Let’s reduce our Carbon Footprint! with the CNM

Entitled REC (Réduisons notre Empreinte Carbone! / Let’s Reduce our Carbon Footprint!), this project seeks to identify ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the recorded music industry. It is the first time that such a carbon assessment has been carried out anywhere in the world.

Led by the CNM (Centre national de la musique) with Snep (National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing), UPFI(Union of Independent French Phonographic Producers) and SMA (Syndicat des musiques actuelles), the REC project estimated a carbon footprint of 2,780 ktCO2e in 2022, the equivalent of one million round-trips by plane from Paris to New York. This diagnosis revealed that 51% of emissions come from manufacturing, recycling and waste management of hardware required for listening, 22% from digital distribution activities, and 23% from use by the public. If the industry fails to act, projections indicate a risk of emissions tripling by 2030, due to market growth, changing music consumption habits and improved audio and video quality. This study has become the basis for the low-carbon strategy needed to reverse the trend.

IDOL is proud to have participated in this study as a member of the steering committee. Read this exchange between Léopold Foucault, Transition Project Manager at the CNM and Constance de Bosredon, Head of International and CSR referent for IDOL.

Leopold Foucault: As part of France 2030, Caisse des Dépôts (Deposits and Consignments Fund) launched a call for projects for the “Green Alternatives” stimulus plan. We saw a real need to identify decarbonization levers and analyze the carbon impacts of the recorded music sector, so the CNM submitted the application in collaboration with the three unions representing the sector’s producers and distributors: the SNEP, the UPFI and the SMA. This grant enabled us to call on a firm of experts, Ekodev, in partnership with Carbone 4, each bringing complementary expertise to the project.

Constance de Bosredon: At IDOL, we had already begun to work on our CSR approach and defined the various actions to be taken. The carbon footprint was of course part of the equation. We contacted the CNM in this context, and when they launched the REC study shortly afterwards, they suggested we get involved. We were of course immediately interested in this collective project, and agreed to play an active part.

Leopold Foucault: The project took place in three main stages. The first stage was devoted to scoping, to define the needs, the elements to be measured, and the perimeters of the stakeholders.

This scoping work resulted in a scope centered on the carbon impact – direct or indirect – of recorded music from catalogs distributed by French players. This includes all productions, whether French or international, as long as they are distributed by French companies like IDOL, and whether they are listened to in France or abroad.

We have therefore decided to exclude certain related activities, such as creation (home studio, writing residencies), which is more akin to publishing, or rights management. The analysis begins when the artist and his team head for the recording studio.

The scope therefore includes: phonographic production (labels, digital and physical distributors), streaming platforms, recording studios, and listeners, through their consumption practices (purchasing and listening).

Léopold Foucault: One of the main difficulties was to treat structures with very different resources equally. For example, large companies with dedicated human resources, such as a CSR referent, were more familiar with these issues and more available than smaller structures.

To bridge this gap, specific training was organized for the members of the steering committees to provide them with the basics needed for this carbon assessment. This initiative ensured that all participants understood the challenges and objectives of the project.

Constance de Bosredon: As a distributor, we have the necessary tools to provide the data the study required. Of course, we had to mobilize part of our team to gather as much data as possible, whether on the distribution activity itself or on the life of the company, but as we represent a large part of the French independent label ecosystem, it seemed essential to us to get fully involved.

Léopold Foucault: If we look at the subject, we see that the recorded music sector, which is now predominantly digital, shares the same main emission factors as the digital sector in general.

But the problem with digital technology is that these pollutants are totally invisible: there’s no smoke coming out of the computer screen when you’re having a video chat. But our jobs are based on human links, and it’s difficult for us to communicate in any other way today. So we have to take things one step at a time, and think things through.

What also surprised us was the extent to which digital distribution is now a part of our business practices. Digital technology, and video in particular, is playing a major role in music consumption and promotion. This development is such that emissions could triple between 2022 and 2030.

