Roles & Responsibilities

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Practical guide Roles & Responsibilities What is the role of the board in climate change?

What is the role of the board in climate change?

The emergency around climate change affects all organisations and boards in the cultural sector have a responsibility to ensure that their organisations are taking this responsibility seriously, playing their role and working in an environmentally-friendly way in all they do.

Arts Council England has made the environment one of its four Investment Principles and is working with Julie’s Bicycle to ensure proper support is available in this area and with specific advice to board champions of this principle.
The new 2026 Charities SORP (accounting & reporting rules for charities) introduces new mandatory ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting requirements for large charities but it also encourages smaller charities to say how they are managing ESG matters in a new “Sustainability” section of their Trustees’ Annual Report to which all the trustees are expected to contribute, not just the chair.
Stemming from their core duties to promote the organisation’s success/charitable purpose, a board should be considering and recording both climate-related risks and opportunities.

Related resources

Website

SORP 2026

Why impact and sustainability reporting matters

Guidance | Julie's Bicycle

Culture: The Missing Link to Climate Action Summary Report

25 October 2021

Blog post | Debbie Bell

What can cultural boards learn from climate activism?

Arts Professional article on embedding sustainability, July 2023.

Guidance | Charities Aid Foundation and ICAEW

What’s on the horizon for charity trustees?

A report from the Charities Aid Foundation and ICAEW, published in early 2022. This shares the challenges and opportunities facing trustees in the year ahead. The report discusses the six key areas they identify: financial resilience, collaboration, diversity, support and training, digital and climate change.