Dresden Charta for Sustainability in the Cultural Sector

Preamble

The world is facing enormous challenges due to the global climate crisis. The Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 highlight the social and-ecological crisis of our time. We need to redefine and practice responsibility for our own operational actions in terms of sustainability. For a future worth living, it is now essential to develop and consistently implement sustainability strategies in the ecological, economic and social fields. Cultural institutions play a key role as spaces for discourse and dialogue.

The central objective of this charta is to support a comprehensive sustainability transformation of the cultural sector and to influence society, politics and the economy with this.

Art and culture thrive on diversity and internationality. It is important to find ways of conscientiously handling artistic, scientific and production-related resources when considering the tensions between artistic freedom, the preservation of material and immaterial cultural assets, ecological and social responsibility. In this context, cultural institutions themselves should to be a role model and adopt and communicate sustainability measures.

It is the conviction of the signatories that the guidelines, principles and criteria of this charta can also serve as a guideline for other cultural institutions. They combine this with the call to all cultural institutions and actors in the fields of art culture to join the charta and to undertake their own sustainability efforts. Only together can we be powerful enough to tackle the challenges.

Five guiding principles

1. In accordance with the strategic plans of the municipality of Dresden, the Free State of Saxony and the Federal Republic of Germany, we commit ourselves to operational environmental, climate and resource protection.
2. We see ourselves as discursive actors of sustainability within urban society and serve as role models for others.
3. We coordinate our efforts for more sustainability with other cultural institutions as well as with the relevant public organizations. In doing so, we rely on the support of the respective legal entities and real estate administrations. We network with regional and supra-regional sustainability actors.
4. Education for Sustainable Development is a key to imparting values and competencies and empowering people to think ahead and act sustainably. That is why we develop interactions and participatory offerings and thus have an impact on society.
5. We adopt a holistic, corporate sustainability strategy that includes fields of action, targets, indicators and measures. We commit ourselves to comply with the following minimum standards:

Procurement of Materials and Resources

• We operate sustainably and increase the resource efficiency of our facility by reducing, reusing and recycling resources.
• We adopt and implement sustainable procurement criteria for print products and publications, Dispatch services, IT and media technology, hospitality and catering, and furniture and equipment.

Mobility

• We reduce unavoidable long-distance flights and compensate greenhouse gas emissions. For business trips, we prefer to use rail as a means of transport. For car trips and rental car use, we plan to give priority to e-mobility.
• We establish travel guidelines for guest performances and tours.
• We are committed to ensuring that our venues are accessible via public transport and create incentives for its use.

Building technology and energy

• We implement measures that increase the energy efficiency of our buildings and the technology used.
• We prefer to purchase green electricity and create opportunities for the production of renewable energy.
• We strive to use district heating and renewable thermal energy (e.g. solar thermal).
• We take advantage of opportunities to save water. We reduce our waste volume and rely on recycling management systems.

Employee development and satisfaction

• We involve employees in our sustainability process and encourage their commitment.
• We contribute to diversity and equal opportunities and counteract discrimination.
• We support employees through further education and training opportunities.
• We create a working environment with fair compensation, health and prevention measures, and work-life balance.

Communication

• We anchor sustainable thinking and action in the mission statement of our institution.
• We submit a public report every two years on the status and implementation of our sustainability strategy.
• We communicate continuously about sustainability issues and provide incentives for rethinking.

Demands

Sustainability efforts can only succeed in appropriate framework conditions: For sustainability activities, human and material resources for culture and sustainability must be deposited and financially supported by federal and state funding programs.

Legal entities and public financiers must define further framework conditions. This includes, among other things, the expansion of the performance indicators of the cultural enterprises (e.g. in the budget) to include sustainability indicators, the introduction of a climate budget for cultural enterprises, enabling the use of funds for sustainability measures within decided budgets, and the inclusion and consideration of cultural enterprises in the planning of municipal sustainability strategies.

Dresden, 23.03.2022