Coldplay star Will Champion has spoken about his hope of being able to tour in a carbon-neutral way.
The Hampstead-based drummer swapped his VW Polo for a new electric Volkswagen ID3, collecting the keys from Paul Tanner, managing director of West Hampstead’s Alan Day Volkswagen.
The 42-year-old said the band are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint as they consider whether or not to tour around the world again in the future.
“I think that our business is absolutely due a very long, hard assessment of how we do our business and what we can achieve and how we can do what we’d like to do in the most responsible way and it’s something that we’re considering all the time,” he said. “And the more that the companies provide support for touring and things like that, the more that they are investing into environmentally friendly practices, the easier it becomes for us so, when freight and trucking and transport becomes electric, that’s something that we can then use in our business as well which is extremely exciting.
“We will be thrilled to have a carbon-neutral tour. You know there’s a lot of things that go towards making that happen but, specifically, the vehicles are high up on that list because there’s a lot of gear that needs to trucking around. So, Definitely, we’re really, really hopeful that these advances will help us to get closer to be able to be completely carbon neutral.”
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Will picked up the £36,000 vehicle, which can cover more than 230 miles on one charge, from Alan Day Volkswagen’s New Southgate centre.
He said: ”Well, I know that there are lots of electric cars coming out this year. But my first car was a VW and we’ve always had a good experience with VW.
“I’ve had Golfs and Polos and various other models so just felt I was waiting for VW to come out with something like this.”
He praised Alan Day Volkswagen for reducing its carbon footprint by 38% over three years and for the initiative Alan Day have with Saracens Rugby Club, sponsoring a programme working with young people with learning difficulties alongside the Sarries Sports Foundation at Allianz Park every Monday night.
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