Carbon accounting
In the network, Alistair Alexander presented the new Carbon Calculator conceived by the Gallery Climate Coalition. It now also takes emissions into account that arise from our work on computers and on the internet. The Carbon Calculator is intended for small galleries, but also for artists who do not necessarily create digital art or cultural offerings.
In 2021, the German Federal Cultural Foundation launched a pilot project on climate accounting in cultural institutions. A selection of CO2 calculators for the cultural sector can be found on the website of the German Museums Association. In addition, downloads for the CO2 culture standard and the CO2 culture calculator (as of 2024) and an accompanying user guide are provided, which were developed by experts on behalf of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.
IT services and their emissions count as scope 3 emissions, which means that institutions are not obligated to keep track of them. Scope 3 emissions stem from upstream or downstream emission sources, cannot be quantified and for the most part escape institutional control. Still, scope 3 emissions comprise a large part of the total emissions of an institution or organisation, in some cases more than 90 per cent.[1]
Term: Scope: A range for the categorisation of emissions when generating a → corporate carbon footprint. Following the → Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a distinction is made between scope 1 (direct emissions), scope 2 (energy-related indirect emissions) and scope 3 (other indirect emissions). These scopes are in turn divided into several categories.[2]
(Note: Translated from the original German.)
With respect to areas beyond the power consumption in one’s own organisation, one has to rely on the data and information disclosed by providers. However, they often follow different standards and formats and it is unclear how the data is obtained. The Green Web Foundation published a document in 2023 titled "Reference and guide: data sources for calculating digital emissions”, which lists a number of helpful resources and tools for a decarbonised internet. For instance, the region where the provider’s servers are located makes a big difference for energy expenditure. The Electricity Map indicates the average energy expenditure in a given region. With respect to the methodology for evaluating data centres with efficiency indicators, Germany’s central environmental authority (Bundesamt für Umwelt) argues in the project “Green Cloud Computing” that the scale of their environmental effects can only be estimated.
- ↑ https://ecofriendlyweb.org/third-party-services-carbon-footprint/
- ↑ Glossar in: Anleitung zum CO²-Kulturrechner, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg und Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Hg.), 2023 Download vom Deutschen Museumsbund: https://www.museumsbund.de/klimabilanzen-im-museum/