How are museums reducing waste and working towards Net Zero?

This article was first published by Museum Next.

Bruno Maquart, Chairman and CEO of Universcience in France, explains to MuseumNext how a keen focus on reuse and recycling is helping to reduce carbon emissions and help his team to deliver on a Strategic Plan with sustainability at its heart.

As a public science museum, Universcience established a new Strategic Plan in 2021 to drive improvement and change over the course of a 5-year period. The plan includes 100 actions within a roadmap for the progress and success.

A key component of the plan was a concerted effort to move towards carbon neutrality, comprised of actions and activations across several fields, including HR, procurement, exhibition processes and, importantly, the drive to reduce waste through a circular economy.

Chairman and CEO of Universcience, Bruno Maquart, says, “As an institution of scientific culture, we have been sensitive from the beginning to the warnings launched by scientists and, in particular, those of the IPCC. Our mission is to carry the voice of scientists beyond the research centres, so that their messages reach the general public.

“Our museum staff actively work to develop content for our visitors that relates to the climate crisis. Beyond that, we strive to reduce our carbon footprint in all our activities so that we take part, on our own scale, in the collective transformations that are essential to build a more sustainable world.”