BRUSSELS, Belgium (CelebrityAccess) — European indie label trade association IMPALA announced the activation of its new Climate Training and Standards project IMPACTS.
The project, which was funded by the European Union, seeks to expand climate literacy for independent music companies across the region, helping them to reduce their impact on anthropogenic climate change.
The project expands on IMPALA’s existing environmental work, which includes already developed hands-on advice for its nearly 6000 members, SME music companies and self-releasing artists, as well as tools such as a bespoke carbon calculator, developed with Julie’s Bicycle, which allows members to track their own carbon footprints.
The IMPACTS project will offer climate literacy training by international and local experts, in six territories across Europe (Germany, Spain, Italy, Balkans, Finland, Denmark).
The training, provided through a series of webinars, will include guidance on using the carbon calculator, encouraging capacity building in the sector and supporting IMPALA’s members in green recovery actions.
The first webinar kicks off on September 29th, with programming designed for the members of VUT, the German association of independent music entrepreneurs.
IMPACTS will also seek to develop a framework to start looking at how sector-wide benchmarks and standards might be developed, spearheaded by IMPALA’s Climate Analysis Group, with input from climate experts from Julie’s Bicycle and Thema 1, who will be meeting on a monthly basis throughout the project.
IMPALA will also support the project through a social media campaign, shining a spotlight on positive stories and best practices, as a catalyst for further change promoting climate optimism and the value of both individual and collective actions.
“It is great to see that this EU funded call recognized the value of this project by awarding it the highest points among all submitted projects and saw it as a first step in promoting climate literacy and establishing sectorial standards across Europe. We are hoping IMPACTS will serve as a good basis for further climate projects on a more comprehensive scale and with the appropriate support from EU bodies, on the policy-making level and the financial level as well,” said IMPALA’s Helen Smith.
“Carbon accounting should be as simple as possible and accessible to all companies across Europe. That’s why we built the first bespoke carbon calculator for independent music companies with Julie’s Bicycle. IMPACTS will help us to start rolling out the tool and test climate readiness in different territories,” added Horst Weidenmüller, Chair of IMPALA’s sustainability task force and CEO of !K7.
