A planet-wide emergency in need of a vital response All of our work is taking place against a backdrop of profound and damaging changes in the Earth’s climate and its ability to support bio-diverse ecosystems. It is widely recognised that the scale of the change ahead amounts to a planet-wide emergency. “We are already seeing the impacts of climate change across the globe (IPCC, 2022), with observed increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Even with global targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is still necessary to adapt structures and systems to reduce the impacts of climate change. This includes critical infrastructure, the built and natural environments, water use and food production.” DEFRA, October 2023, source The impact of the climate and environmental crisis is already being felt globally and locally; our international work on the Endangered Archives Programmes demonstrates the devastating impact of floods and other extreme weather events around the world. It affects us all, but with complex interdependencies for social justice (see UN SDGs in Appendix 1). As the UK’s national library, we occupy a place at the heart of the communities we serve. We want to lead by example through our own environmental actions and use our power and reach to inform and inspire people to take positive action and build resilience. Our collection and operations are also at increased risk from this changing climate, through heat waves, flooding, power cuts and new moulds and pests. Our most vital response is to tackle the challenge of sustainability and climate resilience in our own organisation: to adapt our behaviour, systems, and buildings in ways that radically reduce our carbon emissions. But we also want to help address the climate crisis in other ways: to be a trustworthy, engaging and accessible source of information for our communities; to catalyse positive action across the library sector; to provide the businesses we support with the knowledge they need to go green; and to support climate science through our expertise and collection. The widely respected ‘warming stripes’ reminds us of how rapidly the planet is warming. In the years between the publication of Charles Dicken’s David Copperfield and its re-imagination as Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, humanity’s burning of fossil fuels and large-scale deforestation has changed the Earth’s climate in a measurable way. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 9
Our starting point While this is our first sustainability strategy, much has already been achieved. • In our operations: The Library’s scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions have significantly reduced, year on year (down 68% since 2009/10) and £7.9 million of SALIX grant funding has enabled major energy-efficiency and renewable energy generation projects at both St Pancras and Boston Spa. Waste has been reduced year on year, with 0% going to landfill and 65% recycled. Sustainability has been embedded in the design of our three major capital projects and formed a factor in the procurement of catering and cleaning contracts. Environmental parameters for the collection have been reviewed, and international travel has been reduced through risk-assessed virtual installations • In our purposes: There have been many individual initiatives, events and webinars to communicate climate change issues, including as part of our Animals: Art, Science, Sound exhibition, through our business workshops and international webinar series. Key partnerships have been established, especially the Green Libraries Campaign and the Endangered Archives Programme • In our governance: Increased reporting is in place against the Greening Government targets, reported publicly through our annual report, and as part of our KPI dashboard. The Sustainability and Climate Change Steering Group takes leadership oversight of the work, while the well-established staff Sustainability Group engages teams across the Library. Some of the required policies are in place or are currently being updated, and, critically, sustainability has been embedded in Knowledge Matters. This strategy builds on these foundations and identifies areas where continued improvement is needed. Green Libraries Manifesto: The British Library was one of the founding signatories of the Green Libraries Manifesto (Appendix 2) and this strategy, and the associated action plan, aims to turn the Manifesto commitments into concrete action. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 10
Our strategic drivers and priorities
Our organisation strategy, Knowledge Matters, places an increased importance on sustainability
in recognition of a range of strategic drivers:
•
Climate science and the wider world; the urgent need to address the well-understood
crises for climate and nature, and the very real risk they present to our institution and the
collection
•
Local and national government policy, targets and regulation including:
o Ambitious climate commitments from local government in the areas where we
operate (Camden and the GLA in London, and Leeds in Yorkshire and Humber)
o Relevant UK legislation, including the Climate Change Act 2008 and Environment
Act 2021, and policies such as the UK’s 25-year Environment Plan
o New and increasing requirements for climate-risk disclosures in annual accounts
o The mandatory Greening Government Commitments against which we are
required to report (currently under review, and likely to increase from 2025
onwards)
o The UK International Development strategy (2022) and its commitments to the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (see Appendix 1).
•
To support the needs of our many users, stakeholders and communities;
researchers,
businesses, learners, partners, funders, the networks of libraries and BIPCs, and our staff
•
The Board’s commitment, set out in the 2022/23 annual accounts, for the Library to
adopt a Sustainability Strategy, a Nature Recovery Plan and a Climate Change Adaptation
Strategy.
