Sustainability

The National Concert Hall environment comprises of the buildings on the Earlsfort Terrace site, the staff of the NCH and National Symphony Orchestra, our three choirs and several resident organisations including Music Network, Crash Ensemble, Irish Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland. Bars and catering at the NCH is operated by With Taste, a third-party hospitality company which is governed by its own sustainability policy. We host over 1,000 concerts and events annually and welcome over 300,000 visitors each year.

The NCH Environmental Policy applies to all activities and operations across the Earlsfort Terrace site and to all our employees, suppliers, third-party suppliers, volunteers, working partners and visitors.   

The NCH is fully committed to reducing its carbon emissions and its impact on the environment and to embedding sustainable business practises across our organisation.  

Our aim is to be a leader for environmental practice within Ireland’s artistic and cultural sector. We seek to understand, measure, improve and communicate our environmental performance, and reduce our carbon emissions and the negative environmental impact of our activities on the environment. We will encourage new and ground-breaking initiatives addressing climate and ecological emergency, and the societal and planetary risks that accompany it, within the framework of NCH’s vision and values.  

We are committed to protecting our environment and enhancing the biodiversity of our site. As a corporate supporter of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (aligned to ISO144001:2015 and the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals) since June 2022, we prioritise the integration of recommended actions from the pollinator plan within our day-to-day site management and to inform future site investment decisions.  

We will continue to examine and review our business models, operations, systems, and structures to operate more sustainably, including planning actions and monitoring our outcomes in the following areas: 

Biodiversity – enhancing our external landscape 

Communications & engagement – engaging management, staff and visitors and building awareness of our environment and the ways in which we can all act more sustainably 

Energy & emissions – particularly the operational running and maintenance of our buildings including the energy, water and materials used in our public spaces, offices and store facilities 

Reduce, reuse, recycle - tackling waste through a reduce, reuse and recycle approach, using and promoting recycled and environmentally friendly products where possible 

Staff business travel 

Our areas of focus for 2023 include: 

 - The development and delivery of an annual cross organisational action plan which seeks sustainable improvements, encourages innovation and ensures our environmental commitments are embedded across the organisation 

 - Biodiversity: Identifying, protecting and increasing areas which protect biodiversity, wild pollinator nesting habitats and ecosystems which are friendly to pollinators. Increasing the number of our native locally sourced pollinator-friendly plant, tree and shrub species and reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides across our property 

 - Energy & emissions: Maintaining our use of an 100% renewable electricity supplier, investing in LED lighting in public and back of house areas, reviewing our carbon emissions targets, objectives and baseline measurements, and establishing and embedding our onsite SEAI energy team.  

 - Communications & engagement: Encouraging staff through sustainability-themed workshops, training and regular internal communications, to work in an environmentally responsible manner. Promote more sustainable actions and options to visitors on our website and in our event programmes.