Climate Action Community Work Plan

The Europeana Climate Action Community Steering Group

The Climate Action Community Steering Group is composed of a Chair, a Community manager and other members with a diverse range of complementary expertise:

Chair:

Marco Fiore, Policy Manager, Michael Culture/MUSEU-HUB

Members:

Corinne Szteinsznaider, Coordinator Michael Culture/MUSEU-HUB
Evangelia Paschalidou, Service Management PhD Researcher - International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece
Flavia Bruni, lecturer, University of Chieti-Pescara
Helen Vincent, Head of Rare Books, Maps and Music Collections National Library of Scotland
Jostina Dhimitri, Professor University of Tirana
Nelson Brito, Researcher University of Coimbra
Randi Cecchine, Researcher of AI and media at Radboud University, Netherlands. Documentary Filmmaker.
Killian Downing, Digital Archivist, Dublin City University Library

Community manager:

Lorena Aldana, Head of External Relations and Advocacy, Europeana Foundation - Community Manager

Community Aspiration

The Europeana Climate Action Community seeks to drive impactful, cooperative and sustainable action to address the climate emergency within the digital cultural heritage sector, in particular when it comes to its digital transformation. It aims to raise awareness of, mitigate and build capacity around lessening our sector’s environmental impact.

Building on the Europeana Climate Action Manifesto, we aim for wider systemic change within our own organisations and networks, in the broader Europeana ecosystem, and in the broader (digital) cultural heritage sector.

Our work contributes to the long-term aspirations and goals of the Europeana Initiative Vision 2030, which aims for a green transition for and with digital cultural heritage. As the Europeana Initiative deploys the common European data space for cultural heritage, we strive to shape it into a place for sustainability and cooperation, driving a greener, more sustainable digital transformation in our sector.

We believe the data space presents a unique opportunity for the Europeana Initiative to lead by example, addressing the sector's digital, environmental, and social interlinked transitions - or 'Triple Transition' - in a cohesive and integrated way. This is fully in line with the political guidelines of the new European Commission, which places a particular emphasis on the green and digital transitions.

As Europe aspires to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 through the European Green Deal, collective action is crucial, including in the digital heritage sector. Our sector can play a pivotal role in shifting mindsets and consumption patterns to support the green transition. However, digitising cultural heritage also carries its own environmental impact, which must be mitigated. Europe's pursuit of competitiveness must be balanced with the need for sustainable and ethical social and digital development, putting at the centre the human experience and our planet. We believe it’s crucial to act now to find new ways to work without compromising our environment.

Through engagement and collaboration, we can turn our climate action aspirations into reality. We are driven by our:

Vision - The climate crisis urges us to work together as a global community to protect our planet. We work collectively towards a climate conscious digital heritage sector.
Mission - Advocating for and embedding working practices that minimise the digital cultural heritage sector’s impact on the climate and environment; support adaptation and resilience; and, help to make the right choices.
Strategy - Planning, collaborating, operating, advocating for digital sobriety and sufficiency.

Activities in three focus areas and one horizontal area

In 2025-2026, the Community will carry out three key sets of activities, outlined below, along with a horizontal area of work. We will collaborate with other Europeana communities, the Europeana Network Association, the Europeana Foundation and the Europeana Aggregators’ Forum to deliver on these goals.

We will also seek collaboration with other actors who, as our Community, are committed to positive climate action through digital cultural heritage at European and international level. These include, but are not limited to, the European Heritage Hub EU- funded project; the European Heritage Alliance sectoral platform; NEMO- Network of European Museum Organisations’ Working Group Sustainability and Climate Action, Michael Culture Association and the Climate Heritage Network. The Community will also try to enter in contact institutional actors including, but not limited to, the European Commission (notably, through the European Commission’s Expert Group on Cultural Heritage) and the interested Units.

Improved Community Engagement

In 2025, we aim to strengthen our community engagement by fostering ongoing dialogue with our members, particularly through regular, informal virtual meetups that encourage collaboration and open exchange. Our community currently includes 541 members. Throughout 2025, our focus will be on fostering deeper engagement, rather than simply increasing numbers. Concretely, we will:

Organise a first meet-up or café at the beginning of the year 2025, which will be used to collect feedback, ideas and insights on the needs and expectations of the community. This will feed into our future work.
At least two additional Community Cafés will be scheduled throughout the year to keep members informed and engaged. These may be thematic sessions if a specific need arises, or be held as informal meet-ups where members can exchange ideas and stay in touch with other members and the Steering Group.
Encourage an in-person meet-up around an event relevant to the community, such as the Europeana 2025 conference. While gathering the entire membership may not be feasible, we will aim to activate a network node, beyond the Steering Group.
Actively promote membership in the Climate Action Community at relevant events, such as the Europeana 2025 conference and other sector-specific gatherings.

