How we’re facing the climate crisis
The climate crisis – and its potential effects on our operations and collections – is something that cuts through all the work we do. For over a decade we've been actively working to lessen our environmental footprint and aim to help the libraries sector take a leadership role in promoting sustainability.
We’ve already done a lot to improve the sustainability of our own sites, operations and services, and now we’ve developed our first sustainability and climate change strategy which will help us take concerted action, including working towards net zero carbon.
To mark the launch of our strategy, here’s a whistle-stop sustainability tour of the British Library to guide you through some of the ways we've been lowering our environmental footprint.
1. Using less energy and carbon
Like any organisation, the key for us has been to be lean, be clean, and be green. This means using less electricity and gas, and generating more energy on-site through things like solar panels.
The changes we have made have had a major impact; we’ve reduced our carbon emissions by 68% since we started measuring and reporting them in 2009.
Many of the changes aren’t things you would notice, like:
- energy efficient lighting
- more efficient motors in our heating and humidification equipment
- turning off the heating in our basement stores over the weekend.
When it comes to heating, burning gas causes greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change. That’s why we’ve also secured grant funding to install a lower carbon alternative called a ground source heat pump, which uses free heat from the ground to warm up water. This will soon heat several of the buildings at our storage site in Boston Spa.
We also now have solar panels on the roof of three buildings at Boston Spa. And at St Pancras we’ve commissioned Naked Energy to deliver the UK’s largest solar heat project, which makes hot water from sunshine. The installation comprises 950 solar collectors across our roof. It is expected to reduce the building’s CO2 emissions by 55 tonnes and generate 216 MWh of energy annually – the equivalent of powering and heating a community centre or swimming pool for a year. Next time you wash your hands at St Pancras, remember we’ve got sunshine on tap!
Looking ahead, we’ve got three big transformation projects in London and Yorkshire, all of them with stretching environmental targets. Our newest storage building in Boston Spa is the first ever purely passive automated library storage facility, meaning that it’s not actively heated or cooled.
2. Making our food more sustainable
We’ve built sustainability into our contracts with our caterers, cleaners, printers and designers. You’ll see this in our cafés which offer delicious vegetarian and vegan food, while our chefs have partnered with Slow Food in the UK to save British food varieties from extinction. This year they are focusing on Dorset Blue Vinny cheese, Pink Fir Apple potatoes and Hampshire watercress.
In addition we’re:
- replanning our menus to minimise food waste
- composting our coffee grounds
- using metal and wooden cutlery, not plastic
- offering more recycling facilities.
3. Going green in our shops
Our shop has become a pilot retailer, trialling eco-friendly packaging alternatives for several of our suppliers. When sourcing products for our ranges, we prioritise sustainable options. For example, our range includes LeFrik bags made from recycled water bottles and reusable cups from Circular & Co., crafted from recycled coffee cups.
We also stock sustainable T-shirts from Teemill produced from organic cotton and prints using low-waste digital technology with vegan inks. At the end of any garments’ life, they can be returned to Teemill to be recycled into new T-shirts, ensuring zero waste.
Meanwhile online, we offer carbon-neutral shipping on every order which has helped us reduce shipping emissions by approximately 14 tonnes.
4. Sustainable travel
We’re big on sustainable travel, with the majority of our visitors arriving by public transport. We also provide cycle racks to encourage eco-friendly travel, and we've recently purchased our very first electric car, further cutting down on vehicle emissions.
5. Partnering with libraries
We've collaborated both nationally and internationally with libraries, galleries, museums and research institutions, while remaining deeply embedded in our local communities. As a founding partner of the Green Libraries Campaign and a signatory of the Green Libraries Manifesto, we actively support library authorities across the country by providing resources and participating in collaborative research.
Our Living Knowledge Network is a UK-wide network of public and national libraries, and through it, we’ve kick-started conversations about the role that libraries play in enabling positive climate action in communities.
Explore past talks on sustainability and nature from our partner libraries, all available to watch on-demand. From practical tips on greening your home to learning about the impact of the climate crisis, libraries can inspire you to make positive changes to help address the most urgent environmental issues of our time.
6. Telling stories through culture and events
Our exhibitions allow us to showcase our collection and share important stories. Our Animals exhibition last year, highlighted issues such as ecological damage and extinction, with an opportunity to listen to a reel of tape containing the song of a now-extinct songbird.
We’ve also run webinars, conferences and learning events focusing on different aspects of climate action.
We're making our exhibitions themselves more sustainable, by designing with lower impact materials and reusing where we can, for example using reusable partition walls and acrylic hoods.
7. Making sustainability part of how we work
Perhaps the biggest challenge, still work in progress for us, is making sustainability a natural part of how we work. We’re offering staff Carbon Literacy training to raise awareness and understanding. This year we are making sustainability part of our business case process and procurement policies.
We know there is lots more for us to learn and do but we are determined to play our part.
Want to know more? Read our sustainability strategy (PDF, 5mb).