How museums can be catalysts for climate action

COP26 dominated the news in late 2021, but how can the interest it created be harnessed to move us farther and faster to act on climate change? Rodney Harrison, Colin Sterling and Henry McGhie (Museums for Climate Action) explain, and highlight the support available to museums.

Although, perhaps understandably, the news presents climate action and the COP conference as if the world’s future is hammered out by world leaders that isn’t how COP works, or how any international agreements work for that matter. The success of COP, and of international agreements, is determined by the mandate that is created in society: in schools, churches, communities, businesses, universities, and in cultural institutions. The United Nations already recognises this, and the importance of a wide range of types of organisations – including museums, cultural and educational institutions – was already included in the Work Programme for the Paris Agreement, at COP24 in Poland in 2018.

So, where does that leave us now that COP26 has come and gone (COP27 will be in Egypt in November 2022). Will we continue with our old ways, using lots of energy, often from unrenewable sources, and measure success in terms of ‘big is better’? Will we capture the opportunity presented by the pandemic to try to change course and drop the old, harmful practices? How can we change?

Ahead of COP26, a team of us launched a project to radically reimagine the museum as an institution, to address the realities of climate action. Our work brought together academic research, experience of climate policy making, and of museum practice. We launched a design and ideas competition in May 2020 (on International Museum Day), inviting creatives, designers, museum workers and the wider public to radically reimagine the museum as an institution. The competition received 264 entries from 48 countries, and eight teams were awarded with funding to develop their concepts into exhibits. These were shown at Glasgow Science Centre, the public-facing aspect of COP26, ahead of and during the climate summit.

Our project created resources to support the museum sector and partners to draw upon, to embrace radical climate action in and with museums. The project website (www.museumsforclimateaction.org) outlines the research and policy background, provides a rich range of concepts to draw upon, and gives access to an open-access book and practical toolkit outlining relevant tools, frameworks and opportunities for climate action.

The next phase of the project aims to support the museum sector and partners to make use of these resources.

We will be working closely with AIM in the first part of 2022 to develop online workshops that help explain the essentials of climate action, provide participants with opportunities to share their own experiences, and to move farther, faster, together to meet the many challenges of climate change.

As climate change affects all aspects of society and nature, climate change is relevant to every museum and every museum worker. Communities need to have effective institutions to help people understand, care about and have the practical skills to act on climate change. Every museum and everyone who works in them has a part to play. Of course, we are not starting from scratch – lots of you will already be working to address climate change, whether you realise it or not – but global emissions tell us that something still needs to change. We aim to support you to take part in this joint endeavour, and to strengthen your museum’s purpose and contribution to society at the same time. Watch this space!

Rodney Harrison, University College London
Colin Sterling, University of Amsterdam
Henry McGhie, Curating Tomorrow

Click here to visit the Museums for Climate Action website>>

Join Henry for a Hallmark at Home session on climate action 9 March. Click here to book your place>>