With an eye on the annual UN Climate Change conference ‘COP 28’, coming up in Dubai (UAE) at the end of the month, the UK Museum Sector took the opportunity to hold their own climate summit. The UK Museum COP was held at the Tate Modern, where representatives from 68 UK Museums and related parties met to talk about climate change and biodiversity issues and, in particular, to develop a sector-wide strategy to reduce carbon emissions. A joint statement noted both an ambition to minimise the carbon footprint of museums, and crucially, an ethical obligation to speak out on the issue more broadly.
In many ways, this development reflects a broader engagement with climate change issues within the museum sector – and not before time! In many ways, COP26, which was held in the UK, has led to a surge in museum engagement with climate change issues, especially with such initiatives as Museums for Climate Action. Just as some people might think that holding the UN’s COP28 in oil-rich Dubai might be seen as an exercise in greenwashing, however, the museum sector has often struggled to shake off accusations of hypocrisy. A newspaper article about the UK Museum COP, for instance, noted that the British Museum did not take part in the Museum COP Summit, despite it recently announcing that had ended its sponsorship deal with BP after 27 years. What took it so long?! I haven’t been able to find a full list of attendees, so I also don’t know if any representatives of the Science Museum were present. In early 2024, the Science Museum will be opening their new Energy Revolution Gallery, which “will explore the latest climate science and the energy revolution needed to cut global dependence on fossil fuels and achieve the Paris targets to limit global warming to around 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels”. With a tagline like that, you would think that the Science Museum should be leading the discussion – except that the full title of their new Gallery is Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery, and Adani is a multibillion dollar energy and transport conglomerate, with a considerable interest in coal mining (e.g. see here and here). As well as producing a lot of carbon dioxide, Adani has also generated a great deal of protest over its operations, and its connection with the Science Museum.
What is it with museums and the carbon economy?!
Just as colonialism is central in understanding the modern museum, one could also trace an indelible connection between museum development and the carbon economy. While much critical research in recent years has connected the development of the modern museum to imperialism and coloniality, however, there seems to be comparatively less parallel critical work on the link between museums and the carbon economy. This is particularly ironic considering how many museums and heritage sites, openly celebrate the expansion of the carbon economy. Indeed, sites such as Ironbridge in Shropshire (UK), or the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape have earned UNESCO World Heritage Status based on their claims to be the ‘birthplace of the industrial revolution’ (Ironbridge), and a ‘testimony to the contribution (of Cornwall and West Devon to) the mining world at large’. These museums and sites celebrate the triumph of humanity’s power to alter the world; they are central sites of Anthropocene ‘glory’. I have written a short blog on the subject before, and have recently published a paper in the journal Museum Worlds to develop my thinking further. Drawing on the work of Anders Malm and others, I have come to the conclusion that, like anthropogenic climate change more broadly, it is coloniality that really lies at the heart of the issue.
Just as museums have a responsibility to respond to the inequalities and injustices of colonialism, therefore, I hope that the concern across the museum sector for climate change and biodiversity issues, as witnessed at the UK Museums COP last week, is taken seriously, and leads to real change, and will run a little deeper than a PR exercise and some vegetarian choices in the café.
Geographies of Heritage 