CAMPAIGNS Museums for Climate Justice

National Museums NI

As a museum group we would acknowledge that we have been in the early stages of our work to tackle the climate crisis, with a lot still to learn.

Having listened to and learned from others, we realised that a key first step in this journey was to undertake a baseline carbon footprint assessment. We did this through a partnership with the Strategic Investment Board in Northern Ireland, who wanted to run a pilot exercise to see its potential for further roll-out within the public sector.

The methodology – agreed with the appointed consultants – sought to firstly quantify our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, before looking at target setting and opportunity identification for improvements, culminating in a series of recommendations around decarbonisation and wider sustainability opportunities.

By far the biggest challenge we found in the process was collating the data required to inform the baseline calculations, particularly within Scope 3 emissions, and going forward, improvement in this data gathering is one of our key actions. The exercise of understanding what we could influence over our emissions, and to what degree, was also important so we could direct our future efforts.

We found the whole experience incredibly educational and motivational and it has allowed us to align ourselves to a science-based target for carbon reduction, enabling an action plan to be developed so we now have a clear pathway to follow on our journey towards net zero.

More broadly, the analysis has informed our sustainability roadmap in line with the strategic outcomes set out in our corporate strategy, in particular that “our work contributes to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation”.

Our advice to anyone still considering how to respond to the climate crisis within their organisation is to carry out their own baseline audit, as it will provide you with clear evidence on which to base your future decarbonisation plans.

For more information, please contact Mark Irvine, Head of Operations, National Museums NI, via mark.irvine@nmni.com.