For Coldplay’s Music of Spheres tour we worked closely with the band’s production team to ensure that we’re not just aligned with their sustainability goals but that we’re delivering innovatively and actively driving change.
Coldplay are pioneering sustainable touring practices and have reported a 59% reduction in direct CO₂e emissions vs. their 2016–17 tour (verified by MIT), with broader waste-diversion and reuse targets that their catering practices contribute to.
As referenced in the food section of Coldplay’s Sustainability Report https://sustainability.coldplay.com/section/food/
- All crew catering menus have plant-based and meat-free options.
- Organic produce is sourced from local supplier or farms that practice regenerative agriculture techniques.
- We partner with local food back to donate any surplus food where possible.
- Organic waste, such as vegetable peelings and scraps are composted wherever possible.
Local promoters were really helpful, putting us in touch with sustainable suppliers based locally in each city which allowed us to secure wholesale deliveries of local produce. We also completely eradicated single use plastics from our service on this tour. We either supplied cans or cartons of water where it wasn’t possible to have water machines. This was across catering areas, offices and dressing rooms.
Our menus featured ‘Nudging’ which essentially lists and places plant-based, lower carbon dishes at the top of menus. It’s scientifically proven that the practice encourages people to opt for these first.
We moved to bean to cup coffee machines and composted ground coffee rather than using the pods which need to be recycled.
We tried to ensure that our numbers were accurate so we didn’t over order or cook too much food. This really kept the amount of waste to a minimum. However, by working with Musically Fed we were able to ensure that all leftover food was donated to local people who needed it. and if, there is any leftover food, it is being donated to local charities. Throughout the 2025 leg of the tour 5274 meals were donated which represented 3.56 tonnes of CO2 emissions saved.
At the Stanford Stadium gig 100,000+ fans kicked off the North American tour with reuse and kept 24,000+ single-use cups out of landfills. We worked closely with the r.World to facilitate this and have gone on to utilise the cups at Merriweather Post Pavilion where we are the in-house caterer.
