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Sustainable Concert Tours: Which Artists Care the Most?
Level
Key Topics You’ll Learn About in This Article
The environmental impact of concerts
How to make concerts more eco-friendly
A breakdown of the artists most passionate about sustainable performances and concerts
From Coldplay, to Beyonce, and Taylor Swift – summer 2023 is set to be a big one when it comes to big concert tours: but how many of these big names summer shows are set to be sustainable concert tours?
Sustainable concert tours are more imperative than ever as the nature of the music industry continues to evolve. As short as fifteen years ago, artists depended on album sales and purchases from electronic music stores – such as purchasing a single from iTunes or buying a physical copy of the CD at Target before streaming on services like Spotify and Apple Music took off.
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However, in our more instantaneous society – the music industry has changed dramatically. People no longer opt to download or purchase their favorite songs, but to stream them – which isn’t as financially lucrative for artists.
When artists went on tour, it used to be to promote album sales – what was then the primary money maker for singers and bands. However, now a days – artists are more dependent on ticket sales for concert tours to make ends meet: serving as one of the main reasons why concert tickets have skyrocketed in the past decade.
Therefore, artists are now dependent on touring to make the same kind of extraordinary living – which artists are doing the best job creating sustainable concert tours to entertain their fans and protect the planet at the same time?
What Are Sustainable Concert Tours?
Sustainable concert tours work to make a great concert experience while also bearing the concert’s carbon footprint in mind. As a result, sustainable concert tours often require an extensive effort to reassess resource management and how to move forward with the available finances and materials to create a more sustainable concert experience.
Some of the most important elements of sustainable concert tours include:
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Reducing Carbon Footprint
Choose venues well-connected to public transit and trim non-essential show equipment to cut tour emissions.
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Improving Energy Efficiency
Use energy-efficient gear and lighting, and integrate renewable energy wherever possible.
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Reducing Waste
Swap disposables for reusables, curb the amount of plastic bottles, and avoid fast fashion merch.
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Empowering Concert Goers
Encourage fans to take public transit, rideshare, or bike, and share clear guidance on greener choices.
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Transparency on Efforts
Report what’s working, where you’re improving, and set targets so progress is visible show-to-show.
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Sustainable Venues & Routing
Prioritize efficient routing, partner with venues that have green practices, and use local vendors to cut travel fuel.
Ultimately, seeking to create a sustainable concert tour can help to reduce emissions and even inspire other artists or concert goers to be more sustainable themselves.
Sustainable concert tours are important in today’s world as the music industry and artists are more dependent on ticket sales than ever before and as people search for concert experiences again following the Covid-19 pandemic.
What Are Some of the Challenges to Having Sustainable Concert Tours?
If sustainable concert tours were a walk in the park, odds are – more artists would make an effort to make their concerts more eco-friendly. Unfortunately, there are some limitations for artists who choose to develop sustainable concert tours.
The interactive flip cards below (move cursor over card to flip) will reveal some of the constraints to making sustainable concerts the new norm:
🏟️ Venue Infrastructure Gaps
Many arenas lack on-site renewables, efficient lighting, waste sorting, water refill points, or shore power—limiting low-carbon show options.
🚚 Routing & Logistics Trade-offs
Optimal routing for ticket sales can conflict with low-carbon routing; freight, backline, and crew travel remain major emission drivers.
💸 Cost & Contract Constraints
Upfront costs for greener gear, power, and waste services plus legacy vendor contracts can block quick switches to sustainable options.
🙋♀️ Fan Behavior & Access
Audience travel dominates footprints. Limited transit, parking norms, and accessibility needs make shifting habits challenging without incentives.
One of the biggest challenges of sustainable concert tours is the financial aspect. It’s inevitably more expensive (even though it shouldn’t be) to make use of renewable energy sources and eco-friendly materials for set designs. In addition to the financial strain, creating sustainable concert tours also takes up more time – and developing a performance is already a time consuming effort for any artist trying to create a visual experience in line with the music they’re performing.
It can also be difficult to find stadiums that support sustainability in line with the current leg of that tour. In other words, what if an artist only has a three day window to perform in Vienna before playing their tour in London? Sustainable concert tours require more careful planning to maximize the amount of shows an artist can play.
Why Did Coldplay Make Headlines for Their Sustainable Concert Tours?
When you google sustainable concert tours, odds are you’ve stumbled upon Coldplay’s headlining Music Of the Spheres World Tour – being written by numerous outlets for its high critical acclaim for preventing the use of fossil fuels and promoting sustainability.
Back in 2021, Coldplay announced that they would partner with BMW, the German car manufacturer, in larger efforts to ensure they could create sustainable concert tours moving forward.
Coldplay has successfully created a sustainable concert experience by relying on the use of renewable energy and only seeking to play venues dedicated to reducing emissions and their overall carbon footprint. Other innovative ways Coldplay has developed an eco-friendly concert experience that involves the concert goers themselves is by making use of kinetic floors – which convert the steps taken by the crowd while dancing to create energy.
In fact, Coldplay announced in late 2021 that the Coldplay will release three more albums between now and 2025 – concluding their discography and focusing on touring moving forward. This statement depicts how all artists should strive to be like Coldplay: as sustainable concert tours will be pivotal for artists that no longer plan to release new music to connect with their fans.
