• From Spring 2023, 'Active Membership' has been awarded to GCC members who can demonstrate that their organisation has implemented environmental sustainability best practice in line with GCC guidance, via three simple criteria:

    1. Completed a CO2e report or audit for a 12 month period*

    2. Established and maintained a Green Team.

    3. Published an environmental responsibility statement.

    *Ideally this should be a report from 2019 or 2021, which will then act as your baseline. If this isn’t possible, or you’ve already submitted data for those years, please submit a report from 2022 or 2023.  (Further details about criteria and how to fulfil them are outlined here.)

     

    Qualifying members receive a badge for use across their platforms and are celebrated on the GCC members list. These members qualify for additional benefits and discounts from carefully selected partner organisations.

     

    In three years, GCC membership has grown to 900 plus,  including institutions, artists, art fairs, auction houses and commercial galleries as well as a wide range of individual professionals from more than 40 countries. Upon registration, all members agree to take urgent and effective action as part of the Coalition Commitments. However, simply signing up to the coalition does not guarantee that the necessary actions are then taken.

     

    The ‘Active Member’ initiative has been introduced to distinguish those who have taken action, as well as incentivising those yet to do so.

  • Active Membership Details

    Active Membership will be awarded to organisations who can demonstrate they have:

    1. Completed a CO2e report or audit for a 12 month period, and set reduction targets accordingly, either via GCC’s free carbon calculator or through a reputable external auditor. This data does not need to be publicly published - although this is encouraged - but members are required to share their results with GCC, which will remain confidential.

    2. Established and maintained a Green Team (or for small organisations, a Green Ambassador) that meets regularly, and is responsible for implementing best practice within their organisation and collecting and analysing data. Advice on how to evidence this can be found in the Active Membership Support Pack.

    3. Published an environmental responsibility statement outlining their commitment to action. This should be accessible via member websites. Please provide a link to the webpage. A template statement can be found in the Active Membership Support Pack

    GCC acknowledges that for independent freelancers or small teams these criteria may be difficult to evidence. Freelancers, independent workers and small teams who are GCC members and feel they have taken adequate steps towards environmental responsibility but are not currently able to fulfil this criteria should contact the GCC Team, who may use their discretion to award Active Membership. However, exceptions will only be made for individual professionals or teams of three or less, and for those that can demonstrate a genuine commitment.

  • Active Member Badge

    As part of the initiative, GCC provides qualifying members with a badge to recognise and celebrate the action that they have taken. The badge may be used on member websites, social media, email footers etc. The badges are year-stamped and members will have to re-submit annually if they would like to retain the latest Active designation. The Active Member badge has replaced the previous Carbon Reporting badge.

     

    The badge acknowledges positive action taken. It is not a certification of sustainability.

  • Benefits & Partnerships

    As a further incentive for members to achieve active status, GCC has been negotiating benefits and discounts with carefully considered partners who can offer products and services inline with principles of sustainability, or help members fulfil their reduction targets. 

     

    GCC is excited to announce the following benefits & discounts for qualifying members:

     

    The Art Newspaper
    25% discount on the annual price of a digital subscription (via their app)

     

    Spongy Bags
    20% discount on orders of over 20

     

    Rokbox
    10% discount on all cases and hardware, or a 20% discount on volume purchases (over 5 cases) of the Lite case

     

    This is a rolling initiative and if you would like to offer discounts and benefits for your organisation’s products and services, please contact info@galleryclimatecoalition.org.

  • Disclaimer: The Active Member designation acknowledges those who are actively trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste. It is not a verification of sustainability.

     

    In some circumstances, GCC may also require members to take specific further actions in order to qualify as an Active Member. For example, if GCC becomes aware of a member undertaking any external activities that GCC considers to seriously undermine its commitment to environmental responsibility (such as a promotional partnership with a fossil fuel company or other highly polluting industry), GCC may ask that member to stop those activities before being classified as an active member. These kinds of issues will be considered on a case by case basis, in consultation with environmental advisors.

     

    GCC reserves the right to challenge submitted data and ask for clarification if the information provided is not substantial enough. Active members will be required to re-submit annually in order to qualify. However, the defining criteria may develop and be expanded in the future. GCC does not have the capacity to verify all voluntarily submitted evidence and / or vet each member's activities—it trusts that members complete the work truthfully and in good faith.

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