STORIES OF ACTION

The manufacture of physical products, in particular traditional vinyl records, is a key emissions hotspot for record labels.

To address this, Murmur, the Vinyl Alliance, and a working group led by the MCP Signatories are working on a collaborative initiative working with the vinyl supply chain. The aims are to:

● define more accurate emissions factors to measure and report against this materially significant area of Scope 3 emissions,

● enable the recorded music industry to better understand and quantify opportunities to reduce the carbon emissions associated with record manufacture and supply.

The project is aiming to create:

● An agreed methodology for the calculation of Product Carbon Footprints for vinyl records

● A sample of Product Carbon Footprints available to the industry for carbon reporting

● An overview of the key opportunities for the sector to transition to low carbon models of manufacture

● A ‘supplier sustainability programme’ framework by which vinyl manufacturers will be able to demonstrate their commitment to environmental action to labels.

Taken together, these three elements will help create a shared collaborative roadmap for labels and their suppliers towards low carbon manufacturing.

An initial Vinyl Carbon Footprinting Report has been produced by the carbon footprint working group of the Vinyl Record Manufacturer’s Association and Vinyl Alliance, which includes the MCP Signatories Beggars Group and Key Production.

Bespoke physical music and packaging manufacturing agency and Supporter of the MCP Key Production have created a flow of educational literature for their clients accompanying their processes and helping to guide people to lower impact choices. Every new quote lists reduced impact options for consideration for physical formats and associated packaging, as well as a document highlighting sustainability tips.

With commitments by Full Time Hobby, !K7, Ninja Tune and Partisan Records…

Full Time Hobby has maintained its policy (in place since 2009) to only use card wallets for CDs, and all vinyl production has been switched from 180g to 140g. For their mail order packaging materials, all LP packaging is now 100% recycled cardboard, CD packaging is plastic-free (with plastic bubble wrap in envelopes replaced by fluted card padding), and tape used is kraft paper rather than plastic.

!K7 no longer uses plastic CD jewel cases for back catalogue and new releases. New projects avoid the use of 180g vinyl. All cardboard packaging is produced using FSC paper sources.

Ninja Tune have maintained their policy (in place since 2008) to only use card wallets for CDs. A majority of their vinyl pressing has shifted from 180g to 140g, with all sleeves made from FSC-certified card and paper as a minimum, and many from recycled card and paper.

Partisan Records have focused on reducing the impacts of manufacturing for the last 3 years, following principles of: • Significantly reducing overstock by strategically forecasting physical product needs.

• Increasing regional manufacturing to reduce trans-Atlantic shipment of goods, nearly eliminating air shipments.

• Switching vinyl manufacturing from 180g to 140g.

• Sourcing merchandise and marketing materials from suppliers that meet minimum environmental standards, i.e. organic cotton and recycled or FSC-certified cardstock, etc.

EarthPercent have shaped several campaigns for artists and their labels to creatively engage with and fundraise for climate action.

They have launched NATURE as an official artist on all the major digital streaming providers, and the ‘Sounds

Right’ campaign has now reached over 15m fans with over 150m streams. The campaign was backed by all major labels and many independent labels.

EarthPercent has also launched ‘The Earth as a Songwriter’ using the existing publishing systems of music, giving artists and publishers a unique and poetic way to support climate action through music by channelling royalties to climate action and biodiversity protection.

To date, E/P have worked with over 250 artists and 40+ industry organisations to raise over $1.5m for 18 different climate and biodiversity projects around the world.

As part of their ‘Greening Music’ Action Area, they also support several of the MCP Supporters to drive forward climate action in the music industry itself.

The BPI holds the UK’s major music awards show, The BRIT Awards, and through this has an opportunity to directly engage and support artists and their teams. This has included offering nominated artists climate communications training through specialist communications charity Heard in 2024 and Murmur in 2025. In 2024 The BRIT Awards partnered with Eco-Age, creators of the ‘Green Carpet Challenge’, to offer top tips and advice on sustainable red-carpet for the entertainment industry.

