Sustainability

Our Strategy

Together with the international climate coalition Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and an internal sustainability representative, CHART is developing immediate and long-term initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as helping our galleries and collectors reduce their carbon emissions in their year-round activities including attending the fair.

CHART has already taken steps in:

• Joining the Gallery Climate Coalition and pledging to at least halve our carbon emissions by 2030
  
• Establishing online curator meetings annually in spring, to foster networking opportunities across the international art sector in settings that do not require physical meetings.
  
• Annually calculating our carbon footprint, to track progress.
  
• Limiting staff travel and travelling via land when possible.
  
• Promoting conscious travel to our stakeholders.
  
• Actively communicating our goal to adhere to sustainable shipping practices with our freight handlers and exhibitors in collaboration with the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC).
  
• Aiming to ensure that all our printed materials are reusable or curbside recyclable as far as possible, as a step towards zero-waste operations by 2030.
  
• Replacing print products with digital communication tools wherever possible. Additionally prioritising to work with local partners for the remaining printed matter in use and prioritise sustainably sound paper.

Our Activities

Building and fair operations

• CHART takes place in the permanent location of Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the inner city of Copenhagen. The permanence of the location avoids temporary builds normally associated with building art fairs.
  
  
• Waste is managed by the municipality of Copenhagen and follows the governmental recycling demands.
  
  
• We are actively pursuing structural modifications to Charlottenborg to reduce energy consumption when regulating Charlottenborg's temperature during the fair in August. Instead of relying on energy-intensive air conditioning systems, we are prioritising sustainability by applying a reflective water-soluble paint to the glass window sealing. This approach minimises the need for excessive external electrical power consumption.
  
  
• We work closely together with the freight company HIZKA whose services include sustainable art logistics, and who embrace the key sustainable principles of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ in their shipping practices

CHART Architecture

• Our annual competition, CHART Architecture, promotes the development of innovative and sustainable building practices. It invites architects through an open call to make proposals for constructions to be built in Charlottenborg's courtyard, demanding functionality and sustainability, with an emphasis on environmentally-friendly materials and sustainable building practices.
  
  
• We urge knowledge creation within sustainable building practices. In 2024 we enhanced this initiative by providing workshops for participating architects in collaboration with Arup, an engineering company renowned for its expertise in circular and sustainable building materials and methods. These workshops aim to enrich architects' existing knowledge and skills in crafting environmentally conscious constructions.
  
  
• All architectural structures receive an afterlife, and are built using reusable materials, to minimise material waste. In 2024 the winner 'BREEZE' was covered in the sails from a Danish ship. Everything was reused and have been reused afterwards. In previous years all constructions received an afterlife in different locations in Denmark.