Knowledge Matters goes on to set out three sustainability priorities for 2023 – 30:
- Our places
- Our purposes Collaborate with people to open up the collection in new and interesting ways, to support work on solutions to the environmental challenges we face – from climate research to enabling sustainable business and enterprise, and engaging people through culture and learning, to increasing climate literacy and visibility of climate science
- Our partnerships Embed partnerships across the sectors we work in to support wider change, share and encourage climate action, best practice and learning
Continue decarbonising our buildings and embedding best practice in environmental performance in our new spaces Delivering these three priorities will be under-pinned by embedding sustainably. 4. Embedded in our work: Embedding sustainability in how we work; our culture, policy, processes, governance, planning, collection and communications. Ensuring it is seen not as an add-on, but as how we do everything we already do. This includes incorporating climate-related risks into our risk management, governance and conservation policies. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 11
Focusing our efforts
We have considered the most material environmental impacts we have, both positive and
negative. To do this, we used the topics from the well-respected Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
From the extensive list of GRI topics, we identified eight which we consider material at the
Library:
GRI Topics
Reason for inclusion
Document sections
Energy and
emissions
Majority of our scope 1 & 2
emissions
Mandatory Greening Government
Commitment (GGC) reporting
1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5,
1.6, 2.1, 4
Materials
Purchased goods and services are
the majority of our scope 3
emissions
Mandatory GGC reporting
1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7,
1.8, 4
Waste
Significant construction waste
Mandatory GGC reporting
1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8,
4
Water and effluents
Mandatory GGC reporting
1.2, 1.7, 4
Biodiversity
Boston Spa site has 42-acre
grounds
Impact of capital projects
1.2, 1.3, 1.9, 4
Procurement
practices (including
Supplier
Environmental
Assessment)
Purchased goods and services are
the majority of our scope 3
emissions
Mandatory requirements to meet
1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, 4
Training and
education
Core purpose of the Library
2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3, 4
Local communities
Core purpose of the Library
1.2, 1.9, 1.10, 2.2,
2.3, 2.4, 3, 4
We also identified two additional topics which are highly relevant at the British Library:
Climate risk,
resilience and
adaptation
Increasing climate risk levels
Resilience of capital projects
Mandatory reporting against Task
Force on Climate-Related
Financial Disclosures
1.2, 1.4, 1.10, 2.4, 4
Provision of
information and
advice
Core purpose of the Library
2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3, 4
Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 12
We then considered the different types of impacts we can have: • Direct • Indirect • Enabling. Our direct environmental impacts are primarily covered by Section 1 (Places), the indirect environmental impacts through our supply chains by Sections 1.1 (measuring scope 3), 1.5 (Commercial) and 4.4 (Procurement), whilst our far wider enabling impacts by Section 2 and 3 (Purposes and Partnerships). Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 13
Priority 1: Our places Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 14
Priority 1. Our places 1.1. Measuring our progress towards net zero carbon 1.1.1 Measuring our core emissions – as reported now (scopes 1, 2 and specific parts of 3) For well over a decade we have successfully worked to improve the sustainability of our buildings and operations, across energy use, waste, travel, water and materials. By 2023 we had reduced energy use by 68% compared to the year we began measurement (2009/10). Finding further savings, however, and achieving net zero carbon are considerable challenges, especially in the context of the year-on-year growth in our collection. Against our current near-term Greening Government Commitment targets we are on track for reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions (from oil and gas use) but at risk of missing the overall reduction target (including electricity and transport). Ambitious actions to rectify this are set out in following sections. Greening Government Commitment Reduce overall GHG emissions by 58% by 2025/6 2017/18 baseline 10,464 tonnes CO2e 2023/24 6,704 tonnes CO2e Progress -36% Status At risk – see actions in 1.2 Reduce direct GHG emissions by 25% by 2025/6 2,305 tonnes CO2e 2,073 tonnes CO2e -10% On Track In 2023/24, with total reported carbon emissions for the Library of 6,704 tCO2e, this is around the same impact as 2,500 return economy flights to New York. Note: Defining the scope of our core carbon emissions. We currently report emissions as required by the Greening Government Commitments. In standard Greenhouse Gas Protocol, this covers scope 1 and 2 emissions from the electricity, oil, and gas taken to run our buildings, plus certain specific aspects of scope 3 transport, including our business travel cars at Boston Spa, the link van between our two sites, and international travel. These are collectively referred to in this document as our core emissions. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 15
The majority of our core carbon emissions come from electricity and gas use in our largest buildings; St Pancras and Boston Spa buildings 31 and 32. To achieve net zero carbon we need to continue to reduce energy use year-on-year and get the energy we still use from cleaner sources. A small percentage of our emissions come from transport and fugitive emissions from air conditioning. 6,704 tCO2e Our single biggest challenge, when it comes to decarbonisation, is to achieve carbon reductions while our collection continues to grow, year-on-year, as it is legally required to do. For our carbon emissions to even stand-still while we ingest approximately 350,000 new physical items each year is a stretching goal, but we are committed to achieving continuing reductions. We also know that we need to improve the data that we gather from our Building Management System and install better sub-metering, so that we can more accurately identify the major drivers of our energy use and associated carbon emissions. Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy_2024_Final Issued.docx 16