The 1975 set to play world’s first “carbon-removed” gigs
Carbon created from audience members and light shows will be sucked out of the air during two shows at the O2 Arena in London.
Image: Matthew Baker / Getty
The 1975 are due to play two “carbon-removed” live shows early next year, which are set to be a “world first”.
The band, fronted by outspoken vocalist and guitarist Matty Healy, will be performing the environmentally friendly sets in February next year at London’s O2 Arena.
The shows are part of their newly announced tour, still… at their very best, which will cover the UK and Europe across 2024. London’s “carbon-removed” dates are set to take place on 12 and 13 February. Tickets for the tour go on general sale 8 September at local time.
According to iNews, carbon removal means that CO2 generated by the event will be physically sucked out of the air. This could be from the light show and also the audience members, for example. More traditional techniques outside of the venue such as planting trees and spreading CO2 absorbing volcanic rock on farmland, where it also acts as a fertiliser, could also be implemented.
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Research conducted by A Greener Future for AEG (owner of the venue) estimates that putting on a large gig at the arena would generate about 100 tonnes of CO2. This figure also includes catering, electricity, and transport of equipment, the band and their crew. This carbon footprint costs about £150 a tonne to remove, giving a total cost of roughly £15,000.
Sam Booth, director of sustainability at AEG Europe, tells i: “Large-scale carbon-free events do not currently exist so, until they become a reality, we need to find ways of mitigating the impacts of what we do.
“Carbon removals, which physically extract the carbon these events generate from the atmosphere and durably store it out of harms way, are a great stepping stone to a genuine net-zero future.”
Booth also adds that carbon-removal events are different from carbon-neutral events, which match emissions with an equivalent number of offsets or “carbon credits” which in some cases is associated with greenwashing.
Find out more about the upcoming tour on The 1975 website.