Museums and the Climate Crisis: A Call for Action

The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat, it is a lived reality. Fires, floods, and rising temperatures are not only reshaping landscapes but also forcing a reckoning across every sector, including the cultural world. Museums, long seen as guardians of the past, now face a defining question: What is our role in shaping the future? For institutions committed to education, stewardship, and public service, climate inaction is not an option. Museums must evolve from observers to agents of change. They must become places where sustainability is practiced, taught, and imagined, urgently and creatively.

From Neutrality to Necessity

Historically, many museums have adopted a position of neutrality in the face of political or environmental turmoil. Today, silence is a statement. Cultural institutions that fail to address the climate emergency risk becoming irrelevant to a generation demanding accountability and action.

• The shift is clear: museums are not only permitted to speak out, they are expected to. Whether preserving endangered knowledge, exposing extractive histories, or mobilizing community action, museums are uniquely positioned to inspire climate literacy and civic engagement.

Rethinking the Museum Footprint

Museums must first look inward. Buildings, exhibitions, and operations all have environmental costs. The transition to a climate-conscious institution begins with measuring and reducing those impacts. 

• Green Infrastructure: Retrofitting HVAC systems, using renewable energy, and sourcing sustainable materials for exhibitions and storage are critical steps. Passive design and energy-efficient lighting can dramatically cut emissions while preserving collections.

• Sustainable Exhibitions: Modular displays, recyclable materials, and virtual installation previews can reduce waste and transport costs. Curators are rethinking the lifecycle of exhibitions, from conception to deinstallation.

• Digital Balance: While digital engagement expands reach, it also has an environmental cost. Institutions must weigh server use, streaming energy, and data storage with green IT strategies that reduce impact.

Climate in the Collection

What stories are museums telling about the environment? And whose voices are being heard? Museums must go beyond displaying natural history. They must highlight the human, social, and political dimensions of climate change from indigenous stewardship and youth activism to the disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. Curators can frame climate as a cultural issue, not just a scientific one. Exhibits can interrogate colonial resource extraction, amplify ecological art, or explore climate futures through speculative design. This approach encourages emotional resonance and cross-disciplinary understanding.

Empowering the Public

Climate action must extend beyond exhibitions. Museums are uniquely equipped to foster dialogue, reflection, and community-driven response.

• Workshops and Town Halls: Hosting forums on local climate adaptation, food justice, or green technology connects global issues to lived experiences.

• Youth Programs: Climate education rooted in creativity and critical thinking empowers the next generation to take action and demand systemic change.

• Partnerships: Collaborating with scientists, artists, activists, and urban planners brings diverse perspectives into the museum and takes museum knowledge out into the world.

By creating space for shared problem-solving, museums become hubs of resilience.

Leadership in a Time of Emergency

This is a leadership moment. Directors, curators, and educators must embrace a bold vision of cultural responsibility. Institutions must set targets, publish progress, and embed sustainability into governance structures. Just as museums once pioneered accessibility, they can now pioneer climate ethics by divesting from fossil fuels, greening their supply chains, and centering climate justice in their mission. Climate is not a theme. It is a lens through which every decision must be viewed.

Conclusion: Stewardship Reimagined

The museum of the future is not only a place of preservation. It is a place of regeneration. It does not merely look back at what has been lost, it looks forward to what can still be saved. In the Living Museum of tomorrow, climate action is not a side initiative. It is core to the institution’s identity. It informs how we build, what we collect, how we teach, and who we serve. Museums can help humanity imagine and build a more sustainable future. But the time to act is now.