Europa Nostra, the Institute’s partner in the 7 Most Endangered programme, recently became the co-chair of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN) for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The announcement took place during the CHN 2021 General Assembly held in the framework of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) which took place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.

As Regional co-chair of the CHN, Europa Nostra will contribute to further unleash the potential of culture and heritage in tackling climate change.

Europa Nostra will mobilise its wide network – including the European Heritage Alliance – expertise and advocacy skills to further strengthen and enlarge the outreach and impact of the Climate Heritage Network in Europe and globally.

Created in 2019, the Climate Heritage Network, of which Europa Nostra is a founding member, is a global network of arts, culture and heritage organisations committed to aiding their communities in tackling climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.

In the past couple of years, Europa Nostra has been active in mobilising the heritage ecosystem for climate action and we aim to further build and capitalise on this experience.

Europa Nostra partnered with the Climate Heritage Network, ICOMOS and the EIB Institute to produce the European Cultural Heritage Green Paper in March 2021, which scoped the ways cultural heritage can contribute to the ambitions of the European Green Deal in areas like mobility, circular economy, energy, food and agriculture and buildings.

Europa Nostra and the EIB Institute are partners of the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus initiative and the Institute supports the Venice Call to Action: “For a New European Renaissance”, which calls on European leaders and stakeholders to further stress the relevance of culture-based climate action.