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Which Other Artists Have Made an Effort to Create Sustainable Concert Tours?
The 1975
The 1975, a British band with its frontman being Matty Healy – has encouraged multiple sustainable practices for their concert tours. Examples include encouraging fans to wear old merchandise, planning to power future concerts off of vegetable oil, and recommending paperless tickets.
In addition to this, Matty Healy is not known for numerous concert changes during a show and usually keeps the same outfit on – helping to reduce the environmental impact created by concerts.
In fact, their ongoing concert tour, "Still... At Their Very Best" – will mark the world's first ever "carbon removed" event when the band plays four shows at the O2 Arena in London.
The 1975 is also known for including climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was only 16 at the time, on their opening track for their 2020 album, “Notes on a Conditional Form”.
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Radiohead
Radiohead, another English rock band, have been vocal about creating sustainable concert tours for many years – such as by implementing the use of reusable cups for the concert crew and aiming to use biofuels for transporting concert gear.
Billie Eilish
Grammy award winning singer Billie Eilish shared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon how she has patterned with Reverb to create a more “green” concert experience. She plans to do this by asking fans to bring their own reusable water bottles to prevent wasting plastic and allowing for easy access to recycling bins across the venue.
Skip to 5:52 to hear how she plans to make her next concert tour more Green!
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Billie Eilish has been outspoken about her vegan diet and love for animals, and previously partnered with Woody Harrelson to make a public service announcement about climate change for Greenpeace.
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Miley Cyrus
One way for an artist to reduce their emissions from a tour, is to refuse to tour at all – like Miley Cyrus.
Recently having released her latest album, Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus has stated how she is determined to let the music she releases be the sole connection she has with her fans. She remains open to touring again, but we’re confident that Miley Cyrus would work to develop more sustainable concert tours for her fans given her dedication to living an eco-friendly lifestyle.
How Could Some Big Name Artists Turn Their Current Tours into Sustainable Concert Tours?
Some of the biggest concert tours in music are happening this summer – such as massive headlining tours by powerhouse artists like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyonce’s Renaissance tour.
How could artists like Taylor Swift and Beyonce work to make more sustainable concert tours?
The overview cards below will provide just a few ideas on how big stadium tours could reduce their carbon footprints:
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Route Optimization & Residencies
Cluster dates by region, add multi-night residencies, and cut fly dates to slash artist/crew air travel.
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Transit-First Venues
Book stadiums with strong public transit and include free/discounted transit with tickets to reduce fan car trips.
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Low-Carbon Freight
Move gear by rail or sea where possible, consolidate loads, and rent locally to avoid extra trucking and flights.
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Clean Show Power
Use renewable grid connections, battery/hybrid gensets, LED fixtures, and efficient stage/video systems.
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Circular Merch & Waste
Refill stations, deposit/reuse cups, composting, recycled or slow-fashion merch, and reusable set materials.
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Fan Engagement & Transparency
Incentivize carpool/bike, offer low-carbon travel guidance, and publish tour footprint with reduction targets.
As a whole, several things could be done to reduce the environmental carbon footprint of major concert tours:
Avoid Private Jet Usage
There are a few things that could be done to reduce the environmental impact of these famous singers' tours, but some of them would be contingent on the artist. For instance, Taylor Swift has made headlines for being one of the world’s celebrities with the largest carbon footprint – much of it coming from the use of her private jet.
Throughout much of the Eras tour, with shows taking place mostly on weekends, Swift has been seen hopping between U.S. cities and back to New York when she is on an Eras tour hiatus – making use of her private jet more frequently than usual.
Less Fast Fashion
Other ways that massive concerts could work to be more sustainable is to limit the amount of accessories in each show – such as no confetti or offering light up bracelets when concert goers most likely have a phone anyways.
Limiting the amount of costumes, or opting to design clothes for the singer and dances with eco-friendly materials would also help to cultivate sustainable concert tours. Lastly, looking to play a show at a venue that is well connected to public transportation can greatly help to reduce the carbon footprint created by the show.
Outdoor Concerts
Outdoor concerts also prevent the need to use artificial lighting – this is something that large outdoor music festivals and concerts like Coachella, Glastonbury, and Good Morning America concerts held in Central Park have really gotten right.
Ultimately, while concert goers can help – much of the environmental impact of a concert is created by the artist designing the show themselves. Big name artists like Coldplay, the 1975, and Billie Eillish have shown us that it’s more than possible to put on a good show while still adhering to the values of sustainable concert tours – and we look forward to seeing which artists join the bandwagon next.
What About Greenly?
If reading this article about sustainable concert tours and which artists are making the biggest effort to reduce their carbon footprint while touring has made you interested in reducing your carbon emissions to further fight against climate change – Greenly can help you!
Sustainable concert tours are just one of the many ways that big name artists and record labels can make a difference and work to reduce their environmental impact, and your company can do the same no matter which industry its a part of – click here to schedule a demo to see how Greenly can help you to make your business ventures more sustainable.
Greenly can help you make an environmental change for the better, starting with a carbon footprint assessment to know how much carbon emissions your company produces.
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