Northern Ballet building

Sustainability

Where are we now?

As a registered charity, and one of the busiest and widest touring ballet companies in the UK, we understand that it is vital we respond to the climate emergency and lead the way to a more sustainable theatre industry. We are working in many ways to change how we operate as a business across all departments and leading positive change amongst our employees and stakeholders.

We are focusing on the three areas within the Theatre Green Book: Operations, Buildings and Productions.

We plan to hit basic in operations and buildings by the end of 2024 and we are so close to completing this goal. We’ve worked hard to make areas within the building more sustainable and are working on areas such as paper and digital, waste, travel and building operations. We will have more to share soon. 

We are also aiming to hit intermediate on our new children’s ballet, Hansel & Gretel.

Building front windows

Our commitment

We have an established Environment and Sustainability Committee made up of staff from across the organisation who are passionate about the sustainability of the theatre industry and improving the environmental impact we have on the world. We know there is still a long way to go and as a touring company we can’t get everything right overnight, but we have made great strides in improving our carbon footprint. You can read more about the great work we are doing in our news articles. 

As one of the largest creative organisations in Leeds we have also been working closely with Sustainable Arts in Leeds (SAIL) and take part in their Theatre Green Book and Circularity working groups.  

If you want to contact us with any thoughts or ideas, please email us on nbenvironment@northernballet.com.

Sustainability Latest
Illustration of a black dancer in a green dress en pointe and smiling, a small child in a blue T-shirt and orange shorts laughs next to her
29.01.25

Sustainability: Hansel & Gretel

Utilising the tools within the Theatre Green Book we are aiming to hit the intermediate standard for Hansel & Gretel.
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Ceiling tiles with regularly spaced out LED lighting squares
16.01.25

Sustainability: LED Lighting

We started upgrading the lights to LED during the Christmas break in 2023 and we expect to finish the project by Christmas 2024.
Read more