Advocacy on the basis of the results and recommendations of the Digital Information Management Survey led by the Environmental Sustainability Practice Task Force

In July 2023, the Environmental Sustainability Practice Task Force launched a comprehensive survey on data management and digital preservation. Throughout 2024, the Community analysed the findings. In 2025, we will focus on widely disseminating these results and using them as a foundation for evidence-based advocacy, aiming to drive meaningful change and informed decision-making across the sector.

Building on this pioneering work, we will champion sustainable digital heritage practices within the Europeana Initiative and the data space. This will be especially critical as 3D content, AI applications, and big data increasingly shape the future of the data space. Concretely, we will:

Lead by example to drive greater impact. Based on the results, final report, and recommendations of the Digital Information Management Survey, we will engage with the Europeana Initiative to explore how the main principles can be applied to the dData Sspace and the Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECHOES), even at the pilot stage.
Extend our advocacy work beyond the Europeana Initiative, engaging the broader sector and policymakers to prioritise environmentally responsible approaches to digital transformation.
This work will lay the foundation for reviewing and updating the Europeana Climate Action Manifesto in 2026. The aim is to distill the key trends and needs of the sector from the results, final report, and recommendations of the Digital Information Management Survey, alongside feedback from the community and broader stakeholders, in order to align and refine our Manifesto.

Support capacity-building on environmental sustainability

Investing in skills development to equip cultural heritage professionals with the tools to measure, assess, and reduce the environmental impact of digitisation and data management is vital for effective mitigation. Through our work, we have identified a significant skills gap at the intersection of climate change and digitisation. A deeper understanding of the climate impact throughout the entire digitisation process - ranging from selection and preservation to accessibility and storage—is therefore essential. This need has also been identified in the European Heritage Hub Call to Action Championing a responsible digital transition for and with cultural heritage.

Throughout 2025, we will focus on strengthening the sector’s capacities in this field. Concretely, we will:

Leverage major heritage events to deliver specialised workshops. With input from our members and under the guidance of the Steering Group, we will submit a proposal to organise a session at the Europeana Conference 2025 to be held in June under the Polish Presidency of the EU. This session will aim at advancing expertise and practical skills, but also foster collaboration and community growth. It shall serve as a platform to engage with a broader audience and attract new members, further enriching the network and its impact.
Organise a webinar to disseminate the results, final report, and recommendations of the Digital Information Management Survey. This initial workshop will aim at the creation of a practitioners' community focused on piloting some of the measures.

Horizontal area: awareness-raising in our sector

The areas outlined above will be supported by editorial efforts, including content published on Europeana Pro and Europeana.eu in the form of articles, galleries and events. This insightful and engaging content will inform, inspire, and connect our audiences and members, while raising awareness of the work we do and its relevance to the sector. Concretely, we will:

Partner with the Europeana Foundation to mobilise writers’ communities for climate action. We will organise a creative writing contest around the topic of climate change, challenging writers to craft compelling stories that align with the work and priorities of our community, using Europeana.eu as a resource for research and inspiration. We will leverage the expertise of our Steering Group and will appoint a Member to join the Jury that will grant a Creative Climate Action Award to 1 to 3 selected winners. The results of this initiative - ranging from the winning entry/entries to all submissions—will be used to raise awareness of the climate emergency and the role (digital) cultural heritage can play in addressing it, as well as highlighting the work of the Community.

Key Performance Indicators/Goals

A list of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) is hereby proposed to steer our work in the good direction. The presence in the Steering Group is on a voluntary basis, limiting these KPIs to a sign of good will.

Number of Community activities (e.g. Community Café, Capacity building Workshops, etc.): 3
Satisfaction rating relating to CAC-led activities (researched through questionnaires sent after the activity): 75%
Average number of people reached per activity: 15-20

Budget

The total budget required for the Climate Action Community's activities in 2025 is 4,000 EUR, allocated as follows:

External Consultant for Final Report: 2,000 EUR
- This allocation covers the fees for an external consultant to compile and finalize the Digital Information Management Survey report.
- If these funds are not utilized in 2024, alternative uses for this budget line must be identified to align with our objectives.
External Speakers for Events: 1,000 EUR
- This budget will be used to engage external speakers for our events, such as cafés and workshops. The speakers' contributions will enrich discussions and provide expert perspectives, fostering knowledge exchange within the Community.
Residency Prize: 500 EUR
- This amount will fund a prize to recognize and support outstanding contributions to our Creative Climate Action Award, in liaison with the Europeana Foundation.
Contingency: 500 EUR
- This allocation serves as a buffer for unforeseen expenses that may arise during the implementation of the 2025 work plan. Ensuring flexibility, this budget line will maintain the smooth execution of planned activities.