News

U2 hit back at criticism over carbon footprint

• 17th Aug 2009

U2's the Edge has hit back at criticisms from environmentalists of his band's latest tour, calling them “unfair.” He claims that the band will offset any carbon footprint they leave during the tour, though did not give details on how this would be done.

“We're spending the money on our fans,” the Edge told BBC 6 Music. “I don't think there's a better thing you could spend it on.”

That's not the opinion of many environmentalists. In July, one group claimed that this year's U2 concerts will have the same environmental impact as flying all 90,000 Wembley attendees to Dublin. The construction and transport of the tour's set – including three £15m steel “claw” structures – will reportedly emit three times more carbon than Madonna's 2006 world tour.

The Edge admitted, “We'd love to have some alternative to big trucks bringing the stuff around but there just isn't one.”