MINISTERUL EDUCAŢIEI NAŢIONALE

LICEUL TEORETIC GEORGE MOROIANU

LUCRARE PENTRU OBŢINEREA ATESTATULUI DE COMPETENŢĂ

LINGVISTICĂ ÎN LIMBA ENGLEZĂ

Candidat: PRIPITU Daria-Gabriela

Profesor îndrumător: BÂLBÂE Cezarina

Săcele

2023
 MINISTERUL EDUCAŢIEI NAŢIONALE

LICEUL TEORETIC GEORGE MOROIANU

Coldplay-entertainment, but sustainability first!

Candidat: PRIPITU Daria-Gabriela

Profesor îndrumător: BÂLBÂE Cezarina

Săcele

2023
TABEL OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD …………………………………………………….1

CHAPTER 1- Getting to know them …………………………….2

1.1-About the band

1.2-Albums

1.3- Awards and Nominations

CHAPTER 2- Climate Changes ………………………………….5

2.1- Plans for future

CHAPTER 3- Initiatives …………………………………………6

3.1- CO2 emissions

3.2- Power production

3.3- Stage show

3.4- Water usage and food production

3.5- Merchandise

CHAPTER 4- Causes they’re supporting…………………………9

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………...10

REFERENCES……………………………………………………11
FOREWORD

The story of Coldplay is known by many people and their background might be very similar
to any other band. They started working together in a dorm room when they were in college.
At that time, they didn’t know that worldwide fame was going to change their lives and their
story shows that you have to follow your dreams because you will never know if you’re
going to succeed until you try.

As anyone might already know, Coldplay, formed in 1998, is a British band who is looking
for sustainability initiatives guided by three key principles: reduce, reinvent, restore.

Though their achievements are, without a doubt, worthy of appreciation, the reason why I
chose this subject was not only to analyse their career, but also to take a closer look at all the
initiatives and projects behind the name Coldplay. I would like to present to you and
discover together the unseen and unspoken that lays behind all their hard work.

When I first looked deeper into their work, I saw that their sustainability initiatives were not
as simple as they appeared. They thought about projects that will include their fans to help
stop spreading the carbon footprint and many other ones that flooded my mind with
questions and they have been a constant wonder for me, until now.

I shall reveal their story in a manner that would hopefully show you that their fame it’s not
only about money but to bring awareness to the problems that put our planet in danger. My
purpose it’s not only to show you their work and initiatives, but more importantly to bring
you closer to their work and to demonstrate that anyone can contribute as little as they can
and help stop spreading all these issues.

So, get ready as I am about to present to you the story of ‘Coldplay-entertainment, but
sustainability first!’.

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CHAPTER 1-Getting to know them

1.1-About the band

Coldplay is a British pop-rock band formed in London in 1996. There are four members in
the band, these being Chris Martin-vocalist and pianist, Jonny Buckland-guitarist, Guy
Barryman-bassist and Will Champion-drummer. They like to say that there is a fifth member
of the band named Phil Harvey, who is the
creative director and the former manager
of the band.

They all met at University College

London, and began playing together from
1996 to 1998, initially calling themselves
‘The Pectoralz’ and then ‘Starfish’. The
name of ‘Coldplay’ is from a friend of theirs (Picture 1-The band ‘Coldplay’)
who no longer wanted the name of the band being ‘The Coldplay’ and that is when their
beautiful journey began.

They are the most successful band of the 21st century and one of the best-selling music acts
of all the time, with over a hundred million albums sold worldwide. They are also the sixth
most awarded group in history and they are considered one of the most influential bands of
the 21st century as well. Other notable achievements include the sixth-highest-grossing tour
of all time and the most number-one records in the country without ever missing the top. All
their hard work got them all these achievements and titles because fame doesn’t grow
overnight.

1.2-Albums

Coldplay has an impressive number of nine released albums since their debut and since they
signed with their record label Parlophone in 1999 and before that they released their album
‘Safety’ independently in 1998. Over the years they have explored many musical styles with
each album. Their sounds are considered to be alternative rock, alternative pop, pop rock,
soft-rock and pop.
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Their debut album called ‘Parachutes’ was released in July 2000 in the United Kingdom and
quickly became a hit not only in the U.K. and also in the U.S. Their single ‘Yellow’ became
an international hit and succeeded to thrust the band into
fame. This single still gets a lot of attention from the
general public.

In August 2002, the band released their second album

named ‘A Rush of Blood to the Head’. The songs for this
album were composed while they were still touring their
first album. Two of these songs even got Grammy awards.

(Picture 2-Album ‘Parachutes’)

Their third album ‘X&Y’ was released in June 2005 and it became the best-selling album of
2005 with worldwide sales of 8.3 million and it was the third-fastest selling album in the
U.K. chart history.

The next album called ‘Viva la Vida’ arrived in June 2008 with its refreshed sounds and an
expanded sound palette, it became an instant hit after worldwide sales approached six
million by November. With ‘Mylo Xyloto’, an album released in 2011, they continued their
experimentation with electronic and hip-hop beats.

