Massive Attack have partnered with scientists from the University of Manchester’s Tyndall Centre For Climate Change to produce a study on the impact that the music industry has on our environment.
The researchers have been commissioned to look into three key areas where CO2 emissions are produced in the live music sector: band travel and production, audience transport and venue.
"The music industry has had a big carbon impact," says Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja in a letter published by The Guardian. "As a band working with climate experts, we’re going to try to minimise ours.
"Concerns over our own carbon impact and those of our wider industry aren’t new to us, but the urgency is. Last year, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’ and said carbon emissions were harmful, regardless of the fun had in their generation. In other words, what goes on tour doesn’t stay on tour.
"We’ve taken unilateral steps for nearly two decades – like many bands, we’ve paid to have trees planted, prohibited the use of single-use plastics and travelled by train wherever feasible. We have explored advanced carbon offset models, but in researching these programmes serious issues arose."
Del Naja further speaks out against the myth that carbon offsetting can allow the "high-carbon activities enjoyed by wealthier individuals" to continue and posits that the band have considered ending touring altogether. "In reality, however," he says, "an entire international roster of acts would need to stop touring to achieve the required impact."
Dr Chris Jones, Research Fellow at Tyndall Manchester, says: "We will be working with Massive Attack to look at sources of carbon emissions from a band’s touring schedule. Every industry has varying degrees of carbon impact to address and we need partnerships like this one to look at reducing carbon emissions across the board."
You can find out more about the project here.
