The Gallery Climate Coalition, a London-based enterprise with 2,000 members of artists, institutions, and art professionals in 60 countries, said that 80 percent of members who began tracking their carbon footprint in 2019 have reduced their impact by 25 percent. Taking that as a start, members are on track to further decrease their carbon footprint by 50 percent in 2030.
The GCC put together a report titled “Five-Year Review of Climate Action in the Visual Arts” that it revealed last week as part of London Art+Climate Week, a new initiative timed with the United Nations climate summit Cop30 in Brazil.
As described in Ocula, the report identifies shipping, air travel, and energy use as the main factors impacting climate, accounting for 80 to 95 percent of carbon emissions among members. Additionally, the largest 22 percent of GCC members generate half of the total emissions. At the launch event, GCC adviser Danny Chivers said, of the art world’s role in climate change, “emissions are disproportionately high for the size of the sector.”
Frances Morris, former director of Tate Modern and now chair of the GCC, told The Art Newspaper, “The next five years will define the art sector’s legacy in the climate transition. GCC invites all coalition members, partners, and allies to join us in this next phase—shaping a future where creativity and climate action move hand in hand, transforming not only our own industry but the wider world it reflects and influences.”
Since its founding in 2020, GCC has grown from 200 galleries to more than 2,000 members from across the art world, including such high-profile names as the Barbican Art Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, Art Basel, Hauser & Wirth, and more.
Per Ocula, David Finley, head of sustainability for Christie’s London—which hosted a launch event last week for the new GCC report—said that switching to renewable energy sources, scaling down publishing of catalogs, and introducing a more “sensible” travel policy helped the auction house reduce its carbon emissions by 69 percent from 2019 to 2024.
Morris, for her part, told TAN: “Across hundreds of organizations, the data shows that when the visual arts sector measures, plans, and acts, emissions fall. But carbon is only part of the story. The roots of this crisis lie in broader economic, social, and cultural systems that normalize overconsumption and disconnection. Tackling them demands not only technical solutions but cultural transformation, and art has a unique and critical role to play in that shift.”
