To keep 1.5°C alive and get climate action back on track, we must engage with the cultural dimensions of the climate crisis: The Institute is joining the Climate Heritage Network to unlock the power of arts, culture and heritage to help people imagine and realise low carbon, just, climate resilient futures!

The Institute is active in supporting cultural heritage with the 7 Most Endangered Programme with Europa Nostra.

The Climate Heritage Network was launched in October 2019 in Edinburgh, UK, by organisations from around the world seeking to mobilise art, culture and heritage for climate action.

Founding members shared a common concern that the power of culture to drive transformative climate action was not being fully realized and a recognition that business-as-usual leads to an ever-warming globe with catastrophic consequences for the planet, its peoples, and their cultures and heritage.

The CHN aims to unlock culture’s potential by connecting cultural voices to each other and to partners across diverse artistic mediums, regional scales, and economic sectors. Its members include government bodies from the national, regional and local levels; universities and research organisations; cultural institutions; NGOs and civil society; and businesses, artists, and design professionals.

In November at the 2022 UN Climate Conference, COP27, the parties to the UN Climate Convention acknowledged the critical linkages between culture, heritage and climate change by including these themes in decisions they took and programs they launched addressing loss and damage, climate adaptation, and climate action in cities and urban areas. 2023 will see CHN members working to build on these successes.