Sustainability: The ETC Theatre Green Book

By Lisa Burger
Paddy Dillon

SUMMARY

A step-by-step, easy-to-use tool to guide European Theatres towards net zero emissions across their productions, buildings and operations. It is accompanied by a new self-certification label to help European Theatres measure - and communicate about - this transformation. The ETC Theatre Green Book is the result of a collaboration between ETC, Renew Culture and the ‘Theatre Green Book’ initiative.

Green Book Foreword

Theatre has begun a journey.

It’s a journey we must all make – a transition to a world where we live, work, travel, eat and make art without harming the planet we live on. To use Gro Harlem Brundtland’s definition of sustainability:

to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

We need to make this transition urgently. The climate emergency is a crisis, and a crisis is a problem that demands attention now – not next year or the year after. Many theatres have laid credible plans to achieve net zero by 2030.

The good news is that we’re already well on the way. Since the Theatre Green Book came out in 2021, networks all over the world, encompassing all varieties of theatre, opera and dance, have joined this collective initiative. We’re learning, together, to make theatre sustainable. We’re learning how to share that progress with our partners and audiences.

Theatre’s core strengths are innovation, courage and creative thinking. They’ve all fed into this second edition of the Theatre Green Book. With their help, we can make the journey to net zero. We can make theatre today, without compromising the dreams of future theatre-makers.