Reporting framework

Climate justice is a term that describes how we must respond to the fact that the impacts of and responsibility for climate change are highly unequal. Those who are worst affected by climate change are the poorer and more disadvantaged. These are generally those who have contributed least to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it. This includes poorer nations, former colonies or indigenous peoples internationally, while in Scotland specifically it includes working class people, disabled people, ethnic minorities and others.

Read our guide to climate justice for cultural organisations.

Net zero, as defined in the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)’s Net-Zero Standard, means the reduction of emissions to limit global temperature increase to 1.5⁰C. The main focus should be on this rapid reduction of emissions rather than using offsetting schemes to balance out emissions.

As a term, net zero is often interpreted in different ways, but it is the official term used by the Scottish Government, as well as the IPCC and UNFCCC, which informs and brings together international climate negotiations. Therefore, to ensure that we are in line with national and international policy, it is the term we use, as defined above.

Organisations can only manage what they measure. To identify emissions hotspots and hence where reduction efforts are best spent, we ask organisations to monitor the emissions categories outlined below. This is drawn from best practices in the corporate and public authority spaces as well as the knowledge and experience we have gained from working with the arts and culture sector over the past decade.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol defines emission reporting scopes in corporate environmental reporting. They break down emissions into the following categories with Scopes 1 and 2 mandatory and Scope 3 encouraged:

• Scope 1 – direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.
• Scope 2 – indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy.
• Scope 3 – indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the supply chain of the reporting organisation, including both upstream (relating to an organisation’s suppliers) and downstream (relating to the distribution and consumption of an organisation’s products/services) emissions.

Using this as a basis we have expanded the scope to include areas that we have seen as large emitters within the control and influence for arts and culture organisations. We cover these categories in detail below.

We do not believe in collecting data for the sake of collecting data; we want the data and the monitoring processes to catalyse change. Therefore, we do not make the monitoring or reporting of any emissions category mandatory, but we ask organisations to take an honest look at their operations and processes and monitor all emissions that are relevant to them and justify if certain emission types are not relevant. Here, we break down approaches to reporting various emissions based on type of organisation:

Energy, water and waste

If an organisation owns or rents a building, the emissions from energy, water, and waste can often make up the majority of their footprint. We have seen this in the reported emissions from Creative Scotland RFOs since 2015/16. As the largest proportion of emissions, it is important that an organisation is regularly measuring these emissions to understand what should be done to reduce the impact.

Different organisations have varying capacities to measure these emissions. Therefore, we provide the following guidance based on type of organisation:

• Small organisations (under 10 members of staff) that rent space in buildings should estimate their energy, water, and waste.
• Large organisations that rent space or those who have been working on carbon management for multiple years should be able to provide more accurate energy, utility, and waste information either from meter readings, billing, or through discussions with their landlord.
• Organisations that own buildings should provide accurate energy and water data from meter readings and waste data from contractor billing information.

Travel and freight

Most arts and culture organisations travel in some capacity, whether that is commuting to the office, touring a performance, or bringing in culture from other countries. Travel is the emissions category in which we have seen the least reduction since 2015/16 and is usually second to energy in magnitude.

All organisations should track travel and freight transportation. We recommend using claimexpenses for most accurately measuring travel emissions, especially for large organisations and for organisations with lots of travel (festivals and touring organisations), but you can also use our estimation tools. For freight calculations, we recommend using the Gallery Climate Coalition carbon calculator.

Audience travel

It is becoming increasingly clear that audience travel represents a significant proportion of an organisation’s footprint, and it is also something that we believe organisations have the potential to influence. Therefore, we expect all organisations to be collecting data on this and monitoring it to the best of their abilities. It is worth noting that many cultural organisations already survey audiences to measure other activity, so questions around travel can be brought into these existing surveys.

Procurement

The equipment and materials that organisations purchase and where they purchase them from can have significant environmental impacts in the supply chain. According to the GHG Protocol, most corporate emissions are embedded in the supply chain.

As a rule, we don’t expect organisations to collect data on the emissions of their complete supply chain. However, we expect all organisations to have a sustainable procurement policy that explains the steps they are taking to reduce the impact of procurement, whether that is, for example, through using recycled materials or requiring all organisations in their supply chain to prove their sustainability credentials.

Digital

The digital carbon footprint currently represents over 3% of the total global emissions and this is estimated to continue to rise. However, with most of this coming from online streaming and large data centres, we again don’t expect organisations to measure this quantitatively. Instead, we expect organisations to have a digital sustainability policy that explains the steps they are taking to reduce the impact of their digital emissions, whether that is, for example, a regular digital declutter or improving the footprint of their website.

To read more on this topic, see our interview with Michael Hedges on digital sustainability.

Taken from Scottish Government’s biodiversity strategy:

A new international consensus is building around the urgent need to act decisively to address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change together. Just like climate change, the loss of species and degradation of our natural environment is an existential threat to humanity.

