‘Christie’s has a responsibility to make the art market more sustainable, leading by example’ — Bonnie Brennan, CEO

To mark Earth Day on 22 April, and ahead of Christie’s publishing its 2024 annual environmental impact report, we highlight 10 ways in which the company has contributed to a greener future over the past 12 months.

By 2024, against a benchmark set in 2019, Christie’s had managed to reduce its total emissions by 69 per cent. That was possible thanks to a six-point plan: adopting sea freight, reusable crates and recyclable packaging where possible; encouraging greener modes of travel; switching to green energy and reducing landfill waste; optimising cloud data storage capabilities; using recycled materials and smarter distribution methods for publishing; and promoting wider industry awareness to drive positive behavioural changes.

‘We launched our programme in 2021, and there was no commercial drive to launch it,’ David Findlay, Christie’s global operations project director, explained to a panel discussing sustainability in the art world on Times Radio in July. ‘Shipping, travel and energy use are all big areas of opportunity where we’ve seen massive carbon reductions. Moving to renewable energy is very easy to do, and it makes such a big difference.’

Christie’s is the only global auction house with a real and transparent sustainability strategy.

In October, as part of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art sales in London, works donated by more than 20 leading artists were offered in Blue: Art for the Ocean — an initiative organised to raise funds for Blue Marine Foundation, an NGO dedicated to restoring ocean health and supporting the UN Global Framework’s mission to safeguard 30 per cent of Earth’s oceans by 2030 (currently, only eight per cent is secured).

Leading the sale was a photograph from Marina Abramović’s work Performance for the Oceans (2024), which sold for £63,000. ‘My Performance for the Oceans artwork for Blue: Art for the Ocean blends my artistic vision with environmental consciousness,’ said Abramović ahead of the sale. ‘Approximately 70 per cent of our planet is covered in water, yet our oceans are not being looked after properly. I stood on Fire Island in a red dress to give my unconditional love and energy to the ocean.’

Elsewhere in the sale, Ai Weiwei’s Surfing (After Hokusai) (2023) made £138,600; Annie Morris’s Stack 3, Cobalt Turquoise (2024) fetched £107,100; and Peter Doig’s Bather (2017) realised £94,500. Magazine impresario Jefferson Hack also curated a selection of work by six photographers, including David Bailey and Rankin, for the sale. Christie’s donated 100 per cent of the hammer price to the charity.

In May 2024, during the 60th Venice Biennale, the second edition of The Hope Forum brought together leaders from art, science and policy to accelerate action for sustainable development. Following an introduction by the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, Christie’s then global head of operations Julien Pradels took part in a panel discussion on ‘Art and Systematic Change’.

‘The more time you have ahead of your exhibition, then the more options you have to find sustainable shipping methods,’ Pradels told an audience in Italy, which included Christie’s chairman Guillaume Cerutti. ‘Transporting by sea produces 80 per cent less emissions than by air.’

The event was part of ART 2030, a project that aims to harness the power of art to help achieve the UN’s 17 ‘Global Goals’ necessary for a healthier world.

Christie’s is an ongoing, active member of Gallery Climate Coalition — an international community of arts organisations, now chaired by the former director of Tate Modern, Frances Morris, lobbying to reduce the sector’s environmental impact.

Gallery Climate Coalition’s primary concerns are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 50 per cent across the industry — in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius — and promoting zero-waste practices.

Christie’s has instituted regional ‘Green Teams’ to oversee its commitment to the guidelines on the ground. And in order to uphold standards, promote transparency and share the business’s successes and failures with the wider industry, Christie’s publishes annual environmental impact reports. The 2024 report will be published in May 2025.

It was recently announced that, at the end of 2024, Christie’s Ventures, the auction house’s corporate ventures arm, invested in ROKBOX, the no-waste, reusable art shipping crate system, as well as ROKBOX Loop, its global rental ecosystem. Sending an artwork using the system can reduce its carbon footprint by up to 90 per cent.

Last year alone, Christie’s used ROKBOX Loop to ship artworks a total distance of 52,602km. In doing so, the business saved 2,599kg of packaging waste and prevented 6.1 tonnes of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.

‘Christie’s is working closely with ROKBOX to achieve our own sustainability goals, which will directly impact the global art market with the added benefit of reducing overall shipping costs for ourselves, our partners and our clients,’ says Ryan Ludgate, international director of Christie’s Ventures.

