Secretly, the group make up of Secretly Distribution, Secretly Group (Secretly Publishing, Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records, Secretly Canadian), Ghostly International, Numero Group and 37d03d, has announced a new initiative to become more sustainable and carbon neutral as a company.
Secretly has outlined a plan to offset 100% of the company’s carbon emissions and become climate positive on or about 2026, the company’s 30–year anniversary.
They have already started on that path by minimizing product packaging, eliminating plastic jewel cases, installing a solar array at the office and more.
They will expand on that with the following options:
1. Investing in energy efficiency throughout Secretly buildings
2. Assessing opportunities to replace natural gas equipment with electric options
3. Measuring and reducing the company’s Scope 3 emissions
4. Switching to 100% renewable energy
5. Being a founder investor and user in IMPALA’s bespoke Carbon Calculator for the music industry
Secretly also understands its own climate impact.
Secretly created 150 metric tons of heat-trapping greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its buildings and company vehicles in 2019. Through “high-quality, third-party certified carbon offsets,” the company has zeroed out the impact of those emissions. In 2020 its carbon footprint was lowered by 22% to 116 metric tons, which were balanced out with carbon offsets. It also went one step further to offset five times its 2019 emissions to symbolically account for the carbon debt the company has incurred since 1996. So there is progress being made on lowering emissions at the source.
It will also update the way it accounts for emissions for business travel and employees commutes.
You can read the full plan here that breaks down in more detail about the emissions, how they will offset and more.
Other companies like Beggars Group and Ninja Tune have announced their own carbon neutral plans, so it makes no sense why others with the means and resources can’t do the same. There is no music on a dead planet.
