Citing the environmental footprint associated with transporting the entirety of Coldplay, Inc. around the planet any time they get the urge to tour , the members of the British band have announced that they’ll resist the urge to subject Mother Earth to said indignity on behalf of their upcoming album. Per BBC News, Chris Martin announced this week that, although the “Clocks” quartet is releasing a new album, Everyday Life, tomorrow, they’ve decided not to tour again until they can work out a way to make the practice not just sustainable, but “actively beneficial ” to the environment.


Instead, the group plans to play a pair of concerts in support of the album in Jordan, which will then be broadcast globally , for free, on YouTube—acknowledging that, of the various ways live music impacts the ecosystem , travel for fans is one of its largest components. (Although before anybody starts feeling too good about themselves, it’s worth noting that Rolling Stone recently reported on a study suggesting that, between data centers and the electricity required to transmit it, streaming music isn’t exactly innocent when it comes to emissions, either. ) Meanwhile, the group will continue to work with environmental organizations in order to find some way to make flying their entire act all over the planet carbon neutral, while also hoping to remove elements like single-use plastic from their touring lives. (Which is t errible news for our plans to market Chris Martin-shaped single-use plastic straws to thirsty Coldplay fans.) Martin also expressed his hope that the band’s concerts might someday soon be able to run entirely off solar power.

There’s been an increased focus in recent years on the environmental impact of live music, despite the fact that the industry’s carbon emissions, while not negligible, pale in comparison to the effects of industries like oil or cars. Radiohead recently switched out spotlights at their shows in favor of far more energy efficient LEDs, for instance, while U2 has cut down the amount of cargo it’s forced to drag between gigs considerably by forcing Bono to stick to a single pair of sunglasses per show.