Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is a priority for Ninja Tune. Like a lot of people we are worried about the climate and ecological emergency, the impending weather, food, water catastrophes caused by greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.

It is clear that widespread change must come from our governments, the biggest global corporations and in particular the fossil fuel companies, but we don’t want to sit on our hands and wait for that to happen. We are changing how we operate step by step, and we’d appreciate any feedback about how we can do this better or ideas we’ve missed. The music industry is no different from any other industry in that it is going to have to change a lot over the next decade if we’re going to stick around and help protect the planet for our children and grandchildren. We also recognise that the climate and ecological emergency is already causing death and poverty in parts of the global south and call on governments and corporations to work towards a just transition worldwide. 

Here’s a list of some of the things we’re doing – please get in touch with your suggestions [email protected]

Commitments & Actions

• Ninja Tune committed to reducing our carbon footprint and balancing those emissions we do create, see 'Balancing Our Emissions'.

• We will measure our environmental impacts and emissions using the IMPALA Carbon Calculator built by Julie's Bicycle.

• Ninja Tune is actively support initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole record industry, see 'Sustainability Campaigning'.

Action on Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions

Scope 1: Direct Emissions (fuels burned e.g. gas, petrol) 

• Ninja Tune office gas central heating was replaced by an electric air-source heat pump in 2021.

• No Ninja Tune owned or operated vehicles.

Scope 2: Indirect Emissions from electricity purchased

• Ninja Tune office electricity supply has been with a renewable energy supplier for many years, currently using Good Energy.

• We have 22 PV solar panels on the roof of our London office reducing the supply needed from the grid.

• Ninja Tune Los Angeles office electricity comes from 100% renewable sources via the LADWP ‘Green Power’ tariff.

• Ninja Tune Berlin office electricity comes from 100% renewable sources via Vattenfall.

Scope 3: All Other Indirect Emissions (e.g. travel, waste, manufacture, distribution)

• Manufacture of physical records - mainly vinyl and CDs - reductions in footprint:

• All sleeves from sustainably sourced FSC card and paper. Many sleeves made from recycled card and paper.

• Ninja Tune stopped releasing CDs in plastic jewel cases in 2008, research shows the footprint of a plastic jewel cases is 20 times that of a card only sleeve (high manufacture footprint and difficult to recycle).

• Most of our vinyl pressings are 140g rather than 180g (with no loss in audio quality) which reduces manufacture and distribution footprint proportionally.

• Working on industry-wide inititives to encourage pressing plants to switch to reduce their emissions, including via the AIM Climate Action Group and the IMPALA Sustainability Task Force.

• All overstocks are recycled, with plastics from vinyl and CD discs ground down and reused, and card sleeves pulped.

• Distribution of physical product:

• Shipping from pressing plants to distributors, using sea freight instead of air freight where we can.

• Mailorders via ninjatune.net and Ninja Tune Bandcamp are packed with recycled and recyclable paper, card and tape.

• Lobbying distributors for efficiencies.

• We are working on more accurate calculation on the footprint of shipping the records we sell and commit to balancing these impacts with investment in tree planting, forest protection and Gold Standard offsets.

• Emissions from streaming:

• We aim to get data for music streaming including the footprint of DSPs (Spotify, Apple, YouTube etc) servers. Currently our sources of engagement are via AIM and IMPALA sustainability groups.

• Lobbying our web-hosting suppliers to switch to 100% renewably sourced electricity.

• Ninja Tune staff travel:

• Where possible Ninja Tune business travel is by train.

• Ninja Tune subsidises train travel for staff holidays to assist staff travelling without flying.

• Laptops - in addition to standard office waste recycling, staff laptops which are no longer usable for us are donated to Community Tech Aid.

Make Money Matter

The global fossil fuel industry is underpinned substantially by investments from banks and pension companies.

• In 2020 we left our previous pensions provider Aegon because, after sustained lobbying, they failed to produce an environmental policy. Ninja Tune’s default employee stakeholder pension scheme is now the Sustainable Leaders and Sustainable Global schemes provided by Royal London which do not invest in fossil fuels. More information on switching your pension at Make My Money Matter.

• We hold funds with Triodos Bank who invest only in sustainable projects.

• We lobby our other banking suppliers for improvements in their sustainability practices and fossil fuel divestment.

Sustainability Campaigning

Ninja Tune devotes time and resources to non-profit initiatives to support the community around them and also to develop a dialogue with audiences on relevant social issues. From Coldcut's early partnerships with Greenpeace and others to our involvement with Emerging Music Professionals (with Southbank for young people in Lambeth), Independent Music Cup, XLP/Arts Emergency, MIND, Help Refugees, and donations to organisations like Fair Fight, Extinction Rebellion and Rainforest Trust this has been in Ninja Tune's DNA since inception.

We know that reducing and offsetting our own emissions alone is not the solution to this crisis which is why we are also investing in campaigns to make changes in other ways, including: 

• Ninja Tune is a co-founder and ongoing contributor to Music Declares Emergency and NOMUSICONADEADPLANET Movement

• Co-founder of AIM Climate Action Group, signatory to the Music Climate Pact, a founder investor in IMPALA's Carbon Calculator and a founding partner of Murmur 

• Ninja Tune founders Coldcut long running support for Greenpeace including performing at the Greenpeace Field at Glastonbury Festival many times, together with other Ninja Tune artists.

• Coldcut co-produced the EU funded Energy Union film and tour in 2009.

• Ninja Tune has funded various Extinction Rebellion projects including Roger Hallam's book 'Common Sence for the 21st Century' and a 40 metre 'A Flood Is Coming' banner used in the April 2019 rebellion.

• Seed funding for Transition Lab, a campaign to engage scientists in climate solutions.

Carbon Footprint Reports 

Carbon Footprint Report 2019
Carbon Footprint Report 2020
Carbon Footprint Report 2021
Carbon Footprint Report 2022
Carbon Footprint Report 2023

Carbon Reports Headline Numbers:

2019 - Total footprint: 708 tonnes CO2e - Number of vinyl & CD discs produced: 281,875 

2020 - Total footprint: 1,123 tonnes CO2e - Number of vinyl & CD discs produced: 512,771

2021 - Total footprint: 2,107 tonnes CO2e - Number of vinyl & CD discs produced: 872,592 

2022 - Total footprint: 1,378 tonnes CO2e - Number of vinyl & CD discs produced: 274,180

2023 - Total footprint: 1,276 tonnes CO2e - Number of vinyl & CD discs produced: 354,630

Ninja Tune has contributed to Dan Morrell's Balance to balance our footprints for 2019-2023. Balance helps create long-term biodiversity and protect the climate through responsible planting and protection of forests. Balance goes beyond offsetting to support the enduring biodiversity that is essential to sustainable life on Earth. We have contributed to planting and protecting Marston Vale a new forest in a previously industrial site between Bedford and Milton Keynes in southern England (location/grid reference 52.0647637N 0.5682992W).

Balance's scientific methods are set out in the paper 'Balance Methodology' which has been analysed and peer reviewed by Professor Peter Cox (Exeter University), Bertil Abbing (Ecometrica), Crowther Lab Zurich.

Previous projects Ninja Tune has supported: Trees for Cities, Grow Trees, Rainforest Trust, Borneo Nature Foundation, Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Project , Utsil Naj - Healthy Homes for Mexico, Solar Cooking for Refugee Families in Chad, 20 MW Biomass Power Project in Chhattisgarh, India