Report
  • Posted on August 16th, 2014

Arts Council England Environmental Report 2012/13

The Arts Council England introduced environmental reporting as a requirement for 704 funded organisations in 2012, based on a conviction that the arts and cultural sector in this country should take a lead in making the world a more sustainable, responsible and equitable place. It established a three year partnership with Julie’s Bicycle to support the funded organisations through the process.

Key findings from Year One

  • In the first year an outstanding 90% of all 704 organisations engaged in some capacity with the environmental reporting programme, notably using the Industry Green tools and on-line resources, creating environmental policies and action plans and/or attending workshops and webinars
  • The results have been compiled into the single biggest data set from arts organisations globally.
  • Of the 62 cultural buildings which provided more than one year’s worth of data, two thirds achieved combined carbon savings of 4,000 tonnes through energy efficiency measures, representing of an £810,000 energy bill reduction. Scaled up across the 301 Arts Council funded cultural buildings which reported overall, this would represent a 13,000 tonne carbon saving and £3 million energy bill reduction.
  • Of the 354 year one evaluation survey respondents, nearly 90% agreed or strongly agreed that ‘Arts Council environmental reporting has made or can make a positive difference to the arts sector as a whole’.

“Effective change will take the combined efforts of many organisations – change needs the momentum of organisational machinery. But that momentum is driven by individual voices and choices… It looks like a daunting challenge, but we should be optimistic that we can make a difference: history shows us that when humans work together they can move mountains”

– Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England


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