Sustainability

On this page, you can learn more about our commitment and work towards sustainability - including our recent three-year Sustainability Action Plan.

What Does Sustainability Mean at Auckland Museum?

Honouring our commitment to kaitiakitanga in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland War Memorial Museum takes a proactive stance on environmental sustainability. It is a key principle in our 20-year Future Museum strategy.

Raising Awareness

As part of our sustainability strategy, we are committed to raising awareness about the importance of preserving our climate through our public experience, exhibitions, education and activities.

View some of our recent work raising awareness about sustainability below.

Whale Tales

We have participated in Whale Tales, an immersive experience celebrating Aotearoa, art, and marine conservation. In 2022, Auckland Museum Research Coordinator, Bhakti Patel and Annika Andresen painted a whale tail to celebrate plankton. Learn more about the creation of the tale or click below to join the artists as they discuss their story and what inspired the project.

SHELF-LIFE

From late-2021 to mid-2022, we hosted a display of British photographer Mandy Barker's hypnotising photographs. Although beautiful, they highlighted the sinister reality of society's reliance on plastic and the damage it causes to the natural world.

Sustainable Lighting

On 5 June 2022, the Museum will be illuminated in green to spread awareness of World Environment Day. But our lighting is so much more than symbolic - it’s also sustainable. Our lighting system for the building's exterior is entirely solar-powered, using one of the largest grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) installations in the country.

Bringing Antarctica to Auckland

As the sun set over the Domain in March 2017, the Museum's iconic building became the canvas for a full-scale 360-degree projection of a majestic Antarctic iceberg.

Growing Research

Auckland War Memorial Museum contributes to research that helps us understand environmental change and biodiversity loss.

Learn more about how we support research through our collections, partnerships, and projects below.

Our Library of Biodiversity

The Museum holds a vast library of scientific specimens that can be used by researchers. We are constantly working working to make information available for access and re-use through Collections Online to those locally and around the world. Click below to view over 600,000 scientific specimens.

Supporting Auckland's Future

We support Auckland city’s sustainability ambitions, outlined in the Auckland Plan 2050 and Te Tāruke-āTāwhiri: Auckland's Climate Plan.

We recognise the unique role the Museum has to play in the way it operates as an organisation and its role in educating those who live here and visitors to our city. Our research efforts build a base of evidence that informs the understanding of climate change and biodiversity.

Research Projects

We take part in many research projects, one of which is our project in Rangitāhua (Kermadec Islands).

We are working in partnership with Ngati Kuri, University of Auckland, Massey University, NIWA, Manaaki Whenua, and University of Waikato to identify tohu (signs) of ecosystem change and to develop methods of ensuring the long-term wellbeing of Rangitāhua’s ecosystems.

Being a Kaitiaki for Current and Future Generations

Auckland War Memorial Museum acts as a kaitiaki for current and future generations, caring for the iconic heritage building and our taonga. Through this, we are working to protect and safeguard our cultural and natural heritage for today and for future generations.

Sustainable Communities

Auckland War Memorial Museum plays a role in building more cohesive and sustainable communities. A key way we do this is by always keeping entry to the Museum free for those living in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland.

We are committed to the Auckland Plan 2050 by contributing to Belonging & Participation. See below for more of the ways we are meeting this commitment.

Te Taunga Community Hub

In Te Taunga Community Hub, we celebrate the diverse communities of Tāmaki Makaurau by inviting them into the space to create their own exhibit. Our visitors will experience a community's story not through the Museum’s interpretation, but through the eyes of the community itself.

Pictured is an image from Sudan - A Confluence of Cultures, available to explore virtually.

Tāmaki Herenga Waka: Stories of Auckland

Who are we, as Aucklanders? The stories that begin to answer that question are told in many languages, over many generations, and through many objects. Tāmaki Herenga Waka means 'the gathering place of many waka', and these new permanent galleries chronicle Auckland's past, capture its present, and look to the future.

AM Learn

We're committed to engaging every school child. The AM Learn supports teachers and children in our community to create unique and memorable learning experiences.

Sustainability Action Plan

Our three-year Sustainability Action Plan focuses our attention on the areas we can influence and have the most significant positive impact. The plan sets the foundation for our long-term net-zero target by 2050 and reinforces our organisation-wide commitment to reduce our impact on the environment and inspire others to do the same.

Tuia ki te rangi
Tuia ki te whenua
Tuia ki te moana
Tuia te here tangata
Ka rongo te Pō,
Ka rongo te Ao.
Bind the tapestry of life which affirms humanity’s connection to the natural world. To the celestial realm, to the early realm, to water for sustenance for all life forms, and to remember to keep everything in balance.

Sustainability Plan

Foreword

Tamaki Paenga Hira has a unique role to play in contributing to New Zealand's environmental, social and economic sustainability efforts.

We have an active commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and the impact of how we deliver our activities and operate our buildings.

However as a public museum, the Museum has an important role to play in public education, sharing information and highlighting the need for action to achieve environmental sustainability, through our public experience, exhibitions, education and activities. New galleries are scheduled to open in 2023/24 which explore the Human Impact on the Natural Environment.

Also what people may be less aware of is the critical role Auckland Museum plays in research, collecting the evidence required in order that environments and landscapes can be protected and restored. This research builds a base of evidence that informs the understanding of human impact on the environment in Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa. With over 170 years of collecting, the Museum’s collections of natural and human history provide a unique base line for measuring change over time, and its scientific fieldwork and partnerships with others provide rich data source for research into environmental change and biodiversity loss.

Museums protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage in the wider world. AWMM is a kaitiaki for current and future generations of this iconic building, collections and taonga. Free general admission enables cultural participation for all Aucklanders with the aim of supporting social cohesion.

2020-2030 has been set out as a decade of action: global action, local action, and people’s action. Our role is to inspire people to action.

AWMM has developed a 3-year Sustainability Action Plan that outlines our approach.

Kea, Nestor notabilis (Mountain parrot). Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. LB4352.

*Teloschistes chrysophthalmus*. Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. AK230277.

Poor Knights giant wētā, *Deinacrida fallai*. Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. AMNZ18805.

North Island brown kiwi, *Apteryx mantelli*. Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. LB4225.

True jellyfish. *Cnidaria Scyphozoa*. Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. MA656268.

Achievements of Note

The Museum has made big strides in recent years as part of our commitment to sustainability. As of April 2018, Auckland Museum was in the top 5 CEMARS® and carboNZero CertTM certified organisations nationally in our carbon reduction efforts.

Since 2010 we have…

- Reduced our carbon footprint by 45%

- Reduced our electricity usage by 47%

- Reduced our consumption of natural gas by 55%

- Reduced our waste to landfill carbon emissions by 70%

Our next phase sees us focus on being sustainable with our building works programme, the reuse of exhibition materials, and a major focus on recycling and reduction across the organisation. We will also engage with Aucklanders on environmental issues through our exhibitions, public programmes and education activities.

As a society we can no longer take a back seat on climate change and, to negate the worse effects, we must come together and act quickly.

SOLAR PANELS

In 2014, the Museum installed 189 solar panels on the Eastern and Western sides of the Museum roof, making it one of the largest grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) installations in the country. The amount of renewable energy generated by the panels (65,000 kwh per year) is equvilent to the power consumed by around eight average households. Click here to see the Museum's solar generation at work today.

NEW ZEALAND TOURISM SUSTAINABILITY COMMITMENT

Auckland Museum were the first museum nationally to sign the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment as part of TIANZ. This commitment aims to ensure economic, environmental, social sustainability as part of the tourism industry.