In 2025, The BRIT Awards offered targeted sustainability training to its stage design team via Julie’s Bicycle, an Supporter of the MCP, and to its production team through BAFTA Albert. Their supplier onboarding form not only supported sustainable procurement but was also a knowledge-sharing action to support suppliers in transitioning to more sustainable ways of working. The BPI, via The BRITs, also shared its Environmental Impact Playbook with all suppliers to provide clarity and guidance on the organisation's direction of travel towards decarbonising its supply chain.

The Murmur Artist Support programme is designed to support artists and musicians to tell inspiring stories and advocate for positive climate action.

The programme will bring together artists with communications experts and environmental organisations, supporting them to change the climate conversation and unlock the enormous potential of cultural actors to drive change.

The programme emerged from the Murmur pilot phase (2022/23) during which Beggars Group – via Murmur - funded an artist training programme with climate communications charity Heard.

In 2025, AIM ran a webinar alongside Murmur for the AIM membership, including independent labels, distributors and self-releasing artists. It was also opened up to members of the FAC to educate them about the Murmur Artist Support Programme.

Full Time Hobby includes a clause in their artist contracts as a foundation for communication between the artist and label on climate action:

CLIMATE EMERGENCY

You and FTHM Ltd agree to work together with a view to keeping the Climate and Ecological Emergency in mind and in good faith attempt to make choices and decisions based on sustainability and lessening environmental impact.

The label support artists to make those choices, for example, avoiding fly-in / fly-out promo if is possible to do this as part of an existing tour, and using ground transport like ferries, driving, and trains instead of flying – including enabling some of their artists to tour by train.

Full Time Hobby also uses their own communications channel regularly for environmental messaging, supporting environmental charities, and creating an environment in which artists can feel more comfortable speaking up.

Key Production’s work with their clients to amplify climate messaging around the environmental credentials of their releases where appropriate, for example highlighting Enter Shikari’s choice to opt for BioVinyl for their ‘Dancing On The Frontline’ release through a quote from lead singer Rou Reynolds: “Traditional vinyl is an oil-based product… no one really wants to support the extraction of any more fossil fuels.”

Established through an ongoing partnership between Universal Music Group and environmental action nonprofit REVERB, the Universal Music Group x REVERB Amplifier Award honors artists who have consistently used their music and platform to drive meaningful, positive change. The award, given annually, recognises strong contributions in environmental and social impact. The inaugural 2023 award was presented to Billie Eilish, and the 2024 award was presented to boygenius. Subsequent awards in 2025 and 2026 were presented to Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo, respectively.

The ‘Turn Up the Volume’ survey was a collaboration between Music Declares Emergency, the University of Glasgow, BPI, Beggars Group, Secretly Group, Involved Group and Key Production, published in 2022.

Turn Up The Volume polled a nationally representative sample of 2184 adults from across the UK, finding that music fans expect the music industry to do more around the climate emergency and sustainability - and that music fans were, on average, more concerned about climate change and actions to address this compared to non-music fans.

The survey also asked about respondents’ awareness of music industry climate action, finding that even among music fans, nearly two thirds had not heard about any music industry climate initiatives – and that only 3% knew a lot about such initiatives.

Through their online store, Full Time Hobby offer a selection of cosmetically damaged but still perfectly playable ‘Second Chance’ records for sale.

“While the delicate nature of vinyl records can result in outer sleeve damage during transit, it's unfortunate that many labels and distributors opt to discard such stock. At FTH we believe these damaged records deserve a second chance to find homes, given that the vinyl inside remains in pristine, un-played, condition.”

It's hoped that this in turn might also open a wider conversation in the industry and inspire more fans (and stores and labels) to give a chance to records with minor external defects.

As the biggest night in British music, The BRIT Awards is a powerful opportunity to platform artists and speak directly to music fans. The BRITs have partnered with Music Declares Emergency in 2024 and 2025 to engage fans with climate action through the NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET campaign.

