Music and Climate Change
In an industry of influential individuals, it is easy to think there are plenty of seizable opportunities to battle the global climate crisis. With initiatives like the UN’s Race to Zero initiative, major labels have taken a more conscious effort to reduce their negative footprint on the environment. That being said, pledging and acting are not the same. While a number of the world’s biggest record labels have united to commit to action on their environmental impact, the industry needs to come together as a whole with all its participants to make lasting and profound changes in global climate issues.
The UN’s Race to Zero initiative has three functions: mobilize commitments in line with the goals of the campaign, align existing initiatives, and converge on shared net-zero methodologies and pathways and embed fair share principles in net-zero action.
Ultimately, it aims to rally non-state actors to take immediate action to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero-carbon world. This includes sectors and regions across different domains, leaving one no more exclusive than another, all following the same criteria to achieve the same goal. Partner initiatives play a leadership role in the campaign and are responsible to supporting and managing their members to meet robust science-aligned criteria in line with the Race to Zero campaign.
Major labels such as Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have signed the Music Climate Pact, which will see them pledge “actionable climate targets. If so, despite the resources available to be sustainable moving forward, why is change still slow in the making? The industry is reckoning with issues including the impact of global touring, vinyl manufacturing, and the energy used to power streaming. To say these major labels and the industry as a whole are at fault is false; there are many contributing factors, such as the impact of fans and music consumerism. However, to start, the companies have also pledged to collaborate on measuring carbon emissions in the music industry, to help their artists to speak out on climate issues, and to communicate with artists’ fans about how the music industry impacts on the environment.
Artists Working Towards Climate Change
With the industry’s larger pledge to battle climate change and its contributing factors to its rapid decline, select artists have taken noticeable action. Prior to their 2022 tour, the band pledged to cut CO2 emissions by 50% compared with their 2016-17 world tour, and “almost entirely” use renewable energy to power their stage show. Coldplay embedded greener strategies not only in how they travel for their tour, but in the stage set-up itself. In an innovative method, the band implemented a kinetic floor to harness renewable energy created by their fans at the show itself: solar panels will be installed on the floors, stage and elsewhere in open-air stadiums as soon as the band arrive, to generate power in the run-up to the show. Battery and mains power will also be drawn from renewable sources. The stage itself will be built from reusable and sustainable materials, including bamboo and recycled steel. Not only are they changing the way shows are set up, but also the way fans inherently—albeit unintentionally—contribute to the industry’s climate impact due to the foundational practices and habits of the touring system.
Another notable artist stands out among her fellow musicians. Billie Eilish’s 2022 Happier Than Ever Tour followed suit and launched several green initiatives: banning plastic straws, installing free water refill stations, selling eco-designed merch, and more. Like Coldplay, Eilish has shown that there are ways to reduce the industry’s normative habits that contribute to the climate crisis and that because the “norm” of touring has been the same for years, it does not mean it cannot change. Considering fans, like Coldplay, Eilish took her green initiatives a step further by creating “eco villages” outside her concert venues — interactive spaces to engage audiences on climate issues. It’s a bold way to show that music and environmental commitment can go hand in hand. Eilish, among other artists, are proving that the industry and the artists that are part of it have the resources and means to enforce greener solutions moving forward for touring and fans. By using her platform to raise awareness of climate change issues, Eilish is rewriting a greener industry and a sustainable music future, and further inspired over 133,500 fan actions to support social and environmental causes.
This raises the question, then, if more and more artists are using their platform to champion environmental causes and raise awareness among their fans, could the industry become greener for a longer, lasting future? What if touring and music are no longer just about a few messages on stage or social media posts, and artists and fans alike proceed to take real action, such as cutting down on air travel, using eco-responsible stage designs, or offsetting the emissions from their tours? If actions and habits like those of Coldplay and Billie Eilish, among many other artists, adopt a greener and more widespread initiative across the industry, perhaps the industry’s pledge to a greener future may be achieved at a quicker pace.
Solutions and Moving Forward
If fans hold a larger power than the industry acknowledges, then it is important to look at a cultural shift as well as a shift in goals. From cutting waste and using eco-friendly packaging to offsetting carbon emissions and implementing internal sustainability policies, initiatives are picking up speed — often driven by pressure from artists, fans, and institutions. By working together and changing professional foundational habits in the music industry, artists and fans alike—alongside labels’ pledging for a more sustainable initiative—the parts pertaining to the industry as a whole prove that even in the high-demand world of live performance, sustainable choices are possible; possible, yet slow to adopt. It has been seen already that many players in the music industry—from festivals to artists to record labels—are testing real solutions to reduce their environmental footprint. While the approaches vary depending on context and resources, there’s a growing consensus around a set of proven practices that can serve as benchmarks for building a more sustainable sector. Thus, if more sectors within the industry work together to make concrete and sustainable progress on battling the climate crisis a vital priority.