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Environmental Sustainability Policy

Addressing issues of the global climate and ecological emergencies is central to Clore Leadership’s vision of ‘a society enriched by arts, culture and creativity’. We believe that the culture sector has a vital role to play in championing critical issues and inspiring action across our society. Clore Leadership therefore has a responsibility to demonstrate best practice and to ensure that cultural leaders are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to innovate and create change.

Statement of Principles

Clore Leadership is committed to aligning our organisational goals to national and international climate change targets, as well as the ambitions of the Mayor of London’s target of net zero carbon by 2030.

We work collaboratively with organisations and individuals across the sector and will actively seek partnerships with those who are working at the forefront of the sustainability agenda. We commit to operate as sustainably as possible within the parameters of our primary purpose as a convener of people and will foster a culture of championing climate change action amongst the leadership of the arts & culture sector. We believe:

  • Arts, culture and creativity can support society in helping to face and find solutions to the challenges of environmental sustainability;
  • Culture has a vital role to play in shaping the narrative that helps society meet the ambitious carbon-neutral targets;
  • That our leaders must move that narrative on from basic compliance to advocating for new ways of operating, transformed business models and reimagined approaches to achieving a carbon neutral world.
     

We will monitor all aspects of our activities to measure our own environmental impact; the way we run the office, how we run or take part in courses, conferences, events and programmes and update our practices as new information and new technologies emerge. We will comply with government legislation and regulation, and go further wherever it is possible do so.

We will use this environmental policy to inform our own programming, to influence the activities of our partners and suppliers, and to forge alliances which help promote the role of arts & culture in advocating for and effecting practical change.

Our environmental policy applies to staff, Trustees, and participants we engage with through our programming. This policy will be sent to our major funders, published on our website, and will be reviewed every two years by the Trustees.

1.     Leadership and Advocacy

We will use our position within the sector to:

Communicate our view

Utilising platforms available to us to clearly articulate the organisation’s stance on environmental sustainability through practical and ethical thought-leadership pieces. We will find opportunities to feed in the thoughts, ideas and examples of those within the sector who are showing greatest leadership in this area, demonstrating the interconnected nature of culture and environmental sustainability. We are in a privileged position of working with the next generation of cultural leaders and we will actively seek and share their views, reflecting back to the sector the creativity and innovation that can transform society.

Train our leaders

Transitioning the approach to sustainability away from a discreet topic within our leadership training to an issue that is woven throughout our curriculum. We will encourage our participants to find ways of showing wider societal leadership in tackling issues around environmental sustainability; and amplify those voices within arts and culture who are championing bold approaches to tackling climate change and shaping the wider discourse.

Championing sustainability in governance

Acknowledging the interconnectedness of the economy, culture and public policy, we will seek to ensure that those with decision-making responsibilities in the cultural sector and beyond are provided with the tools and understanding to inform debate and to ensure that climate crisis remains at the top of boards’ agendas. Through our board development work, we will encourage trustees to challenge assumptions and commitments made by organisations to ensure that climate justice and environmental responsibility are fundamental factors in all decision-making.

Foster partnerships

As a learning organisation, we will explore how collaboration with others can inform our learning and spark new ideas and creativity. We will join with other organisations and individuals working effectively and innovatively in this area, exploring opportunities for partnering and collaborating to help us to broaden our own understanding of the sustainability agenda and to explore new methods for training our leaders. We will actively seek out partnerships outside of the cultural sector which enable us to learn from other approaches and to share learning widely, creating new opportunities to contribute to the wider conversation and sharing examples of best practice.

2.     Operations

One of the key USP’s in Clore Leadership’s offer is the delivery of face-to-face training with participants in a residential format. Whilst we have the capacity to deliver some training remotely and to run longer format courses with a blend of in person and online sessions, we anticipate the ongoing need for travel and other carbon-generating activities to fully meet our organisational aims (e.g. accommodation, production of hard-copy resources).   We will take action in the following areas:

Carbon Footprint

We will minimise travel, utilising video conferencing for meetings and training courses where it is viable to do so. Where travel is necessary we will ensure that staff always seek to use the means of travel with the lowest carbon footprint. We will aim to utilise venues which can be easily reached via public transport and who are adopting a progressive approach to reducing their carbon footprint. Where travel is required by our participants, we will proactively encourage them to seek out options with the lowest carbon footprint.

Use of Resources: Refuse; Reduce; Re-use; Recycle

We will minimise waste (and thereby, cut expenditure), by seeking to reduce the amount of resources we use; re-use where we can; purchase recycled materials; and re-cycle our waste to the maximum extent possible. In this way, we will seek to reduce our use of energy, plastics, paper and water.

We will use trusted suppliers and look to utilise locally sourced resources wherever possible. In particular, we will avoid the use of single-use plastics such as cups, crockery and packaging. We will also avoid the use of toxic materials in our activities, such as when using cleaning products.

We are resident at Somerset House, which has a proactive policy and approach to sustainability and an Environmental Policy that actively enables us to be proactive as outlined above

3.      Monitoring

Monitoring of leadership and advocacy areas in this policy will be the responsibility of the Head of Strategic Partnerships and Impact. Monitoring of operational areas will be the responsibility of the Administrator, tracking our procurement practices, use of materials and the impact of our activities. We utilise the Creative Climate Tools operated by Julie’s Bicycle in order to track and benchmark our carbon footprint. We will report quarterly on updates and outcomes to the Board.

Monitoring will ensure that we:

  1. comply with all legislation and regulations
  2. improve our environmental performance
  3. inform our partners, participants and the wider world of our commitment to the highest possible environmental standards, demonstrating best practice
  4. review the policy regularly

Appraisal of our effectiveness will be undertaken by the Board, with a Trustee nominated act as a dedicated champion on issues of environmental sustainability