This has included impactful red carpet activations with artists from The BRITs red carpet; a popular partnership with Tony’s Chocolonely to produce BRITs x NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET chocolate bars; and using Music Declares Emergency and BRIT Awards social channels to increase fan engagement with the NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET movement. Campaign content has achieved 30 million impressions across social media and 680,000 interactions with campaign content, while the campaign's reach and credibility has been expanded through artist buy-in from major figures like Raye.

The collaboration has helped drive recruitment of music fans into the Music Declares Emergency NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET movement, which counts a UK membership of 13,000 music fans as of 2025.

As part of the partnership, Music Declares Emergency used their social channels to engage followers on the actions being taken to reduce the environmental impact of The BRITs, from the Awards dinner to the stage design. The BRIT Awards additionally publishes information on its sustainability initiatives in the show programme, and online.

Key Production: Asking fans about the environmental impact of physical products to support manufacturing shifts.

In 2024, Key Production, B Corp Certified broker for physical music production and Supporter of the MCP, conducted a survey of UK-based music consumers. The survey found that:

● over two thirds (69%) of vinyl buyers would be encouraged to buy more if the records were made with a reduced environmental impact

● 3 in 4 (77%) regular vinyl buyers would be willing to pay a premium for reduced impact products

● 4 in 5 (83%) of the general public are unsure or don’t see 180g heavyweight vinyl as more valuable than standard 140g vinyl (and this remains at 70% even among regular vinyl buyers).

The findings point to growing demand for more sustainable products from music fans - and, as Karen Emanuel, CEO of Key Production Group highlights: "Regarding 180g records - while this is often seen by the industry as a more sought after product, this survey shows that the industry is actually getting it wrong as consumers aren’t valuing the weight as they think. High quality records can be made at 140g, and this slightly lower weight can have a hugely positive impact across the whole supply chain.”

For Earth Day 2024, Involved Group / Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep and Reflections created three ‘planet-inspired’ playlists across different streaming services, with royalties from streams donated to the Ocean Conservation Trust. The label used the opportunity to launch a detailed new sustainability information and action plan page on its website, while also launching a ‘Planet’ channel on its official Discord server to create a space for fans to come together and learn and exchange on climate action.

Signatories including Beggars Group, Ninja Tune, !K7 , Full Time Hobby, Involved Group / Anjunadeep, Secretly Group, Universal Music Group have dedicated sections on their websites sharing their climate action.

The NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET Movement is the fan facing arm of Music Declares Emergency. Music fans are encouraged to join the Movement and, once onboard, are directed to monthly climate challenges and offered advice and support in taking positive action in their locality with other fans. The Movement also offers a space for artists and businesses to inform music fans of their sustainability work and a conduit for fans to respond to music industry action.

In order to incentivise the community, MDE partners with record labels on a regular basis to offer prizes of vinyl albums and memorabilia in return for feedback on actions. Donations prove to be a very effective mechanism for gathering data that is invaluable in gauging current consumer habits and the potential for positive changes in business practice in music consumption.

Beggars Group, Full Time Hobby, Ninja Tune, and other Signatories financially support Music Declares Emergency as a way to support artists speaking out through a collective campaign.

In the UK, it's not generally possible for music fans to recycle unplayable CDs and vinyl records as part of their household recycling, meaning they risk ending up in landfill or incineration. In 2025, Key Production relaunched their Key Production Recycling Scheme to offer a responsible and sustainable solution to music fans, who can send CDs and vinyl records that are damaged or no longer playable to Key Production Recycling where they will be sorted, shredded, and sent off site to be melted and sold onwards to be recycled into new products. Recycled PVC from vinyl records can be used for construction materials like pipes and flooring, automotive parts such as dashboards and the likes of garden furniture and traffic cones. Recycled polycarbonate from CDs can be used within computer castings and mobile phone parts, some materials within medical devices, and optical lenses and safety glasses. World renowned record stores including Rough Trade and Sister Ray have also come on board to trial the service.

