WBUR (MA) (12/30/19) Hobson, Jeremy; Hagan, Allison

Coldplay's Chris Martin recently announced plans to pause the band's touring due to concerns over the environmental effects of concerts, while Massive Attack is partnering with the University of Manchester's Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research in Britain to work out protocols for limiting carbon emissions on tour. Tyndall Center Director Carly McLachlan says research will focus on energy consumption at the venue, and travel emissions for both bands and audiences. Scientists will explore how venues can use energy-efficient lights and sets and sustainably produce energy, and help bands order stops on a tour to avoid multiple flights back to the same areas. "Particularly with music or with anything from kind of arts and culture ... they also have this communication with their audience," McLachlan says. "And by doing something around trying to tackle climate change, they potentially send kind of a larger signal." McLachlan adds that high-profile acts like Coldplay and Massive Attack can broadcast an influential message across the industry and persuade smaller bands to follow similar strategies. "They have more power to be able to see what they would like from the people that book them, from the venues, how they'd like their tours to be managed," McLachlan concludes.

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