NEMO’s Secretary General Julia Pagel joined the meeting and introduced the other participants to the outcomes of NEMO’s European Museum Conference that recently took place in Lahti, Finland. The conference and… ACTION! Museums in the climate crisis gathered 300+ museum professionals from nearly 40 countries to explore how museums can act for the climate and a sustainable future.
Pagel highlighted a statement that was drafted during the conference and presented on the final day: “Our ethical and professional priority is to work with our communities for the future sustainability of the planet. Museums have a critical role to play in environmental sustainability and imagining our possible futures. Our commitment is that we will use our diverse collections and the stories that they hold to inspire people and facilitate change. We realise that it is no longer possible to preserve all heritage and collections in their current conditions. We are committed to re- evaluating our collections in terms of their social, historical, environmental, and educational impact.”
Members of the Expert Group on Cultural Heritage also got to hear about NEMO’s new interactive map that collects and shows how museums are acting on the climate crisis. NEMO encourages museums across Europe to participate in the crowdsource project by submitting their approaches, formats, and scopes via bit.ly/NEMO-Climate-Map-Submission
Finally, Pagel presented NEMO’s new research on museums and climate related policies. The report supports museums to take political action in the climate crisis and follows up on the findings from NEMO’s 2022 research Museums in the climate crisis.
