martin says: “We’re not touring this album. We’re taking time over the next year or two, to work out how our tour can not only be sustainable, [but] how can it be actively beneficial.”
The double album Everyday Life, the band’s eighth studio effort, will be released on Parlophone tomorrow (22 November).
“All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job,” Martin continues, telling the BBC Coldplay want their future tours to “have a positive impact”.
The UK act are currently in Amman, the capital of Jordan, preparing to play two shows that will be streamed live on YouTube. The two concerts, to be staged tomorrow at sunrise and sunset, respectively, will mirror the two halves of Everyday Life.
Coldplay’s last world tour was the A Head Full of Dreams trek, which encompassed 122 shows across four continents in 2016–2017.
“All of us have to work out the best way of doing our job”
The tour was the third highest-grossing of 2016, taking in US$241 million from 60 shows, and held the same spot the following year, earning another $238m from 54 shows.
“Our next tour will be the best possible version of a tour like that [A Head Full of Dreams], environmentally,” adds Martin. “We would be disappointed if it’s not carbon neutral.
“The hardest thing is the flying side of things. But, for example, our dream is to have a show with no single-use plastic, [and[ to have it largely solar powered.
“We’ve done a lot of big tours at this point. How do we turn it around so it’s not so much taking as giving?”
To ensure their next UK and Ireland dates carbon neutral, the 1975 recently pledged to plant a tree for every ticket sold for the home leg of the People tour.
The environmental impact of touring and how to mitigate it will be among the topics discussed as the next Green Events and Innovation (GEI) conference next March.
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