Music in the time of climate crisis

The Environmental Impact of the Music Industry and Its Response

Music has inherent value and provides numerous benefits to us as individuals and society. It has the power to shape individuals, evoke emotion, create community, preserve culture, and transform society. But what’s its impact on the planet?

It’s no secret – we are currently facing one of the greatest challenges of our time: the climate crisis. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been rapidly increasing over the past 50 years and human activities have resulted in a 1.1°C increase of global surface temperature above pre-industrial levels. Temperature increase from GHG emissions negatively impact and continue to threaten water availability and food production; cities and infrastructure; biodiversity and ecosystems; and health and well-being. If GHG emissions continue to increase at the current rate, global warming is likely to reach a 1.5°C increase within the next 30 years. Limiting global warming will limit the negative effects we see on the world around us, which is why we need to act and respond with urgency. The music industry is not separate from this problem.

The Environmental Impact of Music

Three key areas to consider within the music industry are:

Live Music
- Every concert, tour, and festival leave an environmental footprint. Things like the energy powering a show, stage equipment, waste production, and artist and fan travel all leave an impact. As the climate crisis worsens, we have to ask what sustainable live music looks like.
Album and Merchandise Production
- The materials and energy used to produce a product, as well as shipping the product to stores and consumers leave an impact on the planet. Using sustainable materials and producing items locally can limit this impact. Additionally, the issue of overconsumption comes into play here. We have seen a recent rise in artists releasing several vinyl variants for a single album featuring different cover art or vinyl colours. Fans may feel the need to purchase more than one version of the album for different aesthetics, or they may try to collect every variant of their favourite artists LP.
Streaming
- Today, music is more accessible than it has ever been through streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Music is constantly being streamed and we likely aren’t thinking about its impact. Every time a song is streamed, the song file is pulled from a data server and transferred to your device, costing energy. With the global growth of music streaming, its environmental footprint may eventually exceed that of physical media.

Overall Impact

A 2007 assessment of the UK music industry estimated that its overall GHG emissions were 540,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year. 74% of these emissions were a result of live music, while 26% came from music recording and publishing.

Earlier this year, Illuminem estimated that live concerts and festivals generate up to 5 million tonnes of CO2 every year.

Coachella generates an estimated 107 tons of waste each day, of which only 20% gets recycled.

In 2024, Warner Music Group reported their annual emissions at 223,473 tonnes of CO2e across their own operations and supply chain. Merchandise, marketing, vinyl production were top contributors to their emissions. Universal Music Group reported their 2024 emissions at 627,420 tonnes of CO2e.

There is no definitive answer, or even a rough estimate, to the amount of GHG emissions the music industry produces globally. While the research gives us an idea of the impact of the music industry, it is clearly lacking. The 2007 UK assessment is the largest-scale study on the music industry’s environmental impact and it is nearly 20 years old. We can assume that on a global-scale today, the impact is far greater.

How Artists and Communities are Responding

Artists Making a Difference

Over the recent years, more and more artists have been speaking out and taking climate action. Here are a few highlights:

Billie Eilish

Billie consistently uses her platform to spread awareness about climate change. Over the years, she has also released the Overheated documentary and continues to promote sustainable touring by partnering with REVERB – a non-profit which partners with artists to reduce the environmental footprint on their tours – and featuring local non-profits addressing climate change, climate justice, and food insecurity.

Coldplay

On their Music of the Spheres Tour, Coldplay pledged to make their environmental impact as low as possible by cutting their tour emissions by 50%, develop new sustainable, low-carbon touring methods, and by funding nature and technology-based projects. As of 2024, these efforts resulted in an overall 59% reduction in CO2e emissions compared to their previous tour. Check out more details of their sustainability initiatives here.

Radiohead

As early as 2007, Radiohead were spreading awareness about the climate crisis. After comparing their tour emissions from 2003 and 2006, Radiohead went on a “Carbon Neutral Tour” (as some sources call it) in 2008. They decided to play shows in city centres due to better transport links in the hopes it would reduce fan travel emissions, and committed to reduce their own carbon emissions through sea freighting their equipment as opposed to air freighting, low-power LED lighting, and travelling by air little as possible. You can read the report here.

