British band酷玩乐队have been called “useful idiots for greenwashing” after teaming up with Finnish biofuel company Neste to cut tour emissions.
此举是乐队持续努力在巡回演出最后一张专辑中引用环境问题的巡回演出后，努力进行“可持续”巡回演出的一部分。
Amidst more gimmicky inclusions like a ‘kinetic floor’ that generates electricity from the movement of fans, the band also pledged to more serious goals like powering the tour by 100% renewable energy and cutting direct GHG emissions by 50%.
Neste will provide Coldplay with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to help reduce air travel emissions, while the company’s renewable diesel will help cut emissions from the band’s tour transports and stage power generation.
Despite this, campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) are urging the band to call off the partnership, alleging that Neste has “documented links to deforestation and dubious biofuels”. The group also claimed that Neste’s sustainable fuels are “based on used cooking oil” and that the company has a track record of sourcing from “palm oil mills linked to deforestation”.
Commenting on the partnership, T&E’s senior director Carlos Calvo Ambel toldThe Guardian：“ Neste愤世嫉俗地使用Coldplay绿化了其声誉。这是一家与森林砍伐相关的公司，它会使克里斯·马丁（Chris Martin）和他的粉丝们相伴。现在还不晚，他们应该立即与Neste放弃合作伙伴关系，而是专注于真正清洁的解决方案。”
“Coldplay’s commitment to reduce its emissions is no doubt well-intentioned. But teaming up with a company linked to deforestation makes them useful idiots for greenwashing.”
Both Coldplay and Neste haverefutedthe allegations, however, insisting that only “renewable waste products” and no “virgin materials” (such as palm oil) are used in the firm’s operations.
A spokesperson for Neste said: “For our collaboration with Coldplay, conventional palm oil or other virgin vegetable oils were not used as raw materials for the supplied renewable fuels,” adding that the company “has developed a robust system to ensure its renewable products, and the raw materials it uses in its production, always meet the legal sustainability requirements set by local authorities in our markets.”
乐队还对这种反对作出了反应，说：“当我们宣布这次旅行时，我们说我们将尽力使其尽可能可持续和低碳的影响，但这将是一项正在进行的工作。那仍然是正确的。我们还没有声称一切顺利。”