In April, Ludgate also oversaw Christie’s investment in Conserv, a wireless environmental monitoring system that provides real-time data collection and analysis for many of the top cultural institutions in America. ‘It’s a very exciting, early-stage company,’ adds Ludgate. ‘We’ve begun using it to assess conditions in our galleries and storage spaces in New York. We intend to expand to other regions as Conserv expands its own global presence, with the goal of optimising energy usage and environmental conditions in our properties and those belonging to our clients.’

In 2024, Christie’s launched its first shipping container route between New York and Hong Kong, sending items such as art, ceramics and wine together by sea freight.

In New York, Christie’s has been supporting the rollout of Earthcrate, a plyboard crate that can be recycled at home. Building an Earthcrate can use up to 90 per cent less CO2 compared to traditional crates, which are usually made from plywood and heat-treated timber, with interior bracing created using petroleum-derived foam.

The auction house has also started using electric vehicles for local deliveries. ‘With the new EV shuttle service, we offer a sustainable, white-glove experience for an affordable flat rate with same-week delivery across the five boroughs of New York City for eligible property,’ says Emily Klug, Christie’s senior vice president, director of operations for the Americas.

‘We have seen steady growth in demand since introducing the service in February and, longer-term, aim to expand our network of delivery routes across the tri-state area. Coupled with sustainable packing solutions, the potential for reducing the carbon footprint of a traditional shipment is significant.’

In other major cities, Christie’s is working with local suppliers to offer EV services where available.

In September 2024, Christie’s in Hong Kong held the first auction at its new Asia Pacific headquarters, which occupies 50,000 square feet spread over four floors of The Henderson.

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the world-class building has been certified platinum — the highest level achievable — in terms of LEED and WELL, a certification system that grades sustainable and healthy buildings as well as the wellbeing of their occupants. It’s also one of the first structures in the city to achieve a three-star rating for both the China Healthy and Green Building Design labels.

Among The Henderson’s green features are solar panels, a recycling plant for turning rainwater into irrigation for the building’s gardens and real-time weather monitoring to calibrate interior systems precisely.

At the launch of the new space, Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, said the new location ‘enables us to make significant progress towards our sustainability goals’.

In 2024, Christie’s powered every single one of its buildings around the world using 100 per cent renewable energy, or equivalent. The business has also pledged to cut all waste to landfill by 90 per cent.

At Christie’s in New York, thanks to a mixture of building improvements and changes in staff habits, the business has managed to reduce its overall energy consumption by 14 per cent. One of the actions taken has been to switch from tree-based paper to paper produced using sugarcane by-products. Across 2024, some 300,000 sheets of this paper were used, saving about 30 trees.

Christie’s has also been experimenting with using virtual reality to exhibit objects and artworks around the world, reducing a need for shipping.

Across two sales in 2021-22, Christie’s raised £5.7 million for ClientEarth, a non-profit that uses the law to advocate for climate action. This partnership continued in September 2024, when Christie’s in New York hosted a discussion featuring leaders from ClientEarth and the Global Commons Alliance, a coalition aiming to mobilise citizens and companies to accelerate positive environmental change. The talk was introduced by Klug and highlighted recent legal and scientific innovations that can be harnessed to safeguard the future of the planet. More than 120 people attended.

In May, Klug also took part in a panel discussion on ‘Climate Change, Carbon Footprint & Ethics in the Art World’ at the American Bar Association International Law Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. And in November, she was a guest on Christie’s art market insights podcast, Fair Market Value, discussing art-world operations and logistics.

In July, Christie’s Art + Tech Summit in New York had a focus on sustainability. Klug moderated a panel discussion on ‘The Role of Art in the Sustainability Discourse’ at the event, while Pradels also took part in a discussion on ‘Sustainability in Luxury’ along with Marie-Claire Daveu, the chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer of Kering.

Christie’s next goal is to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, and by 2050 the aim is to reach net zero and reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent. This goal has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an independent, global body that assesses and approves corporate emissions targets in line with its strict criteria.

‘The enjoyment of art shouldn’t come at the expense of the planet,’ says Christie’s CEO Bonnie Brennan. ‘Our annual environmental impact reports help us to create a greener, more responsible organization and foster collaborations that drive positive behavioral changes across the entire art market. Making these changes now will benefit many future generations to come. We’re proud to be part of the solution, not the problem.’

Earth Day 2025 takes place on 22 April

Learn more about sustainability at Christie’s