Environmental Sustainability
Our planet is facing a climate emergency, and we need to act urgently.
To achieve this, we will be making some changes around Nottingham Contemporary. This might mean reassessing our energy providers, the artworks we choose to borrow for exhibitions, the food we serve and the shop products we stock.
We have already made some changes, but there is a lot more to be done. Below you will find an overview of some measures we’ve taken to reduce our carbon emissions.
Where we are now
We are in the process of better understanding our carbon emissions, and we are seeking support and advice from our peers and other organisations.
We work with Julie’s Bicycle and report our carbon emissions to them annually. We’re proud to be a supporter of Gallery Climate Coalition, and a partner of Carbon Neutral Nottingham 2028. We are also working with an independent consultant, Simon Thompson Communications.
- We know our biggest source of carbon emissions is from our building. Our energy consumption is high due to our climate-controlled galleries – a requirement for preserving the artworks we exhibit. We're in discussion with Nottingham Trent University around a research project to improve the sustainability of our building, as well as looking into offsetting, or supporting initiatives that have positive impact on the environment such as Client Earth.
- Our non-recyclable waste is collected by Nottingham City Council for incineration by Enviroenergy, meaning our waste is not being sent to landfill.
- Enviroenergy converts the city’s municipal waste to heat energy, which then heats our building.
- In 2018, we replaced all lighting in the building with LED alternatives, which reduced our energy consumption.
- Our exhibitions programme is international, but we try to avoid shipping artworks by airfreight as much as we can. Where possible, we borrow from UK and European lenders, often combining shipping journeys.
- Sometimes we build new temporary walls for our exhibition. Where possible, we source recycled materials and reuse and recycle construction materials in-house.
- We have been steadily reducing our printed material, from in excess of 20.25 tCO2e in 2015 to 3.8 tCO2e in 2019 – an over 500% reduction.
- Wherever possible we will be looking at reducing travel for participants and speakers in our live programmes by continuing to offer online events.
- Our café serves locally sourced, seasonal food and sustainable and ethically traded coffees, and our shop sells plants from SAP.
What's next?
We welcome any feedback on how we can be more environmentally friendly. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, or if you would like to work in partnership with us, please get in touch with Andy Batson - andy@nottinghamcontemporary.org.
If you are planning on visiting us, click here for information on making your visit eco-friendly.
If you are interested in learning about ecology and the environment, click here to explore some of our past exhibitions, talks and family activities.
We will be sharing more information about how we are going green - keep checking our website and social media for more updates.
We are pleased to announce we have successfully qualified as an Active Member with Gallery Climate Coalition. Active Membership is not a certification of sustainability nor a claim that we are doing things perfectly or have all the answers - none of us are at this point. We’re all doing our best to assess, report and reduce our impact, setting targets in line with science, taking any actions we can and working out other solutions as we go.