The Science Museum Group has announced its target to achieve Net Zero by 2033.
Building on the Group’s Sustainability Policy, it has signed up to the Science-based Target Initiative to tackle both its direct emissions and those in its supply chain.
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director, said: “As we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity. As well as engaging our audiences with this grave threat, we need to do more to lessen our own environmental impact, which is why we’re today committing to achieving net zero by 2033. This extraordinary year has shown the relevance of science to all our lives so, as we look towards reopening our museums in mid May, we can’t wait to inspire our audiences once again with the ideas and innovations that continue to shape our world, and find solutions for a better future.”
At the National Collections Centre in Wiltshire, construction is now complete of an energy-efficient building, a publicly-accessible collection management facility which will become home to more than 300,000 objects from the Science Museum Group Collection. Ongoing tree-planting will add to the site’s 30 hectares of native woodlands, with hydrogen and electric cars (and bicycles) used by colleagues to navigate the 545-acre site, which also hosts one of the UK’s largest solar farms.
In York, the new Central Hall – at the heart of the £55m Vision 2025 transformation – will dramatically reduce reliance on concrete and steel by creating a timber frame structure. A combination of passive design principles and active systems, including the use of recycled copper, will reduce the National Railway Museum’s operational carbon footprint by 80 per cent.
In Manchester, the Science and Industry Museum has been awarded £4.3m by the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to transform the museum’s environmental sustainability and place zero carbon technology at the heart of the museum’s visitor experience. The funding will enable an annual reduction in CO2 emissions for the museum of 515 tonnes (equivalent to the average C02 emissions of over 30 UK homes per year) on completion of the works, improving every year as the electricity grid decarbonises through increased zero carbon generation.
More information about the Science Museum Group and sustainability is available here.
