Speak Now: Assessing the Environmental Impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour
An artist whose work is as omnipresent as it is idiosyncratic, Taylor Swift is bonafide pop-star royalty. The 34-year-old American singer-songwriter has built an illustrious career, breaking numerous records and amassing a remarkable number of accolades, all while managing to remain a key player in the cultural zeitgeist for an all but unprecedented duration of time.
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Her ongoing tour, the Eras Tour, is the pinnacle of her mammoth success so far. The ambitious show, which runs approximately three and a half hours and explores ten of Swift’s studio albums, each one with their own musical “era,” has become a global cultural phenomenon. The tour has been the subject of overwhelming demand, breaking countless records in becoming the first in history to gross over $1 billion dollars in revenue, making Swift a billionaire in the process.
On the whole, the tour has received fawning media coverage over its positive economic impact, even sparking its own term to describe the study of Swift’s economic influence: Swiftonomics. Most recently, the UK leg of the tour was predicted by a Barclay’s report to boost spending in the UK by almost 1 billion pounds. Though the economic effects of the tour have been well-documented, it is important to look beyond the sold-out arenas and reports of positive economic value to capture a more comprehensive picture of Swift’s undeniable influence over the music industry. In an effort to better understand how the Eras tour will shape industry trends, this article will analyze the environmental impact of the tour and explore potential solutions to address these challenges.
Members of the environmental group 'Just Stop Oil' spray orange paint on 2 private jets to draw attention to carbon emissions at the Stansted Airport in London, United Kingdom on June 20, 2024.
Touring’s Environmental Cost
Similar to its scale, the environmental footprint of the Eras tour is unprecedented. The tour's reliance on air travel for international performances creates significant emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change. According to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, Taylor Swift’s estimated emissions from private jet travel alone for the 2024 leg of the Eras Tour will be 511,154 kg of CO2, which is equivalent to 122 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year, or approximately 67 homes’ energy use for one year. This does not account for the travel needs of Swift’s crew, or the transport of equipment necessary for the tour. Moreover, most fans will travel to the show by car or plane, further contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Hordes of North Americans traveled overseas to catch the European leg of the show. Twenty percent of tickets for the Parisian leg of Swift’s tour were sold to Americans, according to the venue. Many of these travelers have stated that the exorbitant ticket prices charged for the American leg of the tour make it no more costly, and in some instances less expensive, than it would have been to have seen the show back home. In addition to signaling major issues with ticket pricing, tens of thousands of individuals traveling by air to see the tour generates negative environmental effects.
Though air travel is an essential component of major tours that is unlikely to change any time soon, certain major players have taken steps to offset the footprint of traveling as much as possible. A recent missive on the environmental impact of touring published by the Grammys notes that Ed Sheeran’s most recent tour consciously minimized flights between venues, while Jewel and Melissa Ethridge have decided to share a band on their upcoming tour in order to cut down on the number of individuals traveling between each date. Though these are imperfect solutions, the dedicated effort taken in these examples stands in stark contrast to Swift’s much-discussed overnight flight from a show in Tokyo to attend the Superbowl.
The 152 shows in 2023 and 2024. This is a list of all of the cities and important announcements surrounding the tour. USA Today, Bryan West / The Tennessean
Fast fashion tour merchandise
The manufacture and sale of merchandise also has a notable effect on the overall environmental footprint generated by the Eras Tour. Swift has already made a reported $500 million from merchandise related to her tour, a figure projected to grow further, as the Eras tour is still underway, and runs until December of 2024. Most of the Eras Tour merchandise is made from cotton, which is more sustainable than clothing made of difficult-to-recycle synthetic fibers such as polyester. However, this shift from acrylic and polyester to cotton is a very recent change, applying only to her latest merchandise for the Eras Tour and her most recent album. Moreover, Swift does not provide further information on the sustainability and ethics of how this merchandise is manufactured. Providing additional information on the textiles, dyes, and garment manufacturing process could address this, setting a precedent for the industry by promoting more sustainable practices.
As with air travel, certain eco-conscious pop stars have developed imperfect but essential solutions to the question of merchandise. Billie Eilish, for example, notes under the sustainability section of her website that “all merchandise clothing uses residual dead stock from prior productions, organic or recycled polyester or cotton, non-toxic dye inputs and intentional design processes for circularity, reduced climate impact and regeneration to reduce harm to people and planet.” Though Eilish has become known for her involved approach to issues related to her ecological footprint, these efforts should be adopted as industry-wide standards, and a superstar like Swift on board would help to lead the effort. Moreover, the ecological benefits of utilizing deadstock materials could add uniqueness to the merchandise, making it more appealing to fans.
