Cultural industries set to progress net zero targets

There is strong willingness from the creative industries to lead change towards the UK’s net zero targets, according to a new report, but government support and further research investment is required.

Commissioned by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and produced by Julie’s Bicycle and BOP Consulting, the report, Creative Industries and the Climate Emergency – the Path to Net Zero, marks the first scoping exercise of the work different sub-sectors in the creative industries are doing to work towards net zero targets.

According to Julie’s Bicycle Founder and CEO Alison Tickell, the report finds that culture can motivate the political, economic and social change urgently needed.

SHOW MORE:

“Not only do the arts motivate change through storytelling and the unique ability to inspire connection and empathy but on a very practical level, it is these industries that across all sub-sectors are adapting their processes and monitoring impact,” she said.

“We find clear evidence of a willingness to learn and change from CEOs, boards, employees and artists themselves. It is clear culture is ready to prioritise change.”

The report says within the creative industries there is a “huge amount” of activity taking place across sectors working towards net zero, including innovation across production, design and supply.

But it adds more macro-level guidelines, investment and partnerships are needed to sustain this work, alongside support from the government, after its ‘Build Back Better’ strategy was found to make no reference of the creative industries.

Director of the Creative Industries Policies and Evidence Centre Hasan Bakhshi said that as the creative industry is so embedded in the supply chain of other sectors, “it’s clear the government needs to work with the creative industries to achieve net zero goals”.

“Key to this is incentivising more investment in innovation. We are calling for a change to the definitions of Research and Development (R&D) used by the HMRC for tax relief, which currently excludes arts, humanities and social sciences,” he added.

“Without this we risk under-incentivising creative industries companies who want to experiment with new production and supply methods to reduce carbon emissions”.

Sector recommendations

The report offers tailored recommendations for eleven sub-sectors in the creative industries, including the performing arts, visual arts and music.

It notes these three industries and their supply chains are all still recovering from the impact of the pandemic, therefore investment on sustainability efforts has taken a backseat to allow for efforts in revenue recovery.

Buildings are highlighted as key focus points for each industry. It notes many galleries and performing arts venues are old and therefore not as energy efficient, while decarbonising live music remains “a daunting challenge for the sector,” due to older venues, diesel generator usage at festivals and the emissions associated with audience travel and touring.

The report says greater access to investment is key for these industries to support sustainable venue refurbishments and accelerate efforts towards decarbonisation. Further research is recommended to understand how audiences travel to events.

Music and theatre design courses should include mandatory elements on sustainability, the report says, with education continuing through professional development courses in the workplace.

In the visual arts, the absence of an industry-wide trade body that educates members and advocates sustainability efforts means most work is done by the Galleries Climate Coalition, which galleries must sign up to become a member of.

The report says there “may still be the role for a programme or agency that can provide specialist education and leadership to improve sustainability practices”. It also suggests galleries could invest in renewable energy generation, such as solar panels on roofs, and focus on waste reduction and investment in the circular economy.

Research efforts

The report also gives recommendations that can be applied across all creative industries.

Many of the industry bodies involved in the report said they would welcome a more ambitious and substantial programme of research and development investment to help businesses innovate and develop new technologies and processes for decarbonising and reducing waste.

Other recommendations include creating a forum for aggregating industry data around reducing emissions and localising supply chains by working in local, creative clusters to improve sustainability.

Government should invest more in research and development to help the sector reduce waste, the report adds, while a scoping study to understand how the creative industries influence consumer decisions or attitudes and behaviours with regards to the environment is also proposed.