WIN has created a dedicated Sustainability Spotlight to share global music sustainability initiatives and amplify the work of its members in addressing the climate and environmental emergency. Independent trade associations worldwide are leading by example implementing greener operational practices, joining climate pledges, and developing sustainability policies, guidelines, and training. This webpage brings together these efforts and flagship initiatives, offering inspiration and practical resources to help drive collective action across the sector.

Beggars Group has achieved a 20%-25% reduction in energy consumption at its US and UK offices between 2019-2023, largely through the installation of solar panels at the UK office and investment in energy efficient technologies as part of a head office refurbishment.

BMG’s offices run on 100% renewable energy as part of parent company Bertelsmann’s green energy procurement programme. This has been primarily achieved through green tariffs, except in a few international locations where local contracts can’t be changed, in which case verified RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) are purchased to cover the equivalent energy use as part of a group--wide strategy.

Involved Productions, parent company of Anjunabeats, joined the Energy Workstream of the Southwark Climate Collective (SCC), an initiative supported by the Mayor of London to help SMEs in Southwark to reduce their carbon emissions. Participating businesses committed to reducing their energy emissions by 10% over one year and were supported through energy audits and recommendations.

Ninja Tune replaced the gas central heating in its London office with an electric air-source heat pump in 2021. The London office also has 22 PV solar panels on the roof. Its offices in London, LA, and Berlin are powered by renewable electricity tariffs.

!K7‘s office electricity is supplied by German 100% renewable energy cooperative EWS, who are also an active member in the environmental movement. !K7 has also shifted from owning and leasing three petrol vehicles to owning two electric company cars as of 2022.

Full Time Hobby have lobbied their landlord to switch to renewable electricity, achieving the switch for a block housing 100+ SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises). For their direct-to-consumer sales, they are also working with a range of courier organisations to try and develop zero emissions delivery for London-based sales.

With commitments by Full Time Hobby, !K7, Ninja Tune and Partisan Records…”

Full Time Hobby has maintained its policy (in place since 2009) to only use card wallets for CDs, and all vinyl production has been switched from 180g to 140g. For their mail order packaging materials, all LP packaging is now 100% recycled cardboard, CD packaging is plastic-free (with plastic bubble wrapped in envelopes replaced by fluted card padding), and tape used is kraft paper rather than plastic.

Ninja Tune have maintained their policy (in place since 2008) to only use card wallets for CDs. A majority of their vinyl pressing has shifted from 180g to 140g, with all sleeves made from FSC-certified card and paper as a minimum, and many from recycled card and paper.

Partisan Records have focused on reducing the impacts of manufacturing for the last 3 years, following principles of:

● Significantly reducing overstock by strategically forecasting physical product needs.

● Increasing regional manufacturing to reduce trans-Atlantic shipment of goods, nearly eliminating air shipments.

● Switching vinyl manufacturing from 180g to 140g.

● Sourcing merchandise and marketing materials from suppliers that meet minimum environmental standards, i.e. organic cotton and recycled or FSC-certified cardstock, etc.

!K7 no longer uses plastic CD jewel cases for back catalogue and new releases. New projects avoid the use of 180g vinyl. All cardboard packaging is produced using FSC paper sources.

In 2019 AIM Members Ninja Tune and Full Time Hobby initiated the AIM Climate Action Group which included Beggars Group, Warp, Brownswood, and Domino Recordings. Supported by Julie’s Bicycle, it was a platform to share knowledge on improving the sustainability of operations and manufacturing in the UK independent music industry, leading to the hire of an environmental sustainability manager at Beggars Group whose remit includes taking on an active role in shaping a collective response. Following on from this initial group AIM and BPI worked together to launch the MCP in 2021 to create a platform for shared action in the recorded music community. Since then, the group has joined and expanded into IMPALA’s Sustainability Action Group where it actively feeds into the agenda to ensure not just UK but European action in this space. AIM continues to provide space to climate initiatives both from members and external organisations such as Julie’s Bicycle, Music Declares Emergency and Murmur in its newsletters, webinars, socials, and flagship AIM Connected conference. A2IM distributes resources on sustainability to their members, and provide a platform for climate action and sustainability panels at their flagship Indie Week conference.

