Overgrown green foliage in the foreground contrasts with a massive, bare concrete brutalist building against a clear blue sky.

Our sustainability progress

Since we published our sustainability plan in 2022, sustainability has been a core principle of our operations

We curated Planet Summer, our festival of art and hope in a time of climate crisis, in 2023; declared a climate emergency in November 2024; and we are founding members of the Lambeth Climate Partnership.

We’ve aimed for continuous improvement, embedding sustainability across all departments, and we’ve made significant progress.

Energy and water

63%

reduction in emissions from buildings

Surpassing our target for 2025 of a 50% reduction. This was achieved through training; upgrades to our Building Management System; adjusting winter heating and summer cooling temperatures; installing more heating and cooling machinery and energy efficient lighting; and sustainability featuring in procurement and tender processes.

48%

reduction in our water usage

Far surpassing our 2025 target of a 20% reduction. This is even before we installed 56 compressed air-assisted flush toilets in our Royal Festival Hall. These toilets reduce water consumption by 66% compared to the previous toilets.

Waste

60%

Our recycling rate – an increase on 29%. Aided by the introduction of a Mobile Segregation Unit, which implements manual segregation of waste before it is taken off-site.

16%

Reduction in food waste since our baseline year of 2023/24 – aided by our new food waste composter that reduces food waste volumes by 80%.

Biodiversity

10%

We’ve set a target to increase biodiversity on site by 10%, using the Biodiversity Net Gain metric.

35

more individual bird species identified in our Natura Nostra Forest than in a control area.

Artistic programming

Artistic sustainability policy

Introduced with the aim of embedding sustainability into all of our artistic programming and related operations.

Visual arts sustainability group

Introduced to give specific focus on sustainability in the Hayward Gallery and Hayward Gallery Touring operations.

We are active members of the Gallery Climate Coalition.

Commercial partners

67%

Of our restaurants have a sustainability plan in place.

50%+

Of items on menus across our site are plant-based.

Staff

94%

Of staff travel by public transport, active travel or electric vehicle.

89%

Of staff have received sustainability training, as of April 2026.

Sustainability Champions

A staff group established in 2023, our Sustainability Champions have run clothes swaps, initiatives and sustainability campaigns. They set up a freecycle group, enabling staff to find a new home for materials used in shows, events and workshops. And they helped encourage our pension provider to make more sustainable choices.