national resources
Arts Council
The ACE investment principle resource hub has a specific Environmental Responsibility section that is worth checking out. This is regularly updated and includes success stories, reports, opinion pieces, guides, and tool kits produced by and for the sector across multiple disciplines. You can access this via the below link.
ACE Environmental Responsibility: Essential Read
Environmental Responsibility is one of Arts Council Englands investment principles as part of the Let’s Create strategy. You can find out what ACE means by environmental responsibility via the below link.
Investment Principle Resource Hub: Environmental Responsibility
Julie’s Bicycle
Julie’s Bicycle is a not-for-profit, mobilising the arts and culture to take action on the climate, nature and justice crisis. They work closely with ACE to support their Environmental Responsibility investment principle programme.
Their resource hub contains reports, case studies, podcasts, webinars, research, and guides. You can filter these materials by sector, to quickly find the information most useful/applicable to your practice.
Julie’s Bicycle have a set of tools that are mostly free to use called the Creative Climate Tools. This includes a carbon calculator for you to be able to track and understand your carbon emissions impact.
This calculator helps Julie’s Bicycle better understand the impact of the sector as a whole. The most recent annual report that looks at the cultural sectors impact as a whole can be found below.
Culture, Climate and Environmental Responsibility: Annual Report 2024-25
Culture Declares Emergency
You and/or your organisation can join 1121 individuals and 691 organisations in declaring a climate and ecological emergency.Culture Declares provides community and is a network of individuals, organisations and international and UK-based Hubs, sharing knowledge and practical support to seek justice, work towards regenerative change and provide care through culture, heritage and the arts. Culture Declares also has useful resources across their website, often more holistic in approach than others. This includes the Culture Takes Action Toolkit based on the three pillars of truth-telling, care-taking, change-making.
Culture for Climate Scotland
Formerly known as Creative Carbon Scotland, CfCS combine strategic expertise and consultancy, bespoke carbon management training and guidance, and a range of programmes supporting the development of artistic practices that address sustainability and climate change. Whilst Scotland based, their resources are of great value and worth perusing!
Creatives for Climate
Creatives for Climate is the largest and most diverse network of over 50,000 creative professionals dedicated to climate action. CfC is geared towards marketing and communications around climate change and so whilst not specific to the arts, there is much to be learnt from their resources and plenty of cross over with the sector!
Sign up to their Creative Climate Hub for free resources - their greenwashing tool is particularly worth checking out.
UK Government
In June 2019 the UK Government committed to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. This is referred to as the UK net zero target.
The Net Zero strategy sets out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy (including the cultural sector) to meet our net zero target by 2050. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy
Diversity and Inclusion
No Climate Action Without Us
Attitude is Everything, Julie’s Bicycle, and A Greener Future have published an innovative new toolkit which supports the UK’s events industry to implement practical solutions that tackle both climate change and accessibility, and make disabled people’s access to live events environmentally sustainable.
Follow the link below for more information and to access the toolkit itself.
The RACE Report (Racial Action for the Climate Emergency)
The RACE Report 2024 shows the racial diversity gap between the UK working population and staff in environment, conservation, climate and sustainability charities. The environment and conservation professions are amongst the least diverse in the UK. The RACE Report was created to focus on charities and funders working on environmental and conservation issues, highlighting the need for greater representation in sustainability and climate action.
Read the reports findings and suggestions for next steps by following the link below.
GMAST is not the only regional climate and culture network in the UK. Since our conception in 2011, many others have sprung up.
This constellation of sustainable arts networks is important to be aware of as it provides opportunities to collaborate nationally, and importantly, where to turn for local advice if you are looking to take your work to the area.
Featured here is a ‘my maps’ created by Ergon Theatre building on work by SAIL (Sustainable Art in Leeds). It maps the current constellation of climate cultural networks across the UK.
If you are aware of any networks not featured on this map that you think should be, please let us know!