Fans exchange friendship bracelets at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour stop in London on Aug. 15.
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Building sustainable friendships - without the plastic footprint
Another item of merchandise particularly linked to the Eras Tour is the friendship bracelet. While Swift did not invent the trend of crafting and exchanging plastic beaded bracelets, she has popularized it by wearing them and posting photos on her Instagram. Fans have been trading these bracelets at her shows since her 2009 tour, and followed her invitation to “make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it,” during the Eras Tour. Fans are creating or buying dozens, even hundreds, of bracelets to swap with fellow concertgoers. In cities where her tour stops, North American arts and crafts store Michaels has reported a 300 percent increase in sales of beads and jewelry supplies in the days leading up to Swift’s concerts. However, the manufacturing of plastic beads generates a significant environmental impact, as 99 percent of all new plastic is made from fossil fuels like oil and methane. The raw materials are extracted through mining or fracking, contributing to pollution. Plastic beads also decompose slowly, meaning the bracelets will be around for decades to come. As these bracelets have become an essential component of fan activation at the Eras shows, no one is suggesting that Swift chastise her fans not to partake or have fun. A more organized and dedicated approach to the practice, however, such as encouraging inter-show bracelet trading or the use of recycled materials, would go a long way to reducing the negative effects of the practice.
Coldplay fans riding stationary bikes as part of the band's environmental initiatives. Rick Scuteri/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Coldplay has pioneered utilizing fan-engagement towards larger sustainable goals. On their Music of the Spheres tour, the band partnered with green travel providers to help fans attend the shows as sustainably as possible, encouraged the return and reuse of LED wristbands essential to the show’s lighting, and featured a row of bikes fans could ride in order to help power the recycled BMW i3 batteries used to power the shows. With a stated goal to reduce the footprint of their previous tour by 50%, the group reported in 2024 that they had exceeded that target by 3%. Though the ecological impact of international tours the size of Coldplay’s or Swift’s will never be reduced to 0, these initiatives again lead the industry on finding innovative solutions to a pressing problem.
Championing transparency and advocacy in touring sustainability
An essential component of Coldplay and Billie Eilish’s success in these initiatives is clear communication about how each element of their overall strategy works to reduce emissions, while detailing the various organizations they have partnered with to meet their goals. Unfortunately, Swift has been less than communicative about the Eras Tour in this regard. Although a spokesperson for Swift suggested to Business Insider that "[b]efore the tour kicked off in March of 2023, Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all tour travel," the outlet was not able to independently verify the claim. That said, from an environmental standpoint, there are significant drawbacks to initiatives like carbon offsets. Though said offsets purport to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects, such as reforestation, that reduce carbon elsewhere, their efficacy has been routinely questioned by experts. An investigation published in The Guardian into Verra, the world’s largest offset supplier, found that “more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits … are likely to be ‘phantom credits’ and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.” Without meaningful transparency concerning the origin and quality of the offsets purchased by Swift’s team, it is impossible to know whether those purchased for the Eras tour are making a positive or negative difference.
Artists need to reimagine the structure of touring itself to minimize environmental harm. There are numerous avenues to explore in order to address the environmental effects of touring, including measures such as embracing virtual performances, reducing reliance on air travel, and adopting sustainable touring technologies. As the most significant performer on the world stage today, Swift has the power and influence to provide much needed leadership on these issues.
The outsized footprint of major international concert tours is a thorny problem that likely does not have a complete solution beyond the significant arresting or limiting of the size and scope of multi-country arena tours. Taylor Swift is but one of dozens of international performers who are anticipated by their fans to make regular personal appearances on stages the world round. But the gargantuan nature of Swift’s stardom also means that she wields the most power, certainly more than Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish, or Coldplay, to advocate for dire issues such as climate change.
Swift’s particular mode of fan engagement is largely unprecedented, and she has proven herself an innovative artist in transforming the cycle of reissues and re-recordings typically associated with legacy acts into a seemingly unending parade of chart successes, all the while reclaiming the ownership of her art. These levels of engagement and innovation are desperately needed to address climate change as it pertains to the music industry, and advocacy in this regard on Swift’s part would surely have a much broader positive effect than the purchasing of carbon credits. It is important for megastars like Swift to consider the broader implications of their touring practices, and to prioritize sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity in their art.
While Swift's Eras Tour is undoubtedly a testament to her dominance as an artist, its lasting legacy on the music industry remains to be seen. Each of the aforementioned artists are Swift’s contemporaries and occasional collaborators, so including her in wider inter-industry solutions to these pressing issues could be instrumental in pushing the music industry towards a more sustainable eco-friendly future.