Major record labels, including Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, have signed up to a new pact that aims to tackle the effects of climate change by “decarbonising” the music industry.
The initiative, named the Music Climate Pact, has been launched by the UK’s Association of Independent Music (AIM) in collaboration with the record labels association, the BPI.
The Pact sets out “a series of high-level commitments that will serve as a declaration of intent for the global music sector”, including a commitment to either sign up to the Science Based Targets Initiative or join the UN’s Race to Zero programme by February 2022.
Both schemes require their participants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 and achieve a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.
The Pact also requires record labels to support their artists when speaking on climate issues, communicate openly with music fans about the impacts of the music industry and pledge to collaborate on measuring carbon emissions in the industry.
As well as the Sony, Universal and Warner music groups, labels such as Beggars Group, BMG, Brownswood Recordings, Ninja Tune, Secretly Group, Warp and Partisan Records have also joined the Music Climate Pact.
Paul Redding, CEO of Beggars Group (UK), said: “The Music Climate Pact shows the willingness of the whole music industry to work collaboratively on climate issues. Building on IMPALA’s project to develop a carbon calculator tool, all signatories will be pulling in the same direction on sustainability topics.
“This will help our industry achieve carbon reductions more efficiently as we carry out the same work, in the same way, at the same time.”
Back in October, Coldplay announced plans to make their 2022 world tour as environmentally friendly as possible.
“Playing live and finding connection with people is ultimately why we exist as a band. We’ve been planning this tour for years, and we’re super excited to play songs from across our whole time together,” the band said in a statement.
“At the same time, we’re very conscious that the planet is facing a climate crisis. So we’ve spent the last two years consulting with environmental experts to make this tour as sustainable as possible, and, just as importantly, to harness the tour’s potential to push things forward.”
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