Glossary

‘Adaptation is a process of on-going adjustments in response to observed and projected climate change impacts. This includes being prepared for increasing risks posed by climate change hazards, and identifying new opportunities our changing climate may bring, while considering how impacts may be felt differently across society.’ Adaptation Scotland on ‘What is adaptation’

Climate change is already affecting cultural organisations – extreme weather events are having an impact on buildings (overheating, dampness, flooding) outdoor events (that can be cancelled due to extreme weather), touring and travel (including that of the audiences), supply chains and more. The creative industries have to adapt to the effects of climate change and think through their activities to understand where climate-related problems might arise. Adaptation plans should include steps to reduce the risk to the organisation as well as mitigating the impact on the people organisations work with, their staff, audiences and communities.

Artwashing is a term that describes the ways the arts can be used by organisations that significantly contribute to climate change and other environmental damage to clean up or promote their public image. The term can be used for issues like sponsorship from oil and gas companies in the arts, or other publicity methods, and how the arts might unknowingly be used to obstruct progress on climate change.

In its simplest form, a baseline is a single-year carbon footprint of an organisation or other entity, against which future progress towards a target is measured.

The selection of which activities should be accounted for and reported in an organisation’s carbon footprint. When defining the boundary, a number of factors should be considered including organisational structure, operational activities and availability of data. When setting a boundary, organisations should refer to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidance for their sector.

Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the Earth’s atmosphere as part of the Earth’s natural carbon cycle. It is also the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities eg burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil).

Carbon dioxide equivalent is a measure used to compare the emissions from various greenhouse gases, based upon the amount of warming the gas causes over a period of time (usually 100 years). For example, the global warming potential for methane over 100 years is 25 and 1 tonne of methane released is equivalent to 25 tonnes of CO2. Therefore, CO2e works as a single ‘currency’ for greenhouse gases. (Reference: Eurostat glossary)

Used as a shorthand to refer to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon dioxide is the most common GHG and other gases can be measured in relation to it (see CO2e).

Measures the total GHG emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product. (Reference: Carbon Trust)

Carbon neutral refers to balancing out the total amount of carbon emissions produced and the removal of those gases from the atmosphere. The term ‘carbon neutrality’ used by countries, companies, or events relies on balancing carbon emissions released in the atmosphere by purchasing carbon credits or offsets. Being or working towards carbon neutrality does not mean that an organisation’s efforts focus on reducing carbon emissions, as they can just use offsets to claim carbon neutrality. Moreover, many offset projects don’t lead to emissions reductions due to a range of issues and can lead to more ecological and social harm.

The key difference between net zero and carbon neutral is that net zero has a requirement to reduce emissions down to that small amount of residual emissions (SBTi suggests a reduction of at least 90%) whilst carbon neutral has no stipulation about emission reduction – your organisation can just use offsetting or removal to balance the emissions they emit.

Also, the term net zero generally refers to all emissions whilst carbon neutral would just refer to carbon emissions, excluding things like methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and other hydrofluorocarbons.

It is worth knowing that there are lots of other terms, such as ‘net-zero carbon’ or ‘climate neutral’ that are being used, sometimes interchangeably, but we encourage using and working towards being a net-zero organisation.

Climate justice takes a rights-based approach to climate change and treats it as a social, political and cultural issue as much as a scientific, technical and economic one. The essence of climate justice is that the people worst affected by the climate emergency are the least likely to have contributed to its causes.

A key climate justice consideration is to ensure that your work to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change impacts involves, and accounts for the needs of, disadvantaged and marginalised groups. Without rapid action these groups will face worse impacts. Climate change action taken by the cultural sector needs to be fair and equitable and should counter rather than worsen existing inequalities.

Degrowth is closely linked to post-growth, it is a theory which responds to the relationship between economic growth and environmental damage.

Degrowth is the notion that high-income economies should stop prioritising growth and instead aim to reduce harmful and non-essential production. It stems from evidence that affluent economies far exceed their fair share of planetary boundaries (London School of Economics and Political Science).

Direct emissions are GHG emissions that come from sources owned or controlled by an organisation. They are also referred to as Scope 1 emissions.

Refers to the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth’s surface. It is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which trap the heat of the sun. Global warming is causing climate patterns to change.

A gas in our atmosphere that absorbs and re-emits heat. There are naturally occurring greenhouse gases in our atmosphere which maintain the earth’s surface temperatures in a range conducive to life. There are seven GHGs covered by the Kyoto Protocol, but the main ones related to public sector activity are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), and action needs to be taken to reduce emissions of these.

See ‘Carbon dioxide (CO2)’ and ‘Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)’ for definitions of these gases.

Methane is a colourless, odourless gas that occurs in nature (wetlands, volcanoes) but is also produced as a result of human activity (eg agricultural and land use practices, decay of organic matter in municipal landfill sites). It is more than 25 times as potent a GHG than carbon dioxide.

Nitrous oxide (also known as ‘laughing gas’) is a naturally occurring gas released from bacteria in soil and oceans. It is also released into the atmosphere through agricultural practices – soil cultivation, animal waste and nitrogen rich fertilisers. It is 300 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a GHG.

Greenwashing is a practice of making a claim, an activity, a product etc, appear more environmentally sustainable than it really is. It can take different forms, including false or misleading claims, which can include selective disclosure, omission or being deliberately vague. Greenwashing can be intentional or unintentional. If your communications practices appear to be greenwashing, you risk breaking trust with your audience and stakeholders as well as potential legal and reputational consequences.

These are emissions produced from the generation of electricity or heat, or during the supply chain of goods or other services such as water, public transport and waste. The emissions are not produced directly by the reporting organisation, but they are indirectly responsible through consumption and purchasing decisions. Indirect emissions can be Scope 2 (generated electricity and heat) or Scope 3 (other goods and services).

