Environmental Policy and Action Plan Update
Allåkrabreen glacier in May 2023
At the start of 2023 Artica began the process of researching, developing, and implementing an environmental policy and action plan. There is a lot of ground to make up, but as an organisation based in the Arctic we are fully committed to being responsible and to sharing knowledge of successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) changes others might find helpful.
To structure our efforts we are a member of NAARCA ( the Nordic Alliance of Artists' Residencies on Climate Action) and to steer our policy and action plan, we are also a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition, who offer access to practical guidance, research and advice, as well as a fantastic user friendly Carbon Calculator tool. Which we have used this year to calculate our footprint from 2022. This data will be the baseline for helping us to find ways of reducing our carbon footprint in future. Another resource we have found useful is the Nordic Green Roadmap for Cultural Institutions.
You can read Artica’s full Environmental Responsibility Statement and Action plan here.
Carbon Report 2022
We have recently completed our carbon report using data from 2022 as a baseline. It is no surprise that flights are the biggest carbon emission for Artica. This is why we encourage our residents to stay in Longyearbyen for a minimum of six weeks and to think about the journey to Svalbard as part of their residency. You can read an essay by Rikke Lurther, NAARCA resident in 2023 here, who travelled from Copenhagen to Tromsø by land and sea, before taking the flight to Longyearbyen. Over the next year we will be thinking of (and actioning) ways to reduce our carbon footprint and will be working towards developing a Strategic Climate Fund.
Summary of carbon report:
Flights 23.35 (tC02e) 77.2%
Energy 5.14 (tC02e) 17.0%
Travels (other) 1.60 (tC02e) 5.3%
Shipping 0.01 (tC02e) 0.00%
Other 0.14 (tC02e) 0.5%
NAARCA Toolkit
In 2022, NAARCA Eco-coordinator Jaana Eskola conducted residency site visits, both in-person and digital, to each of the NAARCA partners. During these visits, Jaana conducted workshops and gathered research from the staff and residents to learn more about each residency’s approach to sustainability. From these learnings, we have developed a Sustainability Toolkit for Artists’ Residencies with resources and practical examples that can be used to help other artists’ residencies or arts organisations to develop their own environmental policies and action plans. You can download the document here
We still have a great deal to do and much to learn. We welcome feedback and ideas from our residents, community, audience and network, you can get in touch here info@articasvalbard.no