European cultural networks achieve eco-certification for third year
We’re proud to share that Culture Action Europe has once again achieved certification under the SHIFT Culture eco-guidelines — marking our third consecutive year as part of this pioneering scheme for cultural networks across Europe.
This year, all 17 participating networks — including CAE — successfully met the guidelines’ requirements, a milestone that reflects a genuine, sustained commitment across our sector to doing things differently. From how we organise events to how we travel, communicate, and structure our day-to-day operations, SHIFT has continued to sharpen our thinking about the ecological footprint of network life.
What certification involved this year
As in previous cycles, we implemented the scheme’s mandatory guidelines alongside a selection of optional ones, took part in peer audits with fellow participating networks, and joined a shared online development workshop. Because CAE received an external audit from Vector42 in an earlier round, this year’s renewal was carried through self-review and peer auditing with our audit buddy — a process that keeps the scheme grounded in mutual accountability rather than top-down oversight.
That peer-driven spirit was very much alive at last autumn’s workshop, where participants swapped practical lessons from their own implementation experience and helped finalise a revised set of eco-guidelines that will take effect from 2026 onwards. It’s exactly the kind of collective learning that makes SHIFT distinctive: guidelines built by network organisations, for network organisations, with full awareness that our environmental impact — concentrated heavily in travel — looks different from that of a single institution or venue.
A transition year for the scheme
2026 marks the end of the pilot phase that has carried SHIFT Culture through its first three years. Culture for Climate Scotland, who co-created the guidelines and have coordinated the certification scheme since the beginning, are stepping back from that coordination role from 2027 onwards, opening the door for a new organisation to take the lead. The call for that next coordinator is open now, with applications due by 6 March.
As Caro Overy, Green Arts Manager at Culture for Climate Scotland, put it:
“We want to wholeheartedly congratulate the SHIFT Culture community for their achievements in implementing green practice, positioning themselves at the forefront of sustainable change in European cultural work over the past three years, and thank them for the opportunity to be part of it. We look forward to seeing what the next phase brings and wish all in the SHIFT Culture community great success.”
We couldn’t agree more — and we’re grateful for the role Culture for Climate Scotland has played in getting this scheme off the ground and sustaining it through its pilot years.
In good company
This year’s SHIFT-certified networks span the breadth of Europe’s cultural sector: AEC, Aerowaves, ASSITEJ International, CIRCOSTRADA, Culture Action Europe, ECHO, EDN, EJN, ELIA, EMC, ENCATC, IETM, Live DMA, NEMO, On the Move, Opera Europa, and REMA. Seeing this list grow and hold together year after year is a reminder that climate action in the cultural sector doesn’t have to happen in isolation — it can be built, network by network, into something genuinely collective.
As SHIFT Culture moves into its next chapter, we’re looking forward to seeing what a new coordinating organisation brings to the scheme, and to continuing to build sustainability into how we work as a network and as a part of how Culture Action Europe operates day to day.