LUX Scotland is committed to sustainability, in terms of society and the environment. We have banked with an ethical company since our inception and we have an Ethical Funding Policy that promotes sustainability and environmental consciousness by excluding funds from companies, organisations and regimes that harm the environment, including fossil fuels and animal welfare.
We have a small, shared working space within the CCA, an organisation that has prioritised sustainability for many years, and we support CCA to make the necessary changes to reduce our combined carbon footprint. We are a paper-free office and recycle wherever we can. The team walk, cycle or take public transport to access the office and we use public transport wherever possible to travel to events around Scotland.
In 2022 we commissioned a sustainability report with support from the University of Glasgow’s ‘Find a Solution’ programme which found that our carbon footprint for 2021/22 was 1396 kg CO2e. 75% of this was due to business travel, with almost 60% due to one return short haul flight.
Our online programme provides a low carbon alternative to in-person events and reduces the need for audience and staff travel. Although this digital activity makes a relatively small contribution to our total emissions, we constantly seek to reduce its carbon footprint and have made a number of improvements over recent years including ensuring good practice across online storage and digital communications. In 2022 we moved our website to a green host and it now uses just 25 kg CO2e per year.
We are members of the Green Arts Initiative and have committed to improving our environmental efforts each year. Following Creative Carbon Scotland’s assembly (Springboard), which took place in 2023 we joined the cohort for Visual Arts, Craft and Design that includes a range of small organisations across Scotland. We meet every six weeks and work together to address our shared goals for carbon reduction and support one another to overcome any potential barriers. We are also part of the CCA’s Green Team, which meets bi-monthly to support tenants to meet their respective environmental goals and to encourage change within our shared space.