IMPALA started its work in 2019 when it signed the Music Declares Emergency declaration and subsequently met with the European Commission’s vice president responsible for climate. IMPALA then developed a sector-wide approach, launching its Climate Charter and members’ programme in 2021. This was supported by climate experts Julie’s Bicycle and the Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit/Thema1 and a group of key members who crowdfunded the programme. The Charter sets out IMPALA’s commitments on climate action, including convening a Sustainability Taskforce, appointing a climate advocate for IMPALA's board and committees, and using IMPALA's voice in Brussels to help raise climate in the context of cultural policy discussion and advocate for the role of the music community in supporting the EU Green Deal into action. IMPALA’s charter is underpinned by a programme of support to members, including a carbon reporting tool, sharing stories of best practice from across Europe, practical guidance on reducing environmental impacts, climate investment guidance, regular climate literacy training, business case for sustainability, sustainability newsletter and more, with additional support coming from IMPALA's Network grant, co-funded by the EU.

In 2023, WMG and Sonopress developed the EcoRecord, an alternative vinyl product that replaces traditional polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with virgin or recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Using injection molding technology, the EcoRecord reduces manufacturing emissions by around 85% and lowers energy demand approximately eightfold compared with conventional PVC records. This approach demonstrates how process changes can reduce environmental impact in physical music production.

In January 2025, this work received recognition with a Clio Award for Music in the Design & Sustainability / Innovation & Marketing category for the physical production of Coldplay’s Moon Music album.

More information available here.

Environmental Task Forces to operationalise sustainability efforts across the business

Sony Music Group has six internal environmental task forces: Engagement and Communications, Facilities, GHG Inventory, Regulatory Reporting, Supply Chain (Merchandise & Physical Product), and Travel. These Task Forces bring together people from across the international business and representatives of different departments whose day-to-day work is relevant to the theme, to collectively develop and advance specific initiatives to support Sony’s Road to Zero.

In 2023, Universal Music Group became the first major standalone music company to announce science-based targets approved by the SBTi, committing to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 58% by 2032 from a 2019 base year, an ambition which is in line with a 1.5°C trajectory; and, Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel- and energy related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, and employee commuting by 62% per EUR value added within the same timeframe. The company is developing the expected decarbonization levers and their overall quantitative contributions to achieve these science-based targets as part of a climate transition plan. 

In 2024, !K7 became one of the first music labels in the world to achieve B Corp Certification.

This is an international standard demonstrating that a business meets high ethical standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

Achieving B Corp status means going through a comprehensive evaluation of how a business works, its structure and processes, and how it looks after its workers, partners, customers, and the environment.

It’s a rigorous framework that !K7 has embraced to consider how the business can make a positive impact in the world.

The work done towards transparent and accountable carbon reporting by Signatories is ensuring that action across the whole sector is evidence-backed and informed by real-world understanding.

● All Signatories have now undertaken a baseline carbon footprint:

● 75% of Signatories are measuring some or all of their emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol on an annual basis.

● Major labels have built up their in-house capacity for measuring and reporting, while smaller businesses have collectively come together to make reporting easier through the IMPALA carbon calculator.

This increase in carbon reporting is a major success. As recently as 5 years ago, almost no record labels were regularly measuring and reporting their Greenhouse Gas emissions.

As more labels have become engaged with measuring their greenhouse gas emissions, carbon data literacy has grown. An increasing number of recorded music professionals are able to relate their business activities to climate impacts.

In 2024, Warner Music Group commissioned ClimeCo to conduct a comprehensive cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a 140g vinyl record, following ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The resulting analysis provides a detailed, data-driven estimate of the greenhouse gas impacts from raw material production through packaging, offering clearer insight into the environmental footprint of vinyl production. The transparency and third-party review of the assessment are intended to support more informed decision-making and contribute to broader understanding and comparability across the music sector.

