Our global climate crisis requires urgent attention. 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 we are seeing the impacts each day of related crises, including collapsing biodiversity, increasing air pollution and plastic contamination in our rivers and oceans.
Like most industries, the art world relies on activities that have environmental consequences, and we have a collective obligation to minimise these impacts.
At Frieze, we believe that art is vital to communities and culture. Our aim is to galvanise engagement with art and strengthen the global creative community. In line with this aim, we are taking action both within our organization and through our unique position to set a positive example that encourages others to act and help shift public debate.
As an organisation, we use third-party auditors to track our environmental impact and generate actions to reduce our environmental impact of our fairs. In 2023, we will extend this process so that every part of our business is considered in these audits. As a result, we will have a full overview of our environmental impacts and a company-wide strategy to minimise them.
We have committed to minimise our impacts with the following actions to date:
- Set three strategic aims:
1. Minimise Frieze’s environmental footprint
2. Invest in projects that remove carbon and / or restore natural habitats
3. Use our platform to drive positive change and encourage best practice
- Joined the Gallery Climate Coalition, and pledged to at least halve our direct carbon emissions and move to near zero waste practices by 2030
- Engaged third-party auditors to calculate the environmental impact of our fairs and provide recommendations on the steps we can take to progress towards our targets
- Established a Green Team, with representatives from different parts of the organisation, that meets regularly to develop strategy, goals, and tracks our progress against targets
- Committed to donating £100,000 annually to support frontline climate solutions around the world. Three of the projects selected so far have been recommended by the Gallery Climate Coalition. The projects we support are also promoted to our fair audiences and they too can donate
- Committed to reducing our emissions generated through international travel as well as promoting best practice to our participants, visitors and partners
- Within our operations, we have made many changes to respond to the environmental challenge. Actions so far include:
o Switched to Green Diesel to power our events in temporary structures
o Added batteries to our power mix to reduce reliance on fuel for any events in temporary structures
o Moved to 100% LED lighting (in venues where we provide lighting)
o Ensured that key parts of the event build are re-used, including all elements of the tent structure, scaffolding, electric cabling, gallery walls and lights
o Commissioned a waste audit with the Gallery Climate Coalition to identify improvement areas for our roadmap to reach near zero waste practices by 2030
o Provided environmental guidance to galleries, partners and vendors on how they can minimise their environmental footprint when attending our events
o Advocated for the use of consolidated shipping and sustainable shipping methods and collaborated with Barder – a resource sharing and material reuse tool for the arts – to reduce waste and promote circular material reuse
o Provided space at our events to some of the most ambitious environmental organisations, including the Gallery Climate Coalition and Client Earth, that are driving change
We recognize there is more we can do, and we will continue to iterate our environmental commitments and update this statement as we gain greater understanding of our impact and the further actions that we need to take to reach our targets. We also welcome feedback from our community.
We are committed to learning and doing more.