Their Grammy-nominated sixth album called ‘Ghost Stories’ arrived in May 2014 and their
Avicii-assisted song ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ got in the Top Ten hits in the U.K. while climbing
in top 15 in the United States. When Chris Martin announced their seventh studio album ‘A
Head Full of Dreams’, released in December 2015, he compared it to the Harry Potter books
saying it might be their last album.

Apparently, they didn’t stop there when suddenly, all over

the world, black and white posters appeared, hinting their
album. Their eighth album was released in November 2019
and was titled ‘Everyday Life’, containing two parts named
‘Sunrise’ and ‘Sunset’.

(Picture 3-Album ‘Music of the Spheres’)

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Their most recent album named ‘Music of the Spheres’, released in October 2021, debuted at
number-one the U.K. Album Chart, becoming the fastest selling album in the country since
Ed Sheeran’s 2019 album. Their single ‘Higher Power’ was nominated for a Grammy.

1.3-Awards and Nominations

In its 24 years of activity, Coldplay has received an impressive number of 298 awards from
745 nominations. Their most important awards are The Brit Awards, Grammy Awards, MTV
Video Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.

From 29 nominations at the Grammy Awards, they have won 7 awards in their first years of
career with their albums ‘Parachutes’ and “A Rush of Blood to the Head’.

The Brit Awards got them 9 awards from 27 nominations for the British Group and British
Album of the Year.

With their most recent album ‘Music of the Spheres’, they released "Higher Power" in 2021
and earned a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Grammy Awards.
It served as the lead single of their ninth album, ‘Music of the Spheres’, which received nods
for Favourite Rock Album at the American Music Awards and Top Rock Album at the
Billboard Music Awards.

The band was latterly nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the
65th Grammy Awards, while another Stylish Pop Brace/ Group Performance nod was
secured with" My Universe". The song also broke the Guinness World Record for upmost
British track debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned their first triumphs at the Gaon
Chart Music Awards, Melon Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards Japan.

(Picture 4-‘Coldplay’ ate The Brit Awards)

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CHAPTER 2-Climate Changes

2.1-Plans for future

Climate change is a very important matter nowadays because our planet is threatened to be
destroyed. The temperature of our planet increased with 1.5 Celsius degrees in the last
decade due to the burning of fossil fuels like gas, coal and oil. These are generating
greenhouse gas emissions and they are acting like a blanket wrapped around the surface of
Earth, that keeps our planet warmer than it’s normal.

A lot of artists are involved in campaigns and projects that are spreading awareness about the
problems that humanity has created due to over consumerism and the desire to create more
and more products that involve a lot of coal and gas burning. Most of them are implied in
these projects because they are a lot more influential that climate change activists and people
tend to follow their idols in everything they do.

We all know that when our favourite artists are on tour, they are leaving behind a very big
footprint of carbon dioxide, which is 53% more dense than dry air. These increased CO2
concentrations are acting as a greenhouse gas and are the primary cause of climate change.
Some artists thought about these aspects and started to make their world tours more
sustainable.

While touring their new album ‘Music of the Spheres’, Coldplay realised that it’s time to
make a change and start some initiatives to reduce pollution and save our planet from this
destructive climate changes. The band thought about every aspect of this tour to make it
sustainable, from the CO2 emissions to the waste produced by the members of the crew and
the fans.

Their three main principles to make this tour as sustainable and low-carbon as possible are:
reduce, reinvent and restore. These three are used in reducing their consumption and cutting
their CO2 emissions by 50%, supporting new green technologies and developing new super
low-carbon touring methods and making the tour as environmentally advantageous as doable
by funding a portfolio of nature- and technology- rested plans.

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CHAPTER 3-Initiatives

3.1-CO2 emissions

Every aspect for this tour was planned very thoroughly so that everything can be
environmentally friendly and accessible for everyone.

From CO2 emissions to their merchandise, they’re guided by their three key principles:
reduce, reinvent, restore.

Coldplay pledged to cut the tour’s direct emissions by more than 50% compared to their
previous tour (2016-17). They’ve teamed up with DHL as the tour’s Official Logistic Partner
in order to minimise emissions from freight and transportation. They will capture climate
impact data and calculate their environmental footprint using recognised standards and
appropriate conversion factors and will adapt all tour operations to minimise emissions, in
line with the best science and practices: from set build to travel to freight to power. Despite
their all efforts their carbon footprint will still be significant.

3.2-Power production

Their stage production will be powered almost entirely with renewable, super-low emission
energy and the fossil fuels will be avoid as much as possible.

They have two partnerships with Nestle and BMW. Nestle will provide them with renewable
diesel, an Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil biofuel, produced 100% from renewable raw
materials, primarily waste and residues such as used cooking oil. Renewable Diesel use can
lower generator carbon emissions significantly and will power large parts of their tour
transports by trucks too, meaning super-low emissions, as much as 75 to 95% reduced
emissions, from these parts of their show transportation as well. In their partnership with
BMW, they have developed the first ever mobile, rechargeable show battery made from
recyclable BMW i3 batteries which will power their show with renewable energy wherever
they take it. They will have a number of other batteries in use that they can charge from
multiple sources including renewable diesel made from waste, such as used cooking oil and
solar energy.