More information available here.

As part of its Climate Charter commitment to hold a carbon reporting framework for its members and support measurement and reporting, in 2022 IMPALA launched the IMPALA Carbon Calculator, powered by the Julie’s Bicycle Creative Climate Tools platform. Supported by Merlin, Murmur as well as the EU, this is a world-first bespoke platform for micro, small, and medium sized record labels that are members of IMPALA to measure and report their GHG emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and material areas of Scope 3 including manufacturing, distribution, business travel. A ‘Beyond Carbon’ section additionally collates information on IMPALA members’ environmental actions and commitments. The platform has been designed to facilitate collective reporting across the sector, which in turn can feed into IMPALA’s wider advocacy work in Europe. Over 150 independent labels have started their carbon footprint journey on the Tools, helping to shape an understanding of industry climate impact ‘hot spots’ and priorities. Labels are supported on their reporting through a helpdesk, webinars, user guides, and peer sharing, and an annual report of findings alongside key recommendations. The carbon calculator has been funded through contributions from the MCP members including Merlin, Murmur, !K7 Music, Anjunabeats, Beggars Group, Ninja Tune, Secretly Group, Warp Records, and others, many of who also sit on IMPALA’s Environmental Sustainability Taskforce helping to steer the development of the programme. A pilot project supported by Merlin and working with A2IM is currently scoping further US adaptation for US-based independent labels.

As part of the EU co-funded IMPACTS: Climate Training and Standards Project, IMPALA convened a climate analysis group in 2022-23 to further reach consensus on best practice approaches for independent music companies on:

● Target-setting, navigating frameworks and claims around net zero, and a 'climate declaration' that can be adopted and signed by individual companies

● how to approach the emissions from digital distribution and streaming and whether these meet the threshold of ‘relevance’ under the GHG Protocol on the basis of size, influence, risk and stakeholder relevance

● financing climate action, recommending an approach that shifts away from the use of carbon offsets and instead focuses on setting internal carbon prices and focusing on strategic beyond-value-chain investments

The climate analysis group was supported by experts including Julie’s Bicycle and Thema1/Aktionsnetzwerk Nachhaltigkeit.

Alignment with SBTi is ensuring accountability and credibility for larger Signatories’ climate action, while supporting them to keep ahead of evolving ESG requirements.

● A third of signatories to the MCP have a target that has been validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative, in some cases as part of a parent company target.

Some labels that have joined the MCP have ‘outgrown’ Race to Zero as their approach to sustainability has matured, with a commitment to reducing Scope 3 emissions that exceeds the official requirements of the Race to Zero pledge.

● A third of signatories to the MCP have joined the Race to Zero programme.

By signing up to the MCP and fulfilling other parts of the pledge, even SMEs not officially signed up to Race to Zero are effectively meeting many of the requirements of Race to Zero and taking action to measure, report, and reduce climate impacts.

● Benefits reported by Signatories of aligning to external frameworks like SBTi and Race to Zero:

○ Accountability

○ Leadership and increased ambitions

○ “Positions us to stay ahead of compliance requirements”

○ Collaboration and alignment with industry peers and stakeholders

Through the Music Industry Climate Collective (MICC), jointly established by major recorded music companies including Warner Music Inc., Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Group, work has advanced on industry-relevant greenhouse gas accounting approaches. The first Scope 3 greenhouse gas guidance tailored to the recorded music industry was developed and is publicly available. It has been reviewed by industry associations and aims to support more consistent carbon data collection and reporting across the value chain.

The Music Industry Climate Collective (MICC), jointly established by major recorded music companies including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Inc. and Sony Entertainment, developed guidance for Scope 3 GHG measurement for the recorded music industry. The guidance development process included a comprehensive stakeholder review and feedback period, which included participation from independent record labels, climate experts, and wider value chain partners and stakeholders.  The guidance was distributed to the public in 2025.

