We sat down with Jaci to chat about Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre's stance the climate crisis. 

Can you give me a brief introduction to what Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre are doing to tackle the climate crisis?

We began our journey to net zero in 2015, we had a carbon footprint of 445 tonnes per year, this is the equivalent of 2,152,415kwh of electricity, it works out at running 493 3 bedroomed houses for 1 year. Or will run 96. 7 petrol family cars for 1 year.

I am pleased to say that we have reduced this figure by 50% and our current footprint is 223 tonnes. So how have we done it?

To begin with we had no budget and very little knowledge.

We formed a green a green team and decided what we wanted to achieve. The policy was formed. We put together a 10point plan and began simple fixes, such as litter picks, garden tidies, switching off lights when not needed and in the first year we reduced our energy by 88,365 kwh that works out at 19 tonnes of Co2.

Over the years we have got better and bolder, by reaching out to the community with the Climate Café. We have worked in partnership with other organisations with Climate beacons. As storytellers we use our performances to tell stories of climate change and Climate justice and include Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. We have now made sustainability one of our 4 strategic aims we abide by. There is great awareness in the company and a lot of our staff go the extra mile to go green.

Why is it important that organisations like DRSDT take the climate crisis seriously?

It needs to be taken seriously because it is widespread and has severe consequences for the planet and inhabitants. On the news we hear of rising sea levels, extreme weather events affecting food and water. It is depleting our ecosystem and human health. So, we must be seen to be doing something about it. We are one of many theatres working on Climate crisis.

What resources have helped shape the organisation’s green policy?

We work closely with “Culture for Climate Scotland” Our funding relies heavily on the reduction of our carbon footprint and every year we must send our emission total to CCS. We are also part of the Green initiatives group. We are a member of green tourism and have received the gold award for the past 6 years. And we have signed up to Theatre Greenbook, which is a great initiative to help us to reduce our emissions for stage performances and in 2024 the theatre was the overall winner of the Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce awards.

Can you tell me more about the Green Charter?

The green charter is a list of 10 things we are doing to cut down our carbon footprint on all aspects of what we do.

1. Minimise Energy – to date by 66%
2. Minimise waste – where possible we repurpose. All our waste is recycled.
3. Procurement – Where possible we reuse, recycle and borrow before ethical buying. An example would be the new matting at the front doors is made from actual ocean plastic waste.
4. Our environmental impact on the environment. – This is considered in all that we do, through nature, bird/ swift boxes, insect & bee hotels diverse plants and flowers. Purchasing, travel. Through our performances, we have a green message to the audiences.
5. New Processes or products- Where possible we will try to repair equipment, and it is maintained on a frequent basis. The refurbishing areas of the building we always look at the environmental impact and do our best to keep the footprint low, for example in 2022 when we refurbished the front of house toilets, the footprint came to only 21 tonnes of Co2
6. Reduce risks from environmental health, or safety hazards – our operations uses all types of substances. All departments have already looked at the items they are using and replaced them for more safer and environmentally friendly substances. Our cleaners are using plant-based cleaning products, our scenic artists have replaced oil-based paint to water-based paints.
7. The environmental policy- we are one of the leading theatres in environmental practices and we stand by our policy. You can see it on our website; it encompasses all aspects of environmental behaviour, and our intention is to become net zero by 2040. We are already on our way as we have reduced our footprint by 50%
8. Train employees in good environmental practice and to encourage employee participation – To date we have 26 staff trained in carbon literacy awareness. Since August 2025 we now have an inhouse carbon literacy trainer, so there will be ongoing training in house, and the plan is to have everyone do the training
9. Company transportation – We have 2 vans at the theatre and one of them is electric saving around 3-5000 fuel miles a year. We recently received funding from the green sky trust for 2 EV chargers. Due to the nature of our business, travel is required and our Scottish dance ensemble tour all over the world. Where possible they use buses and trains, however flying is one of the biggest uses of transport. We are now introducing carbon budgeting, where each department are given a baseline and each year, they try to reduce it by 5%.
10. To work with the community, contractors and suppliers to actively support the environment- Many of our contractors are Scottish based, the majority coming from Dundee, the same can be said of our main suppliers. We regularly remind our audiences that there is public transport available and we are only 5 minutes from the train station. One thing that puts people off bringing a car is that we do not have a carpark.

Our engagement team work closely with the local community. They run activity groups for all ages and during the summer the groups put on a performance. We also have Drama therapy that helps children and adults with mental health.

What do you and the organisation do to encourage your supporters and audience to tackle the climate crisis?

Our Marketing team love to update social media on our ventures. We are currently updating the website to give more information on our green initiatives, so watch this space.

Our Restaurant have seasonal menus, so they use fruit and vegetables in season and buy from local suppliers. They have a great range of vegan and vegetarian dishes and will make sure anyone with an allergy is looked after.

We promote public transport and have a stand for an electric taxi company. We also have enough space for 25 bikes. We send out a survey to our audiences and it asks how they got to the theatre and how many miles they travel.

We run a climate Café once a month for anyone to attend. Each month we have a speaker relating to climate change or we have interactive workshops.

Can you tell me more about recent refurbishments around the building and how they've made a difference?

• We have done a few things to help with the Climate Crisis. We are now working on making the building resilient from storm damage and excessive temperature.
• We have done the simpler things first for example filling in holes and cracks to prevent draught
• We have changed our lighting to LED
• We have added variable speed drives to our HVAC systems, so it reduces power outage by 50%.
• We have fitted smart sockets to our radiators, fridges and water heaters so they switch off when not required.
• We refurbished the front of house toilets and included a changing place for people with severe disabilities, this was done on a small footprint
• As the building is A listed, we have added a form of temporary glazing to our rehearsal spaces and offices. It is made of recycled a polycarbonate and is held on the windows using magnets. The property of the glazing can reduce UV rays keeping the spaces cooler in hot temperatures and reduces the loss of heat by 68% in colder weather. It also reduces outside noise levels. An example would be our Scottish Dance Theatre studio saved 15,000 Kwh in 10 months.
• We have replaced our front entrance doors with a new automatic door with air slide. This has secured the front of the building and reduced draughts, and the temperature inside has risen by 5oC. All the waste was recycled, and all the new equipment is made from recycled products.
• We are currently working on replacing the roof of the building, Areas are wet due to damage to the membrane. We are tackling it from different angles:
  - We want to make the roof watertight and resilient for bad weather.
  - We intend to increase the insulation from 50mm to 150mm where possible
  - We are hoping to include solar panelling, if successful through planning, it will reduce our electricity from the grid by 34%.
  - We are also looking at installing an air-cooling system in the auditorium as the excessive temperatures are making the space very uncomfortable.
• Finally, we are looking at installing District Network Heating, which will allow us to come away from mains gas. This is a long-term project in conjunction with Dundee City Council.