GCC Releases 2025 Stocktake Report

The first comprehensive analysis of the industry’s progress toward halving visual arts sector emissions by 2030

GCC Releases 2025 Stocktake Report

The first comprehensive analysis of the industry’s progress toward halving visual arts sector emissions by 2030

Wednesday 26 November

The global visual arts has reached a pivotal moment in its response to the climate crisis. The Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) have released a Stocktake Report 2025, published at the midpoint of the organization’s ten-year strategy, which draws on six years of sector-wide data and concludes that meaningful emissions cuts are within reach.

The report provides the most comprehensive picture yet of the visual arts sector’s environmental footprint, using data from the GCC Carbon Calculator, qualitative research, and direct engagement with hundreds of organizations worldwide.

The Stocktake Report highlights a number of encouraging trends. Case studies of organizations integrating climate action into their core operations have grown, with Hauser & Wirth—identified as sector leaders—sharing extensive insights alongside Christie’s. Together, they demonstrate how major organizations are embedding climate action into core operations and achieving tangible reductions. The report also concludes that 50% emissions cuts by 2030 are achievable, aligning with GCC’s targets—provided efforts scale rapidly.

‘This mid-decade checkpoint is sobering but galvanizing,’ the report notes, adding that the world is increasingly likely to surpass the 1.5°C warming limit set by the Paris Agreement. The findings underscore that the cultural sector cannot afford incremental progress.