Environmental sustainability

To achieve concrete and lasting effects in terms of environmental sustainability, it is important for everyone to contribute. This is why we ask the public participating in our events to make responsible choices and be virtuous in their behaviour, joining us in our effort to safeguard an ecosystem as fragile as that of Venice and its territory.

To this end, La Biennale di Venezia suggests a number of simple gestures and basic courses of action:
1. If possible, come to Venice using public transport, such as the train or bus.
2. If you prefer or are forced to take an airplane, make a responsible choice by offsetting the carbon emissions generated by your travel when you buy your ticket.
3. Once you arrive in the city, walk or use the public transport system (actv.avmspa.it) to reach the venues of the exhibitions and festivals, as well as the collateral events.
4. Avoid printing your ticket and your tour brochure, use the digital versions.
5. Respect common spaces for the good of the environment and of others, be careful not to leave any rubbish in the areas you pause in.
6. Don’t waste food and if you can avoid using plastic bottles. Find the fountains from which you can fill you water bottle at venicetapwater.com.
7. Respect waste sorting, and use the wastebaskets located in all the exhibition areas.
8. Use the restrooms for visitors in the exhibition areas responsibly, avoid wasting water.

In 2021, La Biennale di Venezia launched a plan to monitor and reduce the environmental impact of all its activities, by using renewal electrical power in the exhibition venues and taking other actions aimed at saving natural resources, recycling materials, reusing the installation materials and equipment, and ensuring the sustainable mobility of people and things.
A significant part of this impact is connected, directly or indirectly, to the use of the goods and services procured for installing and holding the events.
To achieve the goals it has set for itself, La Biennale di Venezia intends therefore to develop and maintain over time a chain of suppliers sensitised to the themes of environmental sustainability, who can help advance La Biennale’s commitment and make a real contribution to achieve concrete and lasting results.

Guidelines for the environmental assessment of suppliers
Preference will be given to suppliers who:
Have a ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management System;
Reduce the use of fossil fuels to a minimum and use electrical power from renewable sources;
Can demonstrate awareness of the environmental impact deriving from their work and the goods and services they supply, in particular with regards to the carbon footprint;
Are proactive in proposing new solutions that can reduce the environmental impact.

Environmental sustainability in the supply of goods and services
Preference will be given to the procurement of goods and services that, assuming equal technical quality and economic conditions, will incorporate the following criteria of environmental sustainability and circularity of resources, in a specific measure differentiated for the various product categories:
Minimize the content of raw materials and materials, in a perspective of dematerialisation;
Are produced with renewable raw materials or materials coming from recycling chains;
Come from local proximity markets and are handled in such a way as to reduce the environmental impact of the transport;
Are energy-efficient making it possible to save electricity during the phases of operation;
Are conceived to extend their useful life, and can therefore be reused as they are in other Biennale events or elsewhere;
Once they become waste can be reclaimed or recycled.

The environmental quality of the goods and services supplied can be effectively demonstrated by the possession of environmental labels or environmental statements for the products or services.

The European Union has set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality for all economic and social activities by the year 2050. To achieve this, it is important to seek a balance between the emissions that are generated and the capacity of the ecosystem to absorb them.

All international events with a significant participation of the public generate emissions from their set-up, from the movement of goods and people, the energy used on exhibition sites, the disposal of waste and the services for the public.

La Biennale di Venezia is committed to monitoring and achieving zero impact for their events, working in two directions:
Reducing emissions by using electrical energy from renewable sources and taking other actions aimed at saving natural resources, recycling materials, reusing installation materials and equipment, and reducing the impact of mobility;
Offsetting residual emissions, through the purchase of carbon credits, generated by projects for renewable energy or environmental reclamation and conservation of natural environments, such as forests, land and oceans.

The first event certified as carbon neutral was the 78th Venice International Film Festival in 2021.

Useful documents

2021
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 78th Venice International Film Festival

2022
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 59th International Art Exhibition
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 50th International Theatre Festival
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 16th International Festival of Contemporary Dance
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 79th Venice International Film Festival
Certificate of carbon neutrality for the 66th International Festival of Contemporary Music

2023
In progress