The international Theatre Green Book under the ETC European network, which brings together 63 theatres from 31 countries, has introduced the first European certification that helps theatres track their progress towards zero emissions in production, operation, and buildings. The National Theatre has received a new major European certificate for its effort to attain zero emissions. The theatre was awarded the “Basic Certificate” of the ETC Theatre Green Book at the Avignon Theatre Festival ceremony on 1 July 2024.

The new instrument for sustainable theatre and the voluntary certification system provides the European stages with simple tools and calculators to ensure the climate neutrality of productions, operations (catering, logistics, travel), and buildings.

“I was surprised myself how much work has been done for sustainability at the National Theatre in the past twenty years and what an exceptional position we hold speaking of European theatres,” says Martin Kukučka, one of the art directors of National Theatre Drama.

The director of the European Commission for Culture, Creativity, and Sport Georg Häusler added: “European theatres have played an important role in creating the space for gatherings, searching for non-traditional solutions and new stories, which help solve social problems for centuries. ETC’s Theatre Green Book is designed as a reference point to theatremakers because it provides them with the platform for setting standards of sustainable theatre, as well as easy and complimentary instructions on how to attain zero emissions on and off the stage. I look forward to launching the voluntary certification process for ETC’s Theatre Green Book, which is the first step in monitoring the progress of theatres and their contribution to reaching the Green Deal goals. The 2023 European Theatre Forum as part of Creative Europe provided space for the dialogue on challenges and opportunities in theatre. We hope that this voluntary instrument will inspire others in culture and creativity to reach the fundamental progress towards sustainability.”

Source: National Theatre
The photo from the sustainable production One More Minute: Petr Neubert