Projektbeschreibung
Adapting to climate change
According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming is on course to exceed the 1.5°C limit in the coming years if the world cannot drastically reduce its CO2 emissions. In view of the realisation that climate change cannot be entirely halted, it is important to simultaneously develop strategies to mitigate the climatic conditions facing us in the future.
This applies to Germany’s cultural sector, as well, which like other areas of society is increasingly feeling the impact of a changing climate. Heavy downpours and flooding have occasionally caused severe damage to museums and artworks in recent years. Extreme heat and droughts put a strain on both visitors and collections alike and acutely threaten the biosystems of historic gardens and castle grounds. The task of mitigating such climate risks has become a matter of growing urgency for Germany’s cultural institutions.
Fortunately, more and more cultural institutions have already begun addressing the impact of climate change in their regions and/or are managing their properties in more environmentally conscious ways. With confidence, ingenuity and civic spirit, these first institutions are searching for positive ways to handle the effects of the climate crisis. Some of them are developing individual measures or experimenting with innovative ideas for the future – such as planting leafy canopies which provide shade and reduce the amount of solar radiation in exhibition rooms. Other institutions want to serve their communities by offering refuge inside their air-conditioned rooms during intense heatwaves.
New concepts for the future
The German Federal Cultural Foundation will invite up to 20 cultural institutions to participate in a one-year learning and consultation process, conducted in cooperation by a team of experienced experts. Together they will carry out on-site assessments of the climate risks that are impacting or will likely impact them in the future. On the basis of these analyses, they will identify concrete options for taking action, whereby nature-based solutions (such as greening roof surfaces) will be prioritised. The project will conclude with a compilation of these future-oriented concepts to help the participating cultural institutions bolster their ability to adapt to the climate crisis.
International networking and knowledge transfer
As part of the pilot project, the Federal Cultural Foundation will integrate international perspectives and enlist the support of numerous scientific partners. The aim is to strengthen interdisciplinary knowledge transfer between cultural, monument preservation, environmental technological, cultural management and research sectors. Open-access documentation and an event series will serve to bundle the resulting model concepts and make them publicly visible so that other cultural institutions can benefit from their expertise.
This is one of multiple projects initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation in keeping with its longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability in the cultural sector – from operational innovations to new aesthetics. The Foundation has already generated numerous impulses in this field, most recently with its pilot project “Carbon Footprinting in Cultural Institutions” (2020/21) and the programme “Zero – Climate-Neutral Artistic and Cultural Projects” (since 2022).
Participating institutions
- Burg Hülshoff – Center for Literature, Havixbeck (NRW)
- Castles and Gardens of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Thuringia)
- Dresden Municipal Libraries (Saxony)
- Frieda 23 Rostock Art and Media Centre (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
- Garden Realm of the Dessau-Wörlitz Foundation (Saxony-Anhalt)
- German Hygiene Museum Dresden (Saxony)
- Gropius Bau (Berlin)
- Kulturzentrum TUFA Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate)
- Kunstverein Braunschweig (Lower Saxony)
- Memorial Museum Ravensbrück (Brandenburg)
- Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe (Hamburg)
- Musik- und Kongresshalle Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein)
- Nationaltheater Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg)
- Parktheater Iserlohn (NRW)
- Schauburg München (Bavaria)
- Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt (Hesse)
- Saarbrücken Municipal Library (Saarland)
- Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg)
- Stadttheater Bremerhaven (Bremen)
- WUK Theater Quartier Halle (Saxony-Anhalt)