Aussie rockers go carbon neutral

Fairfax

SILVERFINGER? Australian rockers Silverchair and Powderfinger have announced their joint Australasian tour will be carbon neutral.

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Australian rockers Silverchair and Powderfinger are jumping on the climate change bandwagon by announcing their joint Australasian tour will be carbon neutral.

The Across the Great Divide tour aims to avoid or reduce energy consumption, while neutralising unavoidable emissions from venue electricity and transport.

Fossil fuel emissions produced by air travel is one area the bands are seeking to neutralise.

Carbon offsetting for the tour would be done by green energy company Climate Friendly, through the purchase of accredited and independently verified carbon credits.

Climate Friendly have purchased carbon credits from a range of renewable energy generators including New Zealand's Te Apiti Farms and Challicum Hills in Australia.

"The Silverchair/Powderfinger tour has invested in renewable energy projects via Climate Friendly, such as wind power, that will prevent exactly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are generated by the event," a spokesperson for the tour said.

The total amount of carbon emissions for the tou r is expected to be in the vicinity of 800 tonnes.

Climate Friendly boasts other Australian celebrity music clients including John Butler Trio and Missy Higgins.

Sil verchair and Powderfinger are not the first artists to use their music to draw attention to climate change.

Live Earth, held in July this year, was a series of eight concerts worldwide, featuring more than 100 performers.

The event was broadcast across the globe in an attempt to combat climate change, however ratings did not reach expected levels and artists such as Madonna were labelled environmental hypocrites.

Madonna owns multiple houses, a fleet of cars and a private jet, which she used to travel to the London concert.

Unlike Live Earth, Silverchair and Powderfinger are not putting all their eggs in one social movement basket.

The tour name, Across the Great Divide, refers to the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian children.

The bands hope to "generate a national conversation about bridging the gap".

The tour kicks off in Newcastle on August 29.

The first New Zealand concert is in Christchurch on October 16, followed by Wellington, Palmerston North and Auckland.

- NZPA