Brussels, April 18th 2024

Ahead of Earth Day 2024 and two years after launching its Carbon Calculator, powered by Julie’s Bicycle and supported by Merlin, IMPALA highlights practical examples in the music industry to tackle climate change, releasing its updated sustainability guidance for members and organising a free webinar on April 22nd. 

IMPALA encourages all members to take action using our calculator and guidance as well as joining us for the Earth Day zoom webinar at 3pm CET on April 22nd. The discussion will be  led by climate experts from Julie’s Bicycle. Reach out to krogozar@impalamusic.org for more information.

IMPALA released its first membership Carbon Calculator Report last summer, with the second report planned for  July this year. Members who fill out their carbon reports by June 3rd will be featured in the second report! 

IMPALA also supports other examples of action in the music industry, such as the Music Climate Pact on a collaborative level, as well as the  great examples of individual company action from our membership which can be found in our Climate Repository. 

Karla Rogožar, IMPALA’s Sustainability Lead commented: ”We thank Merlin and all those who supported the launch of our calculator. All members can join us on the 22nd of April to find out more about how to measure and reduce their impact and the testimonials in our carbon report last year make an interesting reading.” 

IMPALA also flags the importance of strategic climate investments as opposed to “offsetting”. As stated in IMPALA’s climate investment guidance, emission reduction should be put first in line with climate science, with projects promising to reduce emissions somewhere else (“offsetting”) to be avoided. 

For emissions that can’t yet be reduced, IMPALA favours a strategic approach and supports Murmur, a climate investment initiative founded by leaders in climate strategy and the creative industries. Overseen by a panel of experts, Murmur’s strategic climate fund will direct finance towards the most impactful climate mitigation work they can find. The founding director Victoria Siddall addressed the IMPALA board last month. IMPALA is the first trade association to become a supporter of Murmur. 

Horst Weidenmueller, Founder of !K7 Music and Chair of IMPALA’s sustainability task force is one of Murmur’s founding members and he explains what it means: “Murmur brings together the most innovative entrepreneurs of the arts and music landscape when it comes to sustainability. I feel honoured to work with a group of people and help develop the best pathway into a greener music business.”

Victoria Siddall, Founding Director of Murmur and Board Director of Frieze, said: “I’m thrilled to see Murmur’s founding partners, some of the most respected people and businesses in their fields, step up to support this new initiative. There is great work being done across the creative industries, we want to celebrate this and also galvanise the community to go a step further by joining Murmur and generating real impact.”

Helen Smith, IMPALA’s Executive Chair, concluded “IMPALA is proud to be a supporter of Murmur alongside key independent labels. We encourage all members to measure, reduce and invest via Murmur for emissions they can’t reduce, which is also what IMPALA is doing.”

IMPALA also takes the opportunity to put the spotlight on the sequence of steps for any company keen to reduce their impact:

1. Measure your carbon footprint annually with the IMPALA Carbon Calculator
2. Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from your business operations and suppliers (get inspired by practical tips in our updated Sustainability Guidance for members)
3. Allocate funds for climate investment /environmental projects to take responsibility for unavoidable emissions e.g. through Murmur
4. Repeat

IMPALA is also excited about other projects to be announced later this year. Watch this space for more information and feel free to reach out if you would like to collaborate with us.

About IMPALA

IMPALA was established in 2000 and now represents over 6000 independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are small, micro and medium businesses and self-releasing artists. Known as the independents, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs. IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector sustainably, return more value to artists, promote diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access, inspire change, and increase access to finance. IMPALA works on a range of key issues for its members, runs various award schemes and has a programme aimed at businesses who want to develop a strategic relationship with the independent sector – Friends of IMPALA.