The two industry associations of the vinyl manufacturing industry, the VINYL ALLIANCE and the VINYL RECORD MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION present the first carbon footprinting report of a vinyl record.

Almost every human activity contributes greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, causing global warming. The scientific assessment of the likely impact of these greenhouse gases is unequivocal and irrefutable – our collective carbon footprint threatens the future existence of human society. So every individual, organisation and government needs to urgently understand their contribution to the climate emergency, and take steps to reduce this risk.

The vinyl record industry must play its part, like every other business sector. The first step is to get hard data on the emissions generated from manufacturing and distributing vinyl records. Without this data, we can’t confidently identify the areas we should focus on to reduce our emissions. To do this, the Vinyl Record Manufacturers’ Association and the Vinyl Alliance set up a working group in October 2023 with the objective of carbon footprinting the vinyl record supply chain.

This report has now been published in a first version but will remain a work in progress. It presents preliminary findings. It includes the first published, rigorous analysis of the footprint of a vinyl record from ‘cradle to factory gate’. It is the first step to identify the relative contributions of lacquer manufacture, lacquer cutting, galvanics and pressing, as well as that from sleeves and jackets. At this stage, the data is based on a very limited number of businesses in the supply chain but is set to grow and incorporate data from more businesses.

But it already identifies the most important steps to take to reduce the carbon footprint of a vinyl record. And at the same time, it identifies those things that are not so significant. For the vinyl record manufacturing industry as a whole, we can start to talk more confidently about the steps we are taking to work more sustainably. And for the most important people of all – record buyers – we can for the first time tell them how the climate impact of buying a record compares to some other everyday activities.

Both organisations hope that the report will encourage many more businesses in the supply chain to participate.

The presentation will give insight to the report, its assessment and methodology to prove transparency and honesty.