The keynote speech by Dr Kirsten Dunlop, Chief Executive Officer at EIT Climate-KIC, Europe's largest public-private partnership focused on climate innovation, was a true wake-up call to take action. Some facts and images were shocking, although deep down we know them. Kirsten Dunlop called for systemic change. We must acknowledge that we have to un-learn our inherent attitudes towards consumption, we have to learn to live with nature and not against it. On the question of how to achieve this, her answer was storytelling and empowerment. Make people relaxed enough to open up to and to have the energy to take action. 

Throughout the program during the two days, listening to many case studies, as well taking part in discussions and workshops it became apparent yet again that open-air museums seem to be particularly suited to fostering a dialogue on the climate emergency, as well as on the catastrophic loss of biodiversity. Buildings made from natural, recycable materials, a mosaic of different landscape types and growing old crop species are just a few starting points for discussions on how we want to shape a better future. 

The overarching agreement was that we want to open up our museums and get talking. Invite people in for safe dialogues, learn to listen to each other and try to pick up people where they are.

Nemo is setting up an interactive map on which museums can add their actions towards sustainability.This is a good starting point and place to look at what others are doing. Starting now, NEMO encourages museums across Europe to participate in the crowdsourced project by submitting their approaches, formats, and scopes via bit.ly/NEMO-Climate-Map-Submission   

To further support museums to take political action on the climate crisis, NEMO also presents findings from its new research on museums and climate related policies.

The strong will of the museum sector to move forward and to become more sustainable is reflected in a clear message from the directors of the National Museum Organisations in Europe at the conference:

"Our ethical and professional priority is to work with our communities for the future sustainability of the planet. Museums have a critical role to play in environmental sustainability and imagining our possible futures. Our commitment is that we will use our diverse collections and the stories that they hold to inspire people and facilitate change. We realise that it is no longer possible to preserve all heritage and collections in their current conditions. We are committed to re-evaluating our collections in terms of their social, historical, environmental, and educational impact."