Climate Action Plan 2025

Through 2022 and 2023, we worked on creating and embedding a solid base for action and creating capacity and tools across teams to energise participation across our diverse organisation.

As 2022 was our first year of cross-organisational action, we continued to check in on capacity and progress, to understand the suitability of our method of defining specific actions, and how the process might be further adapted.

During 2023 and 2024 our priorities focused on our grounding work, as well as research into areas which will enable us to undertake action in the years ahead. While our focus on grounding work may not immediately reduce emissions, it has created the foundations for carbon reduction going forward. We focussed on embedding climate action across the organisation and developing processes to resource and support action at all levels.

In 2025 we are focussing our capacity and resources into areas with the highest impact and the ones over which we have most influence.

We are dedicated to environmental sustainability, but recognise we can’t do everything at once.

Find out more about Watershed’s carbon footprint

We have refined and focused our priority areas of action based on the results of our new in-depth carbon accounting model and processes.

1. Our Building

   Around 39% of emissions analysed are from utilities to run Watershed’s space (electricity including servers, gas and water). With direct control over our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, this will be a priority focus for us in the coming years. Decarbonising a Grade II Listed building is no mean feat and will require significant capacity and resource to undertake - we're excited to knuckle down in how we can do this in the most ambitious and transformative way possible. 

   We think that making our historic building low-carbon and future-ready, Wild & Generous to the ecosystems of which it is part, is the most important action we can offer our city in the fight against climate change. We're interested in how we build the cultural infrastructure of the future.

   Actions

   • Following a successful Heritage Lottery Funding bid at the end of 2024, we are starting to explore what a Fabric First Retrofit of our building would entail – to create a regenerative plan for Watershed.
   • Reducing Carbon Intensity through moving forward on connecting to Bristol’s District Heating Network in 2028.
   • Reducing demand side consumption.
   • Sharing learnings and engaging in collective action.

2. Procurement

   We now know 61% of emissions come from purchased goods and services, including food and drink. Our Kitchen and Café & Bar teams are working hard to measure our food and drink emissions as accurately as possible. With a new focus on reducing our Scope 3 emissions from procurement, we will be experimenting with a mix of actions to make change internally and across our supply chain.

   Actions

   • Tackling our biggest procurement emissions so that we have a clearer idea of the procurement decisions that emit the most carbon, through working on research to understand how we can make more sustainable choices.
   • Celebrate our local suppliers.
   • Engaging with our suppliers and creating preferred suppliers list based on our ethical procurement guide.
   • Engaging staff in sustainable procurement and our newly created ethical procurement guide, in order to get all staff on board with how we spend our money responsibility across all our purchasing decisions.

3. Organisational change

   We have developed a strong basis for action over the last two years and key for us is retaining this through training, measurement and resourcing.

   Actions

   • Continue Carbon Literacy Training for all new starters, and increasing the amount of training slots available.
   • Maintaining and improving our carbon accounting methodology and process, and reporting on these publicly.
   • Net-Zero consultation to develop relevant and ambitious goals for our decarbonisation plan that align with our peers, but addresses the elephant in the room of offsetting and the ethical issues that come with that.
   • Resource the upscaling of team action through our internal Small Projects Fund.
   • Recruit more members across teams to the Environment Group.
   • Continue to report publicly to Julie’s Bicycle and Bristol Climate Leaders.

4. Projects, programming and collective action

   We firmly believe culture and creativity have a crucial role to play in the transition to a just green society. As part of our commitment to collective action, we will continue to use our projects, programmes and resources to engage our communities and resourcing others.

   We will:

   • Deeper investigation and reflection on the relationship between injustice and climate, lead by our community members through Alternative Technologies: A Just Transition, and consider interventions.
   • Continue to ensure the resources we produce are open-source, and support our community of Pervasive Media Studio Residents and partners to go on this journey with us.
   • Engage with our audiences and community on climate action.
   • Programme public facing events and films around climate action and climate justice across our public programme.
   • Work as part of Bristol Climate Leaders to energise collaborative change across the city.

Further info on recent & ongoing carbon reduction actions