Royal Opera House Environmental Policy
It is the ambition of the Royal Ballet and Opera to be a leader in environmental sustainability and to act as a catalyst for positive change in this field.
The climate crisis is the most important issues facing the globe today. Recognising our international reach and leadership role within the UK arts sector, we embrace our responsibility and obligation to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. It is the ambition of the Royal Ballet and Opera to be a leader in environmental sustainability and to act as a catalyst for positive change in our industry.
The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera and the Orchestra of the Royal Ballet and Opera bring together the world’s most extraordinary ballet and opera artists. Our theatres are in Covent Garden, but our work is experienced across the UK and globally through touring, cinema broadcasts, radio and TV and streaming online. Our Learning and Participation programme presents affordable performances for families, schools, students and community and health groups, and we work with schools and partners across the country to inspire the audiences and performers of the future.
All our activities have an impact on the environment, and we plan to reduce these as far as possible by aiming for advanced certification of the Theatre Green Book by 2035/36 season. We will also continue to work with Theatre Green Book to support its progress and uptake by the cultural sector, helping to ensure its best practice status.
The Theatre Green Book aims to make theatres more sustainable by bringing a common standard for practitioners. It has four levels of achievement; preliminary, basic, intermediate and advanced and includes guidance for productions, front and back of house operations and managing buildings. Royal Ballet and Opera is proud to have achieved preliminary and basic certification already and we aim to comply with intermediate by 2029/30 season and advanced by 2035/36 season. This assumes that technical advances are made in certain areas where more sustainable options are not currently available.
Our commitment to achieving net zero for scopes 1 and 2 by 2035 remains in place and is on track. We are developing a Capital Masterplan which provides for replacement of our major plant that will enable us to decarbonise our buildings and developer our scopes 1 and 2 targets on time. Additionally, we have chosen to commit to the Theatre Green Book standards as this includes broader ethical considerations and a more rounded approach to improving our environmental impact, particularly in relation to scope 3. It is a publicly available framework, so our progress is transparent and measurable. We hope that our commitment will encourage others to follow this path so that the performing arts sector moves towards environmental sustainability together.
Our Environmental Strategy focuses on the following key areas:
1. Our buildings
We operate across three sites in Covent Garden, Thurrock and Aberdare. Over the last decade we have been improving energy and waste management across our estate. Building on our progress to date, we are committed to:
- Maintaining an Estates Plan that includes upgrades to our infrastructure and equipment, utilising technology to drive down our carbon emissions.
- Monitoring our energy and water consumption to enable us to target reduction initiatives in a timely way and effectively.
- Promoting the waste hierarchy to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle waste and ensure zero waste is sent to landfill.
- Monitoring waste production and recycling rates, ensuring the right facilities are available for our staff and visitors.
- Engaging and supporting our staff to enable energy, waste and water reductions within their areas of influence.
2. Our productions
Our productions have an impact on the environment across their lifecycle, from their creation and performance to the transportation and storage of sets and costumes. We are committed to:
- Establishing a framework for reducing the environmental impact of our productions in partnership with the wider cultural sector.
- Encouraging consideration of sustainable practices during concept and design stages
- Promoting efficient use of materials and exploring more sustainable and ethical options to implement.
- Minimising our use of resources including energy, water and raw materials by working closely with our suppliers, designers and staff.
- Avoiding unnecessary use of hazardous materials and taking responsible steps to prevent pollution.
3. Our operations
Our main operational activities include on site catering, retail, events, fundraising, digital operations as well as all the administrative functions required to run a large organisation. We are committed to:
- Evaluating the environmental policies of our contractors and working with them to drive down emissions, along with specifying and monitoring sustainability requirements for new contractors through the procurement process.
- Improving the environmental sustainability of our catering offering focusing on food sourcing and minimising packaging, particularly single-use plastics.
- Reviewing our retail offering and expanding our range to organic, ethically certified, reusable or recycled products.
- Reviewing our travel policy and practises to ensure that we can measure and reduce emissions from business travel.
- Reviewing our digital structures, policies and technology to reduce their environmental impact
4. Our people
We are committed to working with our staff, artists, audiences and wider stakeholders to enable and inspire environmental action. We will:
- Enable and support our staff to take action providing training and other resources where possible.
- Engage with our contractors, creative teams, freelancers, volunteers and visitors to communicate our sustainability ambitions
- Communicate with our audiences and visitors about our plans, progress and how they can make sustainable choices when visiting us.
- Encourage, enable and participate in public discussions concerning environmental issues.
- Be transparent about our efforts and share our knowledge, encouraging the exchange of ideas with stakeholders, suppliers and audiences.
It is our belief that reducing our environmental impact will not only have a positive effect on the environment but will also make our operations more efficient and economical and will enhance our organisational resilience in the long term.
We will monitor and report on our progress each year. This policy is reviewed on an annual basis, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and organisational priorities.
Alex Beard
Last updated: February 2025
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales (Company number 480523) Charity Registered (Number 211775)