Environmental Responsibility Statement

Sanderson’s Environmental Responsibility Statement

 

The world is facing a series of linked environmental crises. In October 2022, the UN warned that the world’s governments are not yet on track to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees, and the window for action is rapidly closing. We are already seeing the impacts of existing warming with devastating droughts, storms and floods across the world. Related crises include collapsing biodiversity, dangerous levels of air pollution, and plastic contamination in our rivers and oceans. Without urgent action from across society, these problems will rapidly escalate.

 

We believe the art world has an important role to play. Arts organisations have a large impact on the environment, due to international travel, arts shipping, and use of energy and materials. We need to act urgently to reduce these impacts in line with what the science is telling us. As arts organisations, we have an opportunity to use our public platform and cultural influence to set a positive example, encouraging and supporting others to take action and help shift public debate.

 

At Sanderson our values and mission are to promote contemporary art and inspire audiences to engage with local culture; to provide a platform for marginalised voices and artists. To be true to these values, we need to take urgent environmental action, because art and culture across the world is directly threatened by the climate crisis, and those from marginalised communities and cultures are most at risk.

 

As an organisation, we know that our direct environmental impacts include: shipping art for exhibitions, travel, and energy use in our buildings.

 

We have committed to tackling these impacts by:

 

-       Joining the Gallery Climate Coalition and pledging to at least halve our carbon emissions by 2030.

-       Regularly calculating the carbon footprint of our operations, to track progress towards this target.

-       Setting specific targets for the major parts of our footprint, including:

-       Keeping staff flights to a minimum

-       Ensuring the majority of our international shipping is carried out by sea, rail or road, rather than air.

-       Reducing our building energy use by 30%, replacing fossil gas heating systems with electric heat pumps or other appropriate technology and only using heating when necessary.

-       Ensuring all of our packing materials are reusable or curbside recyclable by 2026 as a step towards zero-waste operations by 2030.

-       Using low or zero emissions vehicles for local deliveries.

 

The actions we are taking to meet these targets include:

-       Speaking to our shippers about alternatives to air freight.

-       Planning our exhibitions and events with care to minimise the need for air freight.

-       Producing exhibitions locally where possible.

-       Reducing staff travel and planning attendance at events to reduce the need for air travel (i.e. only participating in events we can reach by road or train).

-       Working more closely with international colleagues, using local expertise.

-       Carrying out an energy audit of our buildings to find opportunities for energy reduction and renewable generation.

-       Working with other GCC members on projects to help develop more    sustainable packaging, transport and energy saving solutions.

-       Speaking to our suppliers and service providers about their carbon footprint, and looking for opportunities to encourage them to take action, or to switch to alternative suppliers who will.

-       Having a Green Ambassador, with an aim to create a strong culture of sustainability in the workplace and organise meetings to track progress on all of these targets and actions at least once every month.  

 

To take full responsibility for our emissions, we are setting aside $140 NZD per tonne of CO2e we emit into a Strategic Climate Fund, rather than purchasing carbon offsets. Following guidance from the Gallery Climate Coalition, this money will be spent on measures to accelerate our emissions reductions and support climate solutions around the world that are making a difference.

 

Sanderson Gallery Limited's membership of the Gallery Climate Coalition is not a certification of sustainability, nor a claim that we are doing things perfectly. We’re doing our best to assess, report and reduce our impact; setting targets in line with the current science and taking the actions we can to create a more sustainable world.