Coldplay has announced its next world tour will have a net-zero carbon footprint and released a sustainability plan that includes direct-air carbon capture technology by Climeworks.

The British band accompanied the announcement of its Music of the Spheres tour with a detailed list of environmental initiatives that it said would reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent compared to its last tour.

It also pledged to use various carbon-removal methods to offset the remaining carbon emissions.

The plan includes a partnership with Swiss company Climeworks, whose machines remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it safely or package it for commercial use in products such as fizzy drinks.

Climeworks is the only technological carbon removal approach included in the plan, which otherwise focuses on nature-based options such as reforestation, rewilding, soil restoration and seagrass meadow restoration to offset emissions generated by the tour.

When Coldplay decided not to tour their album Everyday Life, it may have resulted in the 2019 release to relatively sink without a trace but it laid the seeds for what could be a pioneering move for the live music industry.

In announcing their absence, the UK band cited a need to investigate ways to make concert tours environmentally sustainable and carbon neutral. For the past two years the band engaged the services of consultant Paul Schurink, the co-founder of Green Events, to design a world tour in 2022 that cuts their direct emissions by 50 per cent, compared with the previous 2016-2017 tour.

Speaking at the XP Music Conference in Riyadh on Tuesday, the Dutchman outlined the various ways the group intend to keep their arena and stadium concerts sustainable without sacrificing the power of the performances.

With the first seven months of shows announced, Schurink confirms the Music of the Spheres tour – named after this year’s new album and beginning in Costa Rica on March 18 – will have the quartet on the road for their longest stretch to date.