However, this increase is not only the result of improved video quality, but also of other factors linked to usage and digital infrastructures. It is precisely for this reason that we are working on a low-carbon strategy to limit this increase.

Constance de Bosredon: This study has enabled us to better understand the challenges facing our business. We can’t, for example, decide unilaterally from one day to the next to stop broadcasting video – that wouldn’t make sense – but we can integrate these considerations into our strategic discussions and raise our partners’ awareness on the subject. The most important thing is for the industry to work together. The REC project has brought together all the different players in the recorded music industry around this challenge, and now it’s up to us to exchange ideas and move forward in a common direction.

Léopold Foucault: As recorded music is partly dependent on digital technology, we’re going to rely on the trajectories established for this sector. For example, the Shift Project, a think tank headed by Jean-Marc Jancovici, is working on a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the digital sector between 2022 and 2030. For its part, the SBTi (Science-Based Targets Initiative) strategy, aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, calls for a 42% reduction by 2030.

These are ambitious targets. In our sector, some companies are still struggling to recover from the CD crisis, after twenty years. Our role at the CNM is to help the industry anticipate future regulations, and to smooth out this ecological transition, so as not to reach a breaking point that could further weaken the sector.

Constance de Bosredon: Once again, we won’t be able to move forward if we each remain in our own corner, and that’s why we need the help of the CNM and this collective work to ensure that everyone can move forward harmoniously, within their means.

Léopold Foucault: Constance de Bosredon, IDOL’s CSR referent, was a member of the steering committee, which monitored the entire study process. Without a steering committee, the study would have been completely disconnected from reality: the committee played a key role in data collection and in the reflection that led to the roadmap.

Once we had gathered the information, we extrapolated it to give us an overall view of the sector’s emissions. This enabled us to draw up the roadmap, setting out concrete actions and global objectives for decarbonization.

To do this, we worked in groups. These working groups brainstormed together to define the priority actions to be implemented to kick-start the ecological transition. For each idea, we noted the difficulty of implementation and the potential impact of each action on carbon emissions.

Constance contributed a great deal to these discussions: she proposed ideas, gave her opinion and took part in the debates to decide on the most relevant actions. IDOL, for its part, played a central role in providing confidential data, which enabled reliable results to be established.

Without structures as committed as IDOL, this project would not have been possible.

Constance de Bosredon: It was really interesting to compare points of view during the working groups and to think together about realistic solutions to implement. When you look at the figures alone, it’s pretty dizzying, maybe even discouraging at times, but by sharing concrete ideas, some of which are relatively easy to implement, you already feel like you’re making progress.

Léopold Foucault: Our roadmap is based on three axes. The first step involves broadening the scope of all the companies involved: from manufacturers of terminals (phones, computers or headphones), which account for a significant proportion of emissions, to streaming platforms. As some platforms depend on international groups, it’s difficult for the French branch alone to influence the company’s carbon footprint, so the decision has to be taken at company level. We also want to raise awareness among manufacturers of physical media, even if they have a lesser impact, so that they can play their part in this collective effort.

For the second stage, we need to start thinking about new uses, and in particular everything to do with video, in order to find solutions. Last but not least, we need to raise public awareness. A large part of the carbon footprint of recorded music comes from the uses to which listeners put their music, and the devices they use. It is therefore essential to raise public awareness of these issues.

Léopold Foucault: For this ecological transition to succeed, large-scale coordination will be needed. This study is a real starting point, but the work has only just begun. To move forward, it’s crucial to follow a collective trajectory.

At each stage, we need to measure the impacts, establish a trajectory of degrowth taking into account everyone’s objectives, aspirations and means, and then design a roadmap that commits everyone in the same direction.

Constance de Bosredon: The fact that the CNM has taken up the subject was an essential step in getting the industry moving, but now all the players, large and small, need to take the measure and get actively involved. IDOL will of course remain involved alongside the CNM throughout the project, and we hope to see the first concrete results soon.

More information on the CNM’s REC project