The story so far

Since 2014/15, Creative Carbon Scotland has been working with Creative Scotland to provide a framework for carbon emissions reporting for regularly funded organisations (RFOs), and to support Green Champions in arts organisations across Scotland.

Since 2018/19, RFOs have been required to submit a carbon management plan covering the duration of their funding, and are encouraged to develop a way to manage emissions into the future.
Additionally in 2018/19 we began working with organisations receiving funding from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture Fund to support them with creating carbon management plans, which became required by their funding. You can see a summary from the 2018/19 reporting here.

In 2021/22, we brought together the Creative Scotland RFOs, organisations receiving funding from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture Fund, and Edinburgh Festivals who are members of Edinburgh Sustainability Working Group (ESWG) to report emissions and carbon management plans through one streamlined survey. You can see a summary from the 2021/22 reporting here.

Below you can see a graph summarising the total reported emissions by all organisations each year demonstrating the overall decrease in emissions since organisations started reporting.

A graphic summary of total reported emissions each year since 2015/16.


Carbon management in the cultural sector: going to plan?

The 2019 Green Arts Conference included a popular session, which provided up-to-date information on carbon management targets, discussed the main issues that organisations are facing, and provided time for planning for the future.

Here is a link to the documentation and video highlights from that session: Carbon management in the cultural sector: going to plan?

Carbon management 2018-21: who’s doing what?

In 2018, for the first time, Creative Carbon Scotland worked with Creative Scotland RFOs, who were required to submit CMPs to cover the opportunities for carbon reduction within their planned programmes of work for the duration of their funding. We had an impressive uptake, with over 110 organisations submitting CMPs. 

We took feedback from those who submitted plans about what they found useful, and many noted peer support as a significant factor in developing their CMPs, which inspired the development of this resource. 

Carbon management 2018-21: who’s doing what? enables you to see the summary contents of the CMPs made as part of the 2018 process, so will be useful for Green Champions looking to connect with organisations working on similar carbon reduction projects as part of their work. It could also provide inspiration for non-RFOs looking to find out about what organisations working in the same area are doing. 

Information from Creative Scotland annual statistical surveys 2015-16 

All RFOs were invited to provide information on their environmental impacts in the Environmental section of Creative Scotland’s annual statistical survey reporting form for the period 2014-15 and then required to report their carbon emissions for 2015-16. 117 organisations reported their emissions, with a 31% increase in the amount of data reported.

Click on the infographic to download your copy of the report. See how the sector is progressing and find out where you fit in.

Creative Scotland Annual Statistical Survey 2014-15 

RFOs were invited to provide information on their environmental impacts in the Environmental section of Creative Scotland’s annual statistical survey reporting form for the period 2014-15. We analysed the data sent to Creative Scotland produced a short report on Voluntary Carbon Reporting 2014-15.

Click on the infographic to download your copy of the report. See how the sector is progressing and find out where you fit in.

Conversations with Green Champions

Between January and May 2015, Creative Carbon Scotland carried out a program of meetings and workshops throughout Scotland with Creative Scotland’s RFOs to discuss the impact of the Environmental connecting theme.

“Conversations with Green Champions” includes important highlights and key knowledge gathered from our meetings with Creative Scotland RFOs between January and May 2015.

The report includes:

  • Information about the training provided by CCS
  • What we learned about Creative Scotland RFOs through this process
  • An overview of the tools available for RFOs to assist in the carbon emissions reporting process
  • General guidance on developing your Environmental Policy, reporting travel and recording building utilities
  • An informal opportunity to determine your “Green Champion Score”
  • Interesting things other RFOs are doing to address environmental impact

About Creative Carbon Scotland

We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

[email protected]

+44 (0)131 243 2760

Supported by

Creative Scotland logo City of Edinburgh Council logo

A project initiated by Edinburgh’s Festivals with key partners the Federation of Scottish Theatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network

Edinburgh Festival City logo Federation of Scottish Theatre logo Scottish Contemporary Art Network logo

Accreditations

Scottish Living Wage Accreditation