Climate change is now the greatest threat to our cultural heritage. Numerous concepts and framework agreements such as the European Green Deal or the Cultural Heritage Green Paper call for CO2 neutrality by 2050 (already 50% by 2030). There are also targets, benchmarks, demands and concepts at national level. The United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework for many activities. Countless working groups on the topic of "sustainability" are looking for participants. Various labels and certifications for culture, tourism, events etc. are in competition. A large protest movement has started. Young people prefer to demonstrate on Fridays, climate activists like to get stuck in and a general malaise against "green washing" is spreading. Sustainability at all levels is seen as a cross-cutting issue and is increasingly expected by guests, visitors and employees as a basic requirement. Sustainability labels will have an even greater influence on future travel decisions. In view of these challenges, it is crucial to go beyond mere rhetoric and develop concrete strategies that lead to genuine environmental sustainability.

As one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis, industrialisation has a difficult role to play. From today's perspective, the negative effects on the climate and environment outweigh the achievements of the industrial revolution. This also poses new challenges and tasks for communication and interpretation.

Whereas "sustainability" used to be more of a buzzword, it is now a permanent task and a basic prerequisite for any action. Questioning established norms and familiar behaviour patterns and developing new habits is a demanding, sometimes exhausting, but indispensable process.     

What does all this mean for industrial heritage sites? How can the major framework concepts be broken down into manageable local or regional solutions? What can the sites achieve with their often limited personnel and resources? What (architectural) possibilities or obstacles are there? How can visitors, employees and partners be involved in the change processes? What contribution can industrial heritage sites make as high-quality educational centres for sustainable development? What opportunities and new potentials open up when we initiate and implement sustainability processes? 

We want to explore this question at the ERIH Annual Conference 2024. How do we move from "buzzwords" to concrete activities at the sites? How do we move from thinking via talking to each other to acting and from acting to new habits? We are looking for good examples of how the topic of "environmental sustainability" is implemented, processed and addressed at industrial heritage sites or in regions. This involves energy consumption, constructional optimisation, transport, mobility, tourism, communication, visitors´ services (like shop, cafeteria) etc.

INVITATION TO SPEAKERS
We invite speakers from a wide range of fields, related to industrial heritage site and infrastructure management, local development and tourism, planner, builders and environmental companies etc.

GENERAL QUESTIONS AND TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED
Your presentation should provide practical ideas/ proposals considering some of the following questions:

• What challenges do you face at your industrial site and how did you solve them?
• How can environmental sustainability be credibly practised and implemented at the site?
• Where in the customer journey does sustainability play a role and what offers have been developed for this?
• What good examples of climate and/or energy sustainability are there?
• What role does sustainability play in interpretation?
• Which adaptations and/or updates have been made to the musicographic displays to highlight the relationships between industrial heritage and sustainability?
• What difficulties and challenges do you face?
• What opportunities and potentials arise?
• What role does sustainability play for employees, guests and visitors?
• How important are regional, national or European concepts?
• What are the benefits of certifications and labels?
• Are successes measurable, are there evaluations?
• What financial and human resources are required for the development, implementation and continuation of sustainability measures and strategies?
• What activities are needed at ERIH level; how can the network provide support?

In addition to contributions for the conference, suggestions for workshop formats in the afternoon (1.5 h) on the following aspects are also very welcome:

• Building and energy
• Mobility, visitor guidance and service infrastructure
• Exhibitions about industrialisation, energy, and climate change (permanent, temporary)
• Communication
• Strategy development and stabilisation
• Events, MICE
• Location management

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS
Interested persons should submit a précis of their paper in English (not exceeding 2,000 characters) to the ERIH Secretariat (contact details below) by Thursday 20th June 2024. A brief CV and note of relevant experience should be attached.

The complete ‘Call for papers’ with detailed information for presenters