Massive Attack’s science-led drive to lower music’s carbon footprint
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In 2019, Carly McLachlan took a call from Mark Donne, a producer with the band Massive Attack. The BRIT award-winning, UK trip-hop band’s music — a fusion of hip-hop and electronica — and environmental activism have been pushing music-industry boundaries for 25 years. Donne wanted to know whether McLachlan, who directs the section of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research located at the University of Manchester, UK, would assess the carbon footprint of Massive Attack’s touring practices and, in doing so, create an action plan to kick-start change across the live-music sector.
After interviewing the band and its production team, holding workshops with industry professionals and crunching numbers on emissions, in June 2021, McLachlan and her team published the Super-Low Carbon Live Music road map for the UK live-music sector (see go.nature.com/3xdyq5j). The 17-page report is one of the first attempts not only to assess the carbon costs of the UK’s live-music industry, but also to suggest clearly defined and measurable targets that the sector could work towards to meet the aim of the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. The road map’s key message is “that super-low carbon practices can only be delivered if they are central from the inception of a tour”.
