Marching to the beat of climate change

by Michelle Millar

The need to reduce our carbon footprint is no longer a subject of debate, warns founder of Julie's Bicycle, Al Tickell. We've passed the tipping point, she says, and it's time for the music industry to take matters into its own hands.

The current state of affairs

The music industry (including the commercial and subsidised sectors), like any other, has significant potential to reduce its carbon footprint. The live-music industry - perhaps the most obviously emitting sector - releases many tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

It's not hard to see why. Musicians, fans, tickets, lighting, transportation, ventilation and heating, and waste, all play a part. It was estimated that the Live Earth concert at Wembley alone would churn out 3,000 tonnes of carbon¹.

There is room for improvement in other areas of the industry too - the recording sector, for example. According to industry experts, more than two pounds of carbon is emitted for every CD pressed². And then there's the landfill they create, unless recycled.

Not all bad news

Despite the bleak picture, the music industry's attitude towards the environment is changing.

At Glastonbury - the world's largest music festival - recycling bins are a permanent fixture, vendors are only permitted to serve food and drink from biodegradable paper plates and cups, and festival organiser, Michael Eavis, uses organic food waste produced from the festival, to create compost for his farm.

Stuart Galbraith, Live Nation Managing Director and board member of Julie's Bicycle, was shocked to discover the cost of landfill produced from the 2006 Download Festival. So this year, he invested in the reduction, and responsible disposal of waste. He also experimented with bio-fuelled transport for the transportation of festival-goers and supplies.

Galbraith takes a long-term view. His ambition is to invest in a new infrastructure that will drastically reduce, and eventually cut out, carbon generating processes, while maintaining a buoyant business. And this, he is under no illusion, requires a leap of faith, initial investment, and the confidence that it will, in the medium to long term, yield considerably greater benefits than business as usual.

Managing the climate change agenda

Founder of Julie's Bicycle, Al Tickell, recognises these changes mark a shift in attitudes towards the environment. "The music industry is capable of, and willing to do much more to reduce its carbon emissions. The challenge is to make it a touchable issue.
"Action on climate change is often in the hands of legislators and NGOs," she says. "But we want to do something more. We want to ignite the music industry so that together, we can develop our own sense of responsibility and ownership."
Julie's Bicycle aims to do just this. Set up in October 2006 and run by a board of senior players in the music industry, it is an industry-driven initiative, which offers practical solutions to help businesses respond positively to climate change.
"We're trying to manage this huge agenda so that people can get to grips with it."

A balancing act

To bring the big picture into focus, Julie's Bicycle has commissioned the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University to research the size and scale of the music industry's carbon footprint. Based on the findings, it will develop a set of cross-industry strategic targets, which it hopes businesses and sole traders will sign up to.
Tickell stresses that Julie's Bicycle is modelled on a balanced approach, backing up strategy and research with practical, face-to-face support. So while the research is taking place, they are also piloting the following initiatives:

• A carbon measurement tool, in partnership with the Environmental Change Institute, for businesses to measure how much carbon they produce and how they can start to reduce it.
• A team of climate change experts, employed to carry out environmental audits on individual companies in the music industry. The service includes giving support and advice on best practice, including where to source eco-friendly materials.
• Beat the Heat training programme, which takes a sectoral approach to tackling climate change, through training and social networking.

An appetite for change

Tickell says the response to Julie's Bicycle and its work has been tremendous, but in a Catch 22, the overwhelming response has also been one of their toughest challenges.
"We have identified that people have a seriously hungry appetite to take this on and build it into their businesses. And the challenge lies in responding immediately, and containing the enthusiasm that Julie's Bicycle has generated, so we can realistically manage expectations and outcomes."

Changing behaviour towards climate change

"The key is to be exemplary and be seen to be exemplary - otherwise it's too easy to undermine the good work that is being done," says Tickell.
She argues that high-profile campaigns, like Live Earth, are not always the best, or only, way to draw attention to the environment. "You can't make issues like climate change into fashion statements.
"The big geo-political issues of our time - essentially poverty and climate change - historically tend to have solutions imposed on them; they need to be defined and solved by the constituencies, which they relate to. It's important to give people ownership of the agenda.
"If we want to encourage behavioural changes, we have to generate ownership and responsibility for this issue on a personal level. Jazz Summers, Chairman of Julie's Bicycle and CEO of Big Life Music, has a simple approach: change yourself, then your business, then your industry."

Looking ahead

The big environment challenges facing the music industry in the 21st century are energy use and sourcing; recycling and waste; and travel and transportation, says Tickell.
However, she is quick to point out that tackling these challenges doesn't have to be bad for business. "It may actually create new business opportunities, which are compatible with climate change objectives."

References

1. http://living.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1058002007
2. http://living.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1058002007