Warner Music Nashville honors a long-standing dedication to sustainability with the announcement that it has committed to offsetting a portion of its carbon emissions. In an individualized partnership with South Pole, a leading provider of global climate action solutions, WMN calculated the carbon emissions generated from its business travel and electricity consumption for the 12-month period of March 2019 to February 2020. WMN then addressed unavoidable emissions through the purchase of certified carbon credits, supporting efforts to combat the global effects of climate change.
In doing so, WMN signed on to support the Crow Lake Wind project outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota. This project harnesses the wind to power homes with clean energy, displacing energy generated from fossil fuels. The 36,000-acre plot comprises 108 1.5MW (megawatt) wind turbines, with a total installed capacity of around 162MW. One MW serves around 800 homes, thus at full capacity 129,000 homes can be served.
WMN’s work with South Pole and the Crow Lake Wind project extends well beyond its environmental impact. No other wind project in the country uses a cooperative ownership structure, which has yielded many benefits to the surrounding community. The residents involved in the project have embraced the opportunity to gain ownership of their energy production and ensure that jobs and taxes stay in the area. Local economic development is further boosted thanks to the distribution of payments across multiple landowners where the project takes place. Furthermore, students at Mitchell Technical College have been able to add another dimension to their studies by gaining practical experience working with wind turbines.
“I have had a lifelong passion for the environment, but it was our internal WMGreen team that took the initiative to identify and adopt a project of this scale,” said Warner Music Nashville Chairman & CEO and devoted environmentalist John Esposito. “I am especially proud to support the Crow Lake Wind project because it highlights the intersection of environmental, social and economic issues. Saving the planet is also saving its people.”
WMGreen, conceived more than a decade ago and currently led by Esposito, has made comprehensive sustainability improvements in the past three years. In working toward its goal toward 90% waste reduction, WMGreen has spearheaded several effective campaigns and engaged a multitude of community partners. Now, with its South Pole partnership, WMN is among the first major music companies to commit to offsetting unavoidable carbon emissions, and it becomes the only major Nashville-based imprint to undertake such a far-reaching environmental project.
ABOUT WMGREEN
Warner Music Nashville is dedicated to improving sustainability efforts both inside and outside of its Music Row headquarters. The company’s employee-driven enterprise, WMGreen, has made strides toward its goal of 90% waste diversion by implementing composting and additional recycling services, donating surplus food from events to local organizations, eliminating single-use items from offices, working with sustainable vendors and more. WMGreen has partnered with numerous organizations in the local Nashville community to drive change and encourage sustainability. WMN has most recently committed to offsetting its carbon emissions alongside South Pole, a leading provider of global climate action solutions. The successful initiative has proved a catalyst for the entirety of Warner Music Group, with local WMGreen committees beginning to form across the globe.
South Pole is a leading project developer and provider of global climate solutions, with over 400 experts in 18 offices worldwide. South Pole’s expertise covers project finance, data collection, and climate risk analysis, as well as the development of environmental commodities. South Pole has mobilized climate finance to over 700 projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable land use. For more information, visit www.southpole.com or connect with South Pole on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