Music Declares Emergency

Music Declares Emergency (MDE) is a global community of artists, music industry professionals, and organizations who call for an “an immediate governmental response to protect all life on Earth” through their #NoMusicOnADeadPlanet campaign.

MDE provides actionable steps which artists, music industry professionals, and music lovers can take for a greener future.

Music Sustainability Alliance

The Music Sustainability Alliance (MSA) is a community of music industry professionals and artists. It was “established to convene, educate and empower the music industry to embrace sustainability in general, and the climate crisis in particular.” Every year, they hold the Music Sustainability Summit. In 2025, the theme of the summit was progress through collaboration and it focused not only on the challenges, but the solutions that currently exist and how they can be implemented in the industry.

How the Industry is Responding

Music Climate Pact

In 2021, the Music Climate Pact (MCP) was initiated in the United Kingdom as a response to COP26 and the need for collective climate action. The MCP was signed by 14 record labels and back by 14 supporting organizations. Signatories agreed to take action to reduce GHG emissions; to either commit to science-based targets, or sign up to the Race to Zero program; support artists who speak up on climate issues; and communicate with fans about the impacts of the music industry.

In 2024, reported progress on the MCP includes signatories taking steps to decarbonise their operations, and developing climate initiatives such as IMPALA’s carbon calculator and climate guidance for record labels.

Record Labels

In their 2024 Impact Report, Warner Music Group discusses innovations and sustainable practices they are adopting in the industry including vinyl and CD production using recycled materials, conducting a life cycle assessment for a 140g vinyl, and partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Environmental Solutions Initiative, Live Nation, Hope Solutions, and Coldplay to assess the impact of live music.

Beggars Group annually reports their GHG emissions and have taken steps to reduce their impact including transitioning to solar energy, using sustainable materials in product manufacturing, and diverting 100% of their office waste in 2023 from landfill.

Full Time Hobby details their actions for sustainability on their website including successfully lobbying their landlord to switch to renewable energy, producing all merchandise on organic cotton, and using 100% recycled LP packaging.

Photo by Peter Kasprzyk on Unsplash

What Fans Can Do

It is evident that music fans care about climate change. In a survey of 350,000 fans by Planet Reimagined, 72% believe that climate change is an important issue and 78% have taken climate action, mainly through making personal changes or discussing the issue with family or friends.

Here are some ways fans can encourage sustainability in general, and within the music industry:

Fans can encourage their favourite artists to speak out about climate change and take climate action.
Support artists, venues, events, and organizations who are taking climate action.
Take public transit or carpool to concerts.
Bring reusable water bottles to concerts (when permitted by the venue).
Choosing a concert outfit from what you already own or buying second-hand.
Talk about climate change with your family and friends.
Engage in climate action – hold your government representatives accountable for implementing policy which benefits the environment and climate.

What’s Next?

We are seeing artists, fans, and organizations all advocating for a sustainable future and the urgent need to take climate action. The industry is beginning to acknowledge this and take steps towards a more sustainable future. From commitments like the MCP, we see that record labels and music businesses are ready to adapt and grow in a sustainable direction. However, we need to see tangible results in order to know that things are progressing. There is a lack of solid reporting on these commitments which make it difficult to tell if change is being made.

As of now, we do not understand the industry’s impact as a whole. There is a lack of research surrounding the large-scale and global environmental impact of the music industry. Research has been published for the impact of tours and stand-alone events. However, all of this research is fragmented. It is spread over decades and comes from a handful of artists, companies, and organizations. To see the big picture and truly understand the environmental impact of this industry, we need comprehensive research to be undertaken and published. This would require more transparency from the industry to report on their emissions and more artists to participate in analyzing the impact of their tours where possible.

Conclusion

Artists, fans, organizations, and the music industry are all already making changes in response to the climate crisis. Harnessing this momentum, the music industry has tremendous potential to lead the transition to a sustainable future. By continuing to collaborate and innovate, the music community can amplify its impact far beyond the stage.