Signatories and Supporters have a vibrant range of collaborations and climate action beyond the MCP commitments. These span education and research, partnerships with environmental NGOs, alignment with the live music industry, activating and engaging staff, and fossil fuel divestment.

● All Signatories are working in partnership beyond their supply chain to drive collaborative projects on climate and environmental action:

○ 82% are partnering with other labels and 73% with music industry trade associations

○ 73% are partnering with environmental NGOs or charities

○ 55% are partnering with physical recorded manufacturers

○ Approximately one third are working with distributors, merch suppliers, academics or universities and digital service platforms respectively

These collaborations go beyond the current commitments of the MCP, and speak to how Signatories are working to create change across the wider music industry ecosystem.

●  9 in 10 Supporters are working through partnerships to drive collaborative climate projects.

○ The majority of labels are doing so through music industry trade associations (85%), environmental NGOs or charities (62%) and other music labels (54%)

The breadth of examples demonstrates the richness of possible action, and how the MCP Signatories are interpreting this based on their own identities, priorities, and what their artists and staff care about.

A collaboration between Involved Group label Anjunabeats and MIT Climate Machine emerged out of an “Artists and Scientists Together on Climate Solutions" event co-hosted in 2021 by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, MIT Media Lab, and Involved Group. The team co-designed an interactive AR installation linked to an audience survey which made its debut at the Anjunabeats Above & Beyond Group Therapy Weekender in Washington State. Audiences could use their phones to 'unlock' different parts of the festival's sustainability story as part of an art installation – from information on the natural environment of the Gorge where the event takes place, to the festival's own environmental impacts, and how people can take action.

Music fans' survey responses were used to sort them into different climate identities based on their interests: for example, an "energy hero" or an "emissions detective". These in turn were fed into a collaborative artistic visualisation, showing the range of perspectives present. The installation was also brought to Anjunabeats events in London and Los Angeles in 2022, each time growing in interactivity including through customised tips on how fans could take action based on their interests, and unique digital avatars they could share on social media.

Ninja Tune and Full Time Hobby supported the ‘Make My Money Matter’ campaign, which called on individuals and organisations to shift their banking and pensions away from fossil fuel investments.

For Ninja Tune, this has included shifting its own employee pension scheme to a fund that does not hold fossil fuel investments, while for Full Time Hobby, it has meant shifting banking to a combination of WISE and Triodos.

Both labels also advocated more widely on fossil fuel divestment within the recorded music industry, speaking to boards and organisations including UK Music and taking part in events and podcasts including for the Featured Artists Coalition in the UK.

Signatories are supporting staff to take part in climate and environment volunteering opportunities, including:

Partisan Records have office volunteer days and have worked with The Billion Oyster Project, Earth Matter, Hoxton Trust.

Full Time Hobby is signed up to charity Possible’s Climate Perks campaign, offering additional annual leave days to staff if they choose slower travel by rail rather than flying. They also regularly donate to charity ‘Tree Musketeers’ in Hackney where they are based, and help them once a week in spring/summer with watering new trees, and planting in autumn/winter. The trees are planted in parks, on estates, and other parts of the local neighbourhood in London.

Inspired by Climate Perks, Ninja Tune subsidises train travel for staff holidays to assist staff travelling without flying.

Creative Climate Leadership is a transformation programme for creative changemakers committed to taking bold action on the climate crisis through arts and culture, created by Julie’s Bicycle. It equips artists and creative professionals with the skills, networks, and confidence to drive change, forge new ways of working, and learn from each other. Among the 250+ alumni working in 30 countries worldwide are a growing number of musicians and music industry professionals, including Sam Lee; Su Shaw / SHHE; Donna Grantis; Donat

Kaufmann / musician & co-founder Music Declares Emergency Switzerland; Brighid Fry / Housewife & co-founder Music Declares Canada; Joel Gardner, Earth Percent; and more.

