The Stage

Work together on climate change, says Hodge

Published Thursday 12 June 2008 at 12:25 by Lalayn Baluch

Theatres Trust Conference: Culture minister Margaret Hodge has called on the theatre industry to create a unified approach to tackling climate change, in a bid to influence audiences to be more environmentally friendly.

Speaking at the Theatres Trust’s Building Sustainable Theatres conference, Hodge urged the sector to work together to create a “shared sustainable development programme”, focusing on reducing its carbon footprint.

She said that venues also need to take direct action to decrease their energy consumption, use of transport, water and waste.

Hodge said: “The theatre sector may not be the largest contributor to emissions relative to other parts of society, but as a creative and innovative industry, I think you have the potential to be the driving force for change.

“Theatres are well placed to show audiences what is possible, to set a good example in the way buildings are run, to show people that living in a lower carbon lifestyle is something they can be energised and inspired by.”

The culture minister said that she would like to see a “mutual swap-shop” set up between organisations, so that they could share materials and resources, which would help cut down on waste.

She added that older buildings can still be energy efficient, despite the constraints of trying to preserve them, and referred to a study carried out by University College London, which revealed that modern structures where only 8% better at conserving energy than those built pre-1900.