Growing greener museums

Rachel Madan is a Lead fellow who spent several years working as a corporate responsibility consultant. After completing the Lead Fellowship Programme she turned her attention and her talents to the cultural sector. 

Here, to her surprise, she discovered an area that was sadly lacking in terms of sustainability information. It seemed that no one was helping the management of multipurpose buildings like museums to make the leap from research into eco-friendly action. Many within the sector were enthusiastic about making efforts to develop a greener approach but most often this good intention took the form of symbolic environmental gestures, a recycling bin here and there and the odd switch-off day.

Rachel instinctively felt that so much more could be done – and needed to be done – to help the world’s museums to advance the cause of sustainability. So she took the initiative and founded an organisation called Greener Museums, which allowed her to start a dialogue with leading museums and helping them make the link between sustainability and saving. 

‘Sustainability projects pay for themselves’ was the message Rachel took to museums’ around the world. And they listened. 

The cornerstone of Rachel’s approach is the cultivation of leadership. She recalls her ‘year of change’ in which her life was transformed by her participation in the Lead Fellowship Programme. Lead helped Rachel to realise that strong sustainability leadership was lacking in the cultural sector. Museums employed some passionate people but they had little influence on senior management. So, having been inspired by Lead, Rachel and Greener Museums launched their own training programme to help green advocates to develop their leadership skills. 

The impact of this work has been enormous; the leadership programme has changed museums’ approach to sustainability and some of the greatest advances have come from these ‘green champions’. Greener Museums has worked with some of the world's best-known museums to help them to advance sustainability, strategically, which has resulted in larger and longer lasting changes. Rachel’s outstanding work has helped museums to make significant cost reductions, reduce tonnes of carbon and attract new sustainability funding.