In Transit

The ARTA Blog

Last year, ARTA prioritized a number of initiatives set to address the formidable challenges of climate change. Our goals were to both become a thought leader and first mover in the industry —encouraging dialogue, participating in discussions around emissions reductions for shipping, and helping to educate broader audiences—as well as to take immediate action to measure, reduce, and offset our own emissions. To highlight a few projects we are most proud of from our efforts to date: we published a white paper on the impact of fine art shipping on the environment, which informed and guided organizations on taking the first steps to measure their carbon footprint; we joined and became active members of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC); we engaged The Carbon Accounting Company to measure the 2020 carbon footprint of all ARTA shipments, and we “offset” (more on that terminology here) those emissions on behalf of our clients by contributing ARTA's Strategic Climate Funds to permanent tropical forest conservation.

In the past year, there has been more dialogue on sustainability and we've seen an influx of new initiatives advocating for a climate-conscious future in the arts. And while we are excited to see our clients expressing interest in addressing climate change, so many don't know where to start. Here are some of the resources we would recommend to learn more and take action.

While the environmental benefits of shipping via ocean freight are indisputable, there are many other factors to consider. Here are the biggest differences between air and sea freight and the different ways you can ship via sea.

As a next step in our commitment to sustainability, we produced our first shipping emissions audit and are proud to announce that we have made a donation on behalf of our clients to old-growth forest conservation to counteract the emissions produced from all shipments booked with ARTA in 2020. Read about why we chose to invest in conservation and learn more about the project.

ARTA is committed to being a thought leader in pushing the art industry to take meaningful action to reduce its carbon footprint. Over the next few years, our goals are to both emit less CO2 into the air (emissions reduction) and to invest in removing existing CO2 from the air (carbon removal). Read about our commitment to sustainability and plans for the future.