Engaging with the environmental challenges facing our future is one of our primary aims and values of our strategic plan – ‘The RMG Plan 2022-2026 – Building Reach, Reputation and Resilience’. To support this, RMG aims to:
- Raise the level of consciousness around climate change and sustainable living.
- Increase the environmental sustainability of our sites and buildings.
- Ensure our ways of working meet our values around sustainability, integrating our approach to human impact on climate change through all our activities; Be an advocate for change in the museum sector
In addition to these high-level goals, the museum will:
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Recognise our sustainability obligations to our staff, visitors, communities, stakeholders and other interested parties, and to present and succeeding generations.
- Take a leading role in defining sustainability best practice. We will set our own appropriate and demanding standards where none exist.
- Identify and implement the requirements of all relevant sustainability legislation, regulations and other compliance obligations. Where possible, we will exceed the minimum requirements.
- Raise the sustainability awareness of our staff, visitors, communities and stakeholders by promoting the concept of sustainable development and by openly recognising and promoting a better understanding of the on-going need to move towards a more sustainable future.
- Monitor our use of natural resources, both non-renewable and renewable, and maximise the efficiency and effectiveness with which they are used, with a view to minimising environmental impacts.
- Proactively prevent pollution to land, air and water as a consequence of our activities.
- Foster and promote research and education in sustainability – for visitors, within our communities and via conferences, publications, programmes and collaborative work.
- Provide appropriate sustainability training and development for our staff and encourage them to apply sound sustainability practices at work, at home and within the wider community.
- Develop a Sustainability Strategy and Sustainability Management System aligned to the requirements of ISO 14001 to deliver the aims of this policy.
- Formulate, publish, implement and monitor sustainability objectives, and periodically review their effectiveness.
This Sustainability Policy is applicable to all controllable activities across all Royal Museum Greenwich sites and will be reviewed annually to ensure its continued relevance, applicability and effectiveness.
RMG takes a whole-building approach to energy management, applying the below hierarchy:
- Fabric First – improve our building fabric to reduce energy demand.
- Challenge Standards – review internal and external requirements for environmental conditions.
- Passive Controls – minimise active cooling or heating; utilise natural light where possible.
- Efficient Systems – improve the efficiency of existing HVAC and lighting systems.
- On-Site Renewables – install renewable technologies on-site, where possible.
- Off-Site Renewables – create partnerships for off-site renewable energy supply.
Our Baseline:
Our energy consumption baseline is 2018/19 – the first full year following completion of the Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre and the Endeavour Galleries. Energy consumption and emissions targets are relative to this period.
Short-Term Goals (12-18 months)
- Develop our energy management processes as part of a sustainability management system.
- Communicate energy policies, practices and performance internally and externally.
- Systematically identify and implement energy efficiency measures.
Medium-Term Goals (1-5 years)
- Exceed the Greening Government Commitment for reducing carbon emissions from energy.
- Develop an estate-wide decarbonisation strategy.
- Decarbonise heating at Royal Observatory Greenwich and Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre.
- Increase on-site renewable electricity generation, where possible.
- Purchase electricity from REGO-verified renewable sources.
Long-Term Goals (5+ years)
- Decarbonise heating at National Maritime Museum and Brass Foundry.
- Be net zero for Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2040
This document supports our Sustainability Policy Statement, is applicable to all controllable activities across all Royal Museum Greenwich sites and will be reviewed annually.