Environmental Responsibility
Supporting organisations and individuals in the creative and cultural sector put Environmental Responsibility at the centre of how we work, where we work and who we work with.
Our Environmental Responsibility Investment Principle
Our Environmental Responsibility Investment Principle
As part of our ten-year strategy (2020-30), Lets Create, we’ve set out four Investment Principles which we think individual creative practice and cultural organisations should embody in order to be the best they can be.
One of those Investment Principles is Environmental Responsibility, and we’ve made a range of resources available to help you embed environmental thinking in everything you do.
Take a look at the resources
Our Environmental Programme
Our Environmental Programme
As the climate and nature crisis accelerates, the sector is needed more than ever, to focus our talent on this moment and the solutions we need.
We’re working in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle to deliver an ambitious Environmental Programme for National Portfolio Organisations and the wider creative and cultural sector.
Creative Climate Tools
Creative Climate Tools
The Creative Climate Tools is a free carbon calculator. It’s designed to help organisations record, measure and understand the impacts of their venue, office, tour, project, event or festival. They allow users to track a range of different impact areas including energy use, water consumption, waste, travel, freight and materials.
As part of a recent development project funded by Arts Council England, a set of new features have been added including a Forecasting tool, a Return on Investment calculator, a Carbon Budget Setting feature and the opportunity to create your own custom footprint.
There are several benefits to using the tools:
- Calculating your carbon footprint can help you to identify and understand key areas of your environmental impacts, to be able to plan and take action
- The data submitted can feed into your business plans, to improve your business operations and practices
- Reporting from the tools can be used to feedback to your boards
- Reporting and stories from the tools can be used in your marketing, to celebrate successes and progress, or talk about challenges and learning.
If you’re a National Portfolio or Investment Principles Support Organisation, you can also use the tools to help show progress against your Investment Principles Plan.
Our annual Environmental Report
Our annual Environmental Report
Each year we publish a report on the environmental impact of the organisations we fund.
In 2022/23, the report offers insights into the creative and cultural sector’s continuing commitment to Environmental Responsibility, showing success stories and how organisations are understanding and reducing their environmental impact.
Our environmental commitments
Our environmental commitments
At the Arts Council, we have an Environmental Responsibility Policy and Action Plan in place, published in May 2024.
This work has grown since our first action plan, Our Environmental Responsibility: From Understanding to Action, launched in November 2021.
Our action plan sets out our progress to date, challenges, and planned outcomes for the next year. Each outcome has assigned actions, responsibilities, and timescales to support our journey towards net zero.