To reach net zero by 2045 (or 2030 for the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow), Scotland and the rest of the world need to tackle the biodiversity crisis as well as the climate crisis. As explained by the United Nations:

When human activities produce greenhouse gases, around half of the emissions remain in the atmosphere, while the other half is absorbed by the land and ocean. These ecosystems – and the biodiversity they contain – are natural carbon sinks, providing so-called nature-based solutions to climate change.

With the intrinsic link between nature and climate clearer than ever, we believe organisations should have an awareness of the impact of their actions on nature and explore what they can do to reduce this impact.

We do not expect a quantitative response to this section but would like to see:

• Considerations made in any procurement policies and if an organisation is undertaking any offsetting.
• Actions if an organisation is responsible for any outdoor space.
• Descriptions of any nature-related work, activities, or performances organisations are involved in.

Check out NatureScot’s website for more information about biodiversity.

Taken from the Scottish Government’s climate change policy:

Scotland’s ambitious climate change legislation sets a target date for net-zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045. Our contribution to climate change will end, definitively, within one generation.

To meet Scotland’s targets, a rapid transformation across all sectors of our economy and society is required.

To reach net zero by 2045 (or 2030 for the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow), ambitious actions are required by all organisations, making use of their emissions reporting data. The carbon management process will be different for all organisations, but we suggest the following steps:

1. Identifying the organisation’s main source of emissions (through measuring and monitoring the categories in the previous section).
2. Setting an organisational net-zero target.
3. Outlining the actions and emission reductions for the next three years.
4. Breaking these actions and emission reductions down year by year.
5. Identifying the provisions made to ensure the actions are just.

Approach and suggestions

An organisation’s carbon management plan should be informed by the data they collect on their emissions, targeting the greatest source(s) of emissions. For example, if the largest part of an organisation’s footprint is travel emissions, reducing single use plastic isn’t the best choice for a main action to focus on, despite the benefits this may have.

• Organisations that own a building will generally want to initially focus on actions intended to reduce emissions from energy consumption.
• Touring organisations will likely want to focus on actions intended to reduce emissions from travel.
• Organisations with a low footprint (generally under five tonnes) should focus on influence-based actions (see next section) to have the greatest impact. However, in doing so they should not neglect monitoring and managing their own emissions.

Beyond their own emissions, cultural organisations have the potential to contribute to Scotland’s wider net-zero targets through influencing and storytelling. As stated in Creative Scotland’s Climate Emergency and Sustainability Plan:

Artists can facilitate difficult conversations and can elicit emotions, which are often squeezed out of more technical debates. Cultural organisations reach enormous and diverse audiences and can provide buildings and spaces for events, conversation and communal, collective thinking and learning.

Culture for Climate Scotland believes that cultural organisations in Scotland should seize this opportunity to change and influence the conversation. Therefore, while thinking about what an organisation can do to reduce their own emissions in their planning, we also want to see what organisations can do to help others reduce their emissions using influence and advocacy. The approach to working on this will be different for each organisation but we suggest a similar approach to carbon management:

1. Outline the influence actions in the organisation’s plan for the next three years.
2. Break these actions down year by year.
3. Identify the provisions made to ensure the actions are just (in line with climate justice principles explained at the beginning of this framework).

All organisations should be exploring this role within the wider journey to net zero. Organisations with a low carbon footprint themselves should especially focus on this.

The Adaptation Scotland programme, run by climate resilience organisation Verture, states:

Even if we were to reach net-zero tomorrow, historic greenhouse gas emissions have already changed our climate and will continue to do so in the decades to come. This means we need to change how we manage our land and infrastructure, manage water during periods of drought, ensure our buildings are resilient to heatwaves and storms, and communities can build resilience to flooding.

Adaptation or resilience must be part of environmental considerations for any organisation. We believe all organisations should have an adaptation action plan much like their carbon management plan. A detailed framework on the creation of an adaptation plan can be found in the Cultural Adaptations’ Adapting our Culture Toolkit. We recommend you follow the process outlined in this toolkit that covers:

1. Identifying the risks and opportunities from a changing climate.
2. Forming actions to reduce the impact of the risks and make the most of the opportunities.
3. Identifying the provisions made to ensure the actions are just (in line with climate justice principles explained at the beginning of this framework).

We believe that there should be understanding of and responsibility for climate change at all levels of an organisation so that positive behaviours and attitudes can be fully integrated. This can be achieved through the following measures:

• Creating a Green Team and/or establishing a Green Champion in the organisation to support and drive the delivery of the work.
• Joining the Green Arts Initiative (GAI) to share and learn with other arts organisations tackling climate change.
• Sign the Green Arts Charter to attain your sustainability goals and deliver the climate action.
• Developing an environmental policy.
• Having a specific sustainable travel policy.
• Including director-level members of staff and board members in discussions and decisions.
• Having top-level commitment/sign-off for environmental work and policies.