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Report showcases how arts and cultural organisations are emerging as leaders and key collaborators in environmental sustainability.

ITEOTA by Marshmallow Laser Feast at Spark Festival, Phoenix Leicester. Credit. Pamela Wraith Photography

Sustaining Great Art and Culture 2017/18, published yesterday by Arts Council England and climate change charity Julie’s Bicycle, celebrates the successes of arts and cultural organisations in acting on national and international climate targets.

Over the past six years, organisations across the country – from Contact Theatre in Manchester and the Poetry Society in London, to the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art and Glyndebourne Opera House in Lewes – have taken great strides to improve their environmental practice.

Energy Efficiency And Carbon Reductions

The sector has reduced its direct energy consumption by 23% between 2012/13 and 2017/2018, with a corresponding reduction of CO2 emissions by 35% – an average annual reduction of 7%.

Organisations are using energy more responsibly, as well as upgrading lighting and installing onsite renewable energy sources – like Glyndebourne’s wind turbine, located just behind the opera house, which has generated the equivalent of 102% of the company’s annual electricity requirements since it was commissioned.

The ongoing drive to reduce energy use has also increased organisations' financial resilience, with £16.5 million saved to date.

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