The ‘Conversations on Creative Climate Leadership’ podcast features artist, musician and zoologist Louis VI in conversation with creative climate activists around the world, to forefront artists and creative professionals telling stories of change in their own words.

Through the network, Julie’s Bicycle has also been able to offer seed grants to new collaborations including:

A collaboration between Lyke Portvliet (Green Events Netherlands) and journalist Syed Jazib Ali to create a climate justice strand as part of ADE Green at Amsterdam Dance Event, one of Europe’s largest conferences on music industry climate action.

An artist residency for six Swiss musicians, organised by Donat Kaufmann (Music Declares Emergency Switzerland) and Caroline Edwards (TOURBOmusic Agency), giving them a week of space and time to reflect and develop their role as a musician in the face of the climate crisis.

A collaboration between Beatrice Jeavons (FEAT.) and Su Shaw / SHHE to undertake a project with Sonica Glasgow, which included training from climate communications charity Heard and a public panel featuring artists including SHHE and Ahmed Saleh.

Murmur was established as a charity and foundation to enable the worlds of visual arts and music to play their part in combatting the climate crisis by channelling investment and donations from across music and the visual arts into climate action.

Partners commit to measuring their carbon emissions on an annual basis, putting in place an emissions reduction pathway and actions, donating an annual contribution to Murmur’s shared fund, and communicating on climate action commitments.

In 2024, over £240,000 donated by art and music organisations was given to groundbreaking projects which drive and inspire change in the art and music industries and across the wider world.

Within the programme strand for changing the music industry, Murmur currently supports the MCP working group on better understanding the record manufacturing supply chain, and the work of IMPALA’s Environmental Sustainability programme.

EarthPercent is the music industry’s climate foundation, inviting artists and the music industry at large to donate a small percentage of their income to action on the climate and nature crises. Over 250 artists and companies have already pledged their support.

Funds raised are invested in organisations driving meaningful action through a Grant Giving programme overseen by Expert Advisory Panels: an international, multidisciplinary, multi-generational, and diverse group of scientists, academic researchers, economists, climate communicators, youth activists, community organisers and policy makers.

EarthPercent funds action across five areas:

1. Greening the music industry

2. Just Energy Transition

3. Climate justice

4. Legal and policy change

5. Protecting nature

To date, over $1.4 million has been awarded to 27 non-profit partners around the world.

!K7 has also set an internal carbon price, starting at €45 per tonne in 2021: significantly higher than the cost of offsets/carbon credits on the market. They chose to do this both to help fund carbon sequestration projects, but also to increase business readiness to the possible introduction of external carbon taxes. Projects invested in include the state-controlled MoorFutures peat restoration programme in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, and the Nicaforest High Impact Reforestation Program in Nicaragua. The label makes no carbon neutral claims in relation to these investments, or count them towards emission reductions.

Beggars have committed to an annual contribution to Murmur, which is based on an internal carbon price of £50 / tonne against Beggars UK residual emissions. Beggars makes no compensatory claims and receives no carbon credits against this contribution, nor do they include emissions reductions from projects funded by Murmur into calculations of their GHG inventory. Instead, the contribution is understood to be an investment into the future climate resilience of the sector and broader global climate action.

In 2025, WMG supported the release of a study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Climate Machine with support from Coldplay, Live Nation, and Hope Solutions. The study provides the first greenhouse gas footprint associated with live music events in the United States and the United Kingdom, offering data that can help inform where concert stakeholders and audiences can reduce impacts.

“Live music doesn’t just entertain; it shapes culture and connects communities. As we advance our sustainability efforts, we’re committed to turning insights into measurable action–aligning purpose with performance, building resilience across the ecosystem, and ensuring that music continues to create shared value for artists, fans, and the planet alike.” – Madeleine Smith, Senior Director, ESG at Warner Music Group.

More information available here.

Sony Music Group UK’s King’s Cross office has achieved the ISO14001:2015 standard, demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental management in the building.