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Photovoltaic panels will be installed in the build-up to each show and around the stadium
and where possible in the outer corners. The batteries will begin the charging prosses as soon
as they arrive at the venue they’re performing.

Fans will also have in important part in producing energy. In different locations around the
stadium, there will be placed kinetic floors so
that the fans’ dancing cand be converted in
energy that will power up the show. They will
also install electricity-generating pedal bikes to
charge the stage batteries and with this doing
something good for the environment and also
doing some cardio to keep themselves in form.
(Picture 5-Fans on the kinetic floor)

(Picture 6-Fans on electricity-generating bikes)

3.3-Stage show

In every location they are going to perform, they will try to use local equipment to minimise
the use of transportation. The stage will be made of reusable, lightweight and low-carbon
materials that can be reused and recycled at the end of the tour.

The wristband for entering the venue will be a lot more special than normal paper ones. They
will be LED wristbands made entirely of compostable and plant-based materials. This will
also reduce the wristband production by 80% and after every show they will be collected
from the fans sterilized and recharged for the next show.

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We all know that special effects are used in every artist’s show, but this time their confetti
will be 100% biodegradable materials. They will also use a new generation of pyrotechnics
that have less explosive charge and new formulas that greatly reduce or eliminate harmful
chemicals.

3.4-Water usage and food production

This climate change affects water in a very significant percentage. In some parts of the
world, the temperatures rose so much that they disrupt precipitation patterns and affect water
usage.

Coldplay came with a plan to maximize their water efficiency. They will ask venues to
introduce low flushing toilets, aerated taps and reduce water pressure to minimise water
usage.

Fans are encouraged to bring their own reusable bottles, in venues that is possible, to reduce
the selling and usage of plastic bottles. In venues that reusable water bottles aren’t allowed,
they will try to eliminate the selling of
single-use plastic bottles and will sell
recyclable alternatives like ball aluminium
cups. Water refill stations will be provided
wherever possible around the venues.

(Picture 7-Reusable ball aluminium cup)

Food waste is another important matter. Because of the over consumerism and the desire to
have everything that you see in grocery stores, a lot of products are being thrown away when
their expiration date comes. Also, the carbon emissions of food can rise up to 20% of a
person’s carbon footprint.

Coldplay will collaborate with local providers that produce organic products and that
practice regenerative agriculture techniques. They will also partner with local food banks to
donate any surplus food.

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3.5-Merchandise

Their merchandise will be sustainably and ethically sourced. Where possible, all the
polyester and plastic materials will be replaced by natural alternatives like cotton and
recycled or recyclable elements.

The patterns and vendors had been carefully selected to provide high quality and sustainable
materials and with those who prove that there is ethical work conditions and good salary
wages.

The merchandise will also be packed in recycled paper, card or compostable bags when it
will be sent to the buyer.

CHAPTER 4-Causes they’re supporting

While numerous of Coldplay's songs concern particular contents like love, heartache, and
instability, Martin and the rest of the band have also concentrated on global issues,
particularly speaking out for fair trade as part of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair cause.

With this tour, Coldplay is donating to many different causes that keep our environment
clean and help conserving it for future generations. Our nature had a lot to suffer in the last
years. A lot of natural habitats were destroyed by deforestation and water pollution. Many
species of animals are going extinct because of this.

As they have always done, they will put 10% of everything they earn (touring, records,
publishing etc.) into a good causes fund. These funds will be split between environmental
and socially-conscious projects and charities including Client Earth, The Ocean Clean-up
and One Tree Planted. They are working in partnership with Earth Percent as a founding
donor.

The tour will fund the planting and life-long protection of millions of trees, including the
reforestation of the Romanian Carpathians.

Soil health is critical to a healthy planet and they will support positive soil restoration
projects that regenerate the land, promote biodiversity and sequester millions of tons of
CO2.

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CONCLUSION

In this certificate paper, I presented to you the story of Coldplay and all the hard work that
was put into their career to get where they are today. A world-famous band that started their
career with just the desire to make music became an emblem of British pop culture
nowadays, guiding new generations’ musical taste, as well as their behaviour for a solid
sustainable lifestyle.

In the first chapter I analysed their career from the beginning and I pointed out the success
they had from the very beginning with their first album that got two Grammy awards from
three nominations.

In the second chapter I presented all the sustainability initiatives that were not known by the
general public and that are worthy of appreciation. With all their work, they are trying to
reduce the carbon footprint that causes the climate change of our planet. Their fans are also a
part of these actions and are helping them little by little.

In conclusion, this was the story of Coldplay, a band that tries to help the recovery of our
planet, funding charities that help cleaning, rewilding and reforesting our planet, all of this
little by little.

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REFERENCES

Photos: https://ew.com/music/coldplay-environmentally-friendly-music-of-the-spheres-tour

https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/coldplay-2022-tour-sustainability/

Information: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/coldplay-mn0000775877/biography

https://sustainability.coldplay.com

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Coldplay_discography#Studio_albums

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1095892/awards

https://www.livedesignonline.com/news/sustainable-touring-coldplay-use-
fan-power-world-tour

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