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IMPALA launches climate charter
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 8 April 2021
The pan-European trade group for the independent music community, IMPALA, has launched a new sustainability programme which includes a climate charter that sets out fifteen commitments that it is making to help the organisation itself, and its membership, become more environmentally sustainable.
IMPALA says that its ambition is to have a fully climate positive membership by 2030, that being where companies not only aim to become carbon neutral themselves, but also work to reduce the greenhouse emissions of other stakeholders in their supply chain.
Each IMPALA member can decide for themselves whether they want to sign up to that target – and the trade group acknowledges that the challenges of becoming carbon neutral will differ from company to company and country to country. But either way, those members will have access to guidance, training and other tools in order to move towards being carbon neutral and climate positive.
In addition to providing that guidance and training, other commitments in the climate charter include measures to make IMPALA itself more environmentally sustainable, and to report on the impact of those measures.
It will also seek to encourage the exchange of knowledge about climate matters between members of the independent music community across Europe; pressure digital music services to assess and reduce their carbon footprints; and support initiatives that use music and culture to mobilise carbon action.
The sustainability programme has been put together by a task force that was initiated by !K7 CEO Horst Weidenmüller and advised by Alison Tickell from UK charity Julie’s Bicycle.
Commenting on that programme, Weidenmüller says: “IMPALA’s programme means we can plan ahead, provide real sustainability options for artists and develop flexible tools for members. Acting early isn’t just a climate question, it avoids disruption and carbon taxes. Credibility is important, so we are including the supply chain. Our ultimate ambition is to be carbon positive rather than just neutral. This is what sets IMPALA’s work apart in the music sector today”.
Tickell adds: “Managing carbon targets means a systems shift and IMPALA’s collective effort is the right approach. Mapping what the transition looks like whilst making sure it accommodates the range, size and national differences of the IMPALA membership is a cornerstone of success. Ambitious industry-led collaborations on this scale will not only help the EU deliver its Green Deal, they also help us all rise to the challenge of the climate crisis”.
Weidenmüller and Tickell will talk more about the programme on the next edition of IMPALA’s 20MinutesWith podcast later this month. Meanwhile, you can read more about the climate charter and wider programme on the IMPALA website.