The term ‘just transition’ means a process to move to an environmentally sustainable society in a way that is fair for all. This refers to the process itself (the way policies are designed and enacted must be fair, transparent and participatory) and the outcomes (the policies themselves and their impact). It is related to but distinct from the term ‘climate justice’, which refers more broadly to how the causes of climate change are unfair and unequal, how climate change worsens existing inequalities, and how addressing climate change can create a more just world for all. A just transition is a way to help us achieve climate justice.

The International Labour Organisation defines a just transition as a process ‘towards an environmentally sustainable economy, which needs to be well managed and contribute to the goals of decent work for all, social inclusion and the eradication of poverty’.

Friends of the Earth Scotland describes just transition as ‘an opportunity to create a better society and protect the poorest from climate impacts. If the transition is led by people and communities, they can ensure it is truly fair and meets their needs’.

Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere in order to slow or stop global climate change.

For building-based arts organisations, the largest source of emissions is usually energy. Mitigation measures for these organisations range from switch-off campaigns and motion sensors for lighting to larger scale capital works such as improving insulation and air source heat pumps.

For touring or production-based arts organisations, the largest source of emissions is usually travel. Mitigation measures for these organisations include encouraging use of public transport, rerouting tours to the most efficient route and using methods of slower travel.

On the United Nations’ website net zero is defined as ‘cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere’. Organisations have to be as close as possible to emitting zero emissions to be called ‘net zero’. Crucially, net zero is not the same as ‘zero carbon’, which means that no carbon is emitted at all.

The Scottish Government’s objective is to reduce all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045.

What’s important to keep in mind is that it’s not all on you to get to net zero. There are other initiatives that will arise to help us get there, although it’s hard to predict exactly what they will look like. There are different ways to get to net zero. For instance, we could expect big changes in the electricity system, which could be mainly based on renewables, but we might need a back-up system to generate energy, which could be hydrogen or natural gas when the wind doesn’t blow, or the sun doesn’t shine.

More than reaching ‘0’ or ‘close to zero’ emissions, ‘net zero’ is a concept that gives us a direction for where we’re heading to stay within a safe earth system. It’s also a useful term for leading discussion, driving actions and holding stakeholders accountable.

Method by which companies and organisations can compensate for emissions by purchasing the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Offsetting includes purchasing carbon offsets equivalent to emissions. These carbon offsets can be used to fund tree planting, peat restoration or renewable energy projects. The idea is that the emissions which these initiatives will save can balance an organisations unavoidable emissions.

While offsetting can function as a final step on the journey to net zero, it is not a substitute for cutting emissions from the source. Reducing emissions is significantly more effective than offsetting.

Post-growth approaches argue that the unlimited expansion of production and consumption is impossible and undesirable on a finite planet: in order to meet targets for reducing emissions and our broader ecological footprint, we must question the economic compulsion to accumulate, extract, and exploit nature and labour (Postgrowth Cities Coalition).

Closely linked to degrowth, post-growth is a way of thinking about what might happen in a world where human and planetary wellbeing is prioritised over economic growth. For example, a post-growth society might choose not to invest in harmful fossil fuels, but in education, healthcare, and access to nature. Post-growth approaches, including degrowth, explore alternative economic systems which could help protect our planet. (Tim Jackson, Postgrowth, Polity Press: 2021)

Any emissions which remain after all technically and economically feasible opportunities to reduce emissions have been implemented.

Targets adopted by organisations to reduce GHG emissions are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C compared to preindustrial temperatures. (Reference: Science Based Targets Initiative)

A way of categorising emission sources in relation to the reporting organisation. Scopes make clear the type of emission source and the level of control of the reporting organisation over the source. Three scopes have been defined (scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3) and are used on a global basis.

• Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from an organisation’s owned and controlled resources eg the burning of fossil fuels in an organisation’s premises or through business travel in company vehicles.
• Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling from a utility provider. For most organisations this will be the emissions from your electricity supply.
• Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that are not included in scope 2 but result from goods and services delivered by an external provider eg travel by air or public transport.

More about Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

The uptake of CO2 and storage of carbon in chemical or physical processes.

A network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. This network includes different activities, people, entities, information, and resources. The supply chain also represents the steps it takes to get the product or service from its original state to the customer. The public sector is often the end customer and therefore much of the supply chain is upstream. Cultural organisations often have upstream (suppliers, artists) and downstream (audiences, attendees) elements of the supply chain.

Sustainability recognises that our climate and environment are changing and refers to the responsibility to protect our ecosystems to maintain health and wellbeing, now and in the future. This includes, for example, reducing society’s carbon footprint, adapting to climate change, promoting renewable energy sources, and fostering social equity and justice.

Sustainability also emphasises interconnectedness. This means recognising that various aspects of human society, the economy and the environment are deeply intertwined and influence each other in complex ways. Therefore, achieving sustainability requires addressing not only individual components but also understanding and addressing the interconnections and feedback loops within systems.

By taking a systemic view, working towards sustainability can lead to significant positive impact across multiple dimensions, leading to more holistic and enduring solutions. Overall, sustainability seeks to create a harmonious relationship between human activities and the natural world.

NB: Our approach to sustainability may evolve as our understanding of its systemic nature and complexity improves.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. The goals recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Thermal power generation is the process of converting heat energy into electrical energy. In its most common form, water is heated and the steam produced powers turbines which generate electricity. The water is generally heated through the burning of fossil fuels but this heat can also come from nuclear fission, geothermal energy or the burning of waste.

‘Transformational change is the emergence of an entirely new state, prompted by a shift in what is considered possible or necessary, which results in a profoundly different structure, culture or level of performance.’ (Reference: King’s Fund)