Climate Impact Program

The PST ART Climate Impact Program is a groundbreaking integration of climate action, community building, and data reporting as part of Getty's landmark recurring arts event, PST ART, which brings together more than 70 exhibiting institutions throughout Southern California for Art & Science Collide.

CLIMATE IMPACT REPORT PARTICIPATION STATS (as of July 1, 2024):

The Climate Impact Program provides participating organizations with education, resources, and tools to build community and take lasting climate action, as well as a framework for completing climate impact reports related to PST ART exhibitions. The program’s objectives are to build climate fluency among Southern California arts professionals, unite climate action across partner sites, and collect climate impact reports to create a data-backed regional understanding of the collective climate impact of exhibition-making in the Southern California arts and culture sector. Climate action and reporting at partner sites is self-directed and voluntary, with a majority of partner organizations participating.

The Climate Impact Program is led by LHL Consulting and is made available to all PST ART partners receiving exhibition grants for Art & Science Collide.

PST ART Climate Impact Program Key Points

3 focus areas for programming:

Education & capacity building amongst presenting partner teams
Connecting community around climate action in Southern California art sector
Benchmarking PST ART grant funded exhibitions with Climate Impact Reports (CIRs)

Five impact areas for reporting:

Engagement: Number participating; engaging external stakeholders; audience & programming engagement | tracked by CIR checklists & praxis interviews
Emissions: Shipping & travel (building energy optional, if accessible) | calculated using Gallery Climate Coalition carbon calculator
Waste: Material sourcing and end of exhibition destinations | material report
Workers: Policies and decision making supporting workers to to take climate action |tracked by CIR checklists
Community: Connecting with external initiatives and community to build movements | tracked by CIR checklists

DID YOU KNOW?

Global art world emissions are estimated at 70 million tCO2e, about the emissions of Austria. 18 million of those tCO2e are generated from business travel, artwork shipments, and building energy, all things often within museum’s direct decision making control. . [Julie’s Bicycle, Art of Zero Report 2021]
Art museums have the highest medium Energy Use Intensity (EUI) among cultural institutions, higher than zoos, aquariums, historic homes, science museums, etc. [ECPRS Culture Over Carbon Report 2023]
The three main emission areas for most art institutions are building energy, business travel, and art shipping. [Gallery Climate Coalition]
Museums are the single most trusted source of information amongst museum goers. [AAM Museums & Trust Study, 2021]
Arts and Culture make up 4.3% of US GDP, generating a record setting $1.10 trillion in 2022. [US Bureau of Economic Analysis]
A sea freight shipment can have a carbon footprint 96% lower than an air freight shipment. [Gallery Climate Coalition/Cadogan Tate Case Study]
Research shows that new Bizot Green Guidelines proposed for artwork climate conditions, which generally require significantly less energy intensive climate control efforts thanks to their expanded relative humidity and temperature ranges, are safe for most museum objects, including many classes of sensitive objects. [Getty Conservation Institute, Bizot Green Protocol]