Our Theory of Change

Introduction

Art’s unquantifiable value is vital for the navigation of society's collective response to the climate crisis. However, there is a risk that this valuable role will be impeded if the art sector doesn’t also question its complicity in the climate crisis. In response to this, GCC aims to target the art world's environmental impacts. With urgency in mind, our mission is to cut the sector's CO2e emissions by 50% and achieve near-zero waste by 2030. 

When GCC first launched in 2020, bringing together the visual arts sector to commit to tangible climate action felt like an ambitious goal. Since then, we’ve seen over 1000 members join the coalition, commit to our mission, and through the provision of our resources and tools, start to take effective action to mitigate their environmental impacts. We are already seeing examples of organisations that have hit these targets and have witnessed a shift in the sector's general discourse and ways of working. What once seemed a challenge, is now already happening.

GCC’s vision is to create an environmentally responsible art world, and we are working to achieve this through knowledge sharing, community building, advocacy and campaigning. These activities aim to break down barriers to climate action and empower individuals and organisations to challenge and change the ways in which they work. These changes, if implemented at scale, will help reshape the sector's culture, shifting long-held habits and forging new attitudes and behaviours, thus creating positive tipping points for the sector, and beyond. Given the growth in GCC’s membership over 3 years of operations, there is a clear appetite for change, but the sector faces many challenges in achieving this. Since GCC’s launch, we’ve been working to understand the key barriers to making change across the sector. Breaking these barriers forms the core of our strategy, and this has shaped our activities.

While climate and waste are our primary focus (as these are the areas where the arts have the largest direct environmental impact and are areas over which we have control) we acknowledge the urgent and interrelated challenge of biodiversity decline. GCC will highlight and address these related sustainability issues, recognising that some may require distinct solutions separate from carbon and waste reduction. 

Approach: Breaking Barriers to Change

Our strategy centres on breaking barriers to climate action and in doing so fostering a paradigm shift within the sector.

Barrier 1: Lack of Knowledge

When GCC launched in 2020, there was a lack of data and knowledge to understand what the impacts of the sector were, and what steps could be taken to mitigate these. Therefore, since its inception, the charity's main focus has been building a foundation of knowledge and understanding about sector-related impacts and solutions. We do this by providing free, open-source resources and guidelines developed specifically for visual arts organisations with the input of environmental experts, as well as digital tools to help track, manage and reduce environmental impacts. 

Our guidelines explore the key areas of environmental impact for the sector. We aim to answer the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ - why and how organisations should take action in a particular area. This involves breaking down the core issues around sources of emissions or waste and suggesting effective actions that any organisation or individual can implement to mitigate these. 

Barrier 2: Scarcity of Time and Resources

We know that a key challenge in implementing change often comes down to limited time and resources across the sector. As a coalition, GCC emphasises the need for breaking out of silos and fostering a sense of community. We are proud to be made up of over 1000 members from over 40 countries across the world. We aim to connect members through chapter structures and our events programme fosters collaboration, allowing the sharing of experiences and pooling of resources. Our commitment to maintaining free membership, guidelines and tools eliminates financial barriers, reinforcing our commitment to barrier-free collective action.

Barrier 3: Lack of Motivation for Change/Buy-In from Leadership

Addressing the gap between knowledge provision and action, GCC utilises community building as a catalyst for motivation and buy-in from leadership. A major motivator for behaviour change is social influence. We therefore share our membership list publicly to foster a shared sense of responsibility. We also ask that members publish their carbon reports via the GCC website to create a culture of collegiality, accountability, and transparency. In 2023 we introduced the Active Membership initiative which further highlights members who can demonstrate that their organisation has implemented environmental sustainability best practice in line with GCC guidance. In celebrating those who are taking tangible action we aim to incentivise those who are yet to do so. This dual approach leverages social comparison to drive behaviour change across the sector.

Barrier 4: Wider Systemic Issues 

As the climate crisis and urgency for change continue to intensify GCC will shift our focus from individual behaviour change (e.g. opting for train travel over air travel), to creating system change (e.g. implementing a sustainable travel policy) within the sector. To GCC, this looks like supporting shifts in organisational purpose, policies, structures and goals, to breaking practical systemic barriers to sustainable operations, as was achieved via the Sustainable Shipping Campaign. Collaborating with key players, we aim to strategically target key leverage points to support the sector's transition towards a sustainable future, in response to our members' needs. This is an important part of our theory of change, to ensure a seamless and aligned shift towards environmental responsibility.

Future Plans

We know that there is a long way to go, and in order to remain ambitious, we are willing to step up the pace to reach our targets. As we approach 2030, GCC recognises the need to intensify efforts and shift towards a strategy focused on systems change, and we will continue to define this in response to membership needs.

Art's transformative potential in society means that the visual arts sector must address the climate crisis with credibility, by embodying the changes we seek to create a livable future for all. We believe that, collaboratively, we can fulfil the sector's climate responsibilities, creating a ripple effect that has the potential to extend to other sections of society, helping to scale and support sustainable solutions during this crucial decade, and beyond.