Equity for a Green New Deal is a network of Equity Members fighting for climate justice in our industry and beyond
Our campaigns include fighting for sustainable and accessible workplaces in live performance and recorded media, working to make our union as green as possible, and demonstrating solidarity with other workers who are fighting for a green and just future.
Our Manifesto
Equity as a union declared a Climate Emergency in October 2021. We believe that climate and employment justice should be at the heart of Equity’s activity as a trade union.
Our manifesto sets out our 5 main objectives:
+ Empower members throughout the UK to fight for green and accessible workspaces
+ Work with Equity to ensure sustainable practices within their offices and operations
+ Campaign for our pension fund and art institutions to cut ties and sponsorship deals with the fossil fuel industry
+ Push the Arts Council and publicly funded bodies to make funding dependent on genuine sustainability
+ Engage with other unions to fight for well-paid green jobs (in our industry and adjacent sectors)
Greening the pension fund
We fought for and secured the movement of the entire default Equity Pension fund (worth over £130m) to a greener, more progressive fund, which has extensive fossil fuel exclusions. This means members' savings will be invested in companies considered to align positively with the UN's sustainable development goals, which include aims on climate action, gender equality, and affordable clean energy.
From November 2024, anyone enrolling in the Equity Pension Scheme for the first time will automatically join the new default fund. Existing members will move across in April 2025. But you can move your money early, which we encourage everyone to do, in the MyAviva app.
But the fight doesn’t end here.
We are also calling on the Chancellor to unlock green investment and make 'smart, strategic reforms' that could unlock a staggering £1.2 trillion from the pension sector for growing clean energy and infrastructure in the UK.
Your pension is powerful.
For more information on how your pension can change the world, visit Make My Money Matter.
Working with the Theatre Green Book
To ensure our union is part of the conversation around sustainable theatre practices, Equity for a Green New Deal has established the Sustainable Theatre working group and are currently working with the Theatres Trust to implement the Theatre Green Book.
The Theatre Green Book is a three-volume document produced by the Theatres Trust outlining sustainable standards for theatre productions and buildings.
We are keen to work constructively with the Theatre Green Book and we want to see more ambition and urgency from theatres in working towards Advanced Green Book standards. There are currently no theatres working to Advanced standards in the UK - we want to change that!
The Theatre Green Book is an evolving document that we want to make changes to. Our Sustainable Theatre working group has produced a report identifying these areas of change which include recommendations for more use of the worker voice, as well as highlighting accessibility concerns and a general aim to raise ambition and urgency throughout all three volumes. Read our feedback report on the Theatre Green Book.
Current campaigns
A Just Transition for Oil Workers
Equity for a Green New Deal is raising money for North Sea oil & gas workers.
The coming energy transition threatens North Sea communities with industrial decline - over 35,000 workers have been made redundant in the last few years alone. Yet, Aberdeen could be the green manufacturing hub of the UK. Local workers have the skills to manufacture wind turbines, trains, buses and batteries, thus speeding the transition to a cleaner future. Currently, these jobs are outsourced overseas, and North Sea workers face an increasingly precarious and exploitative industry.
Communities most impacted by industrial change must be at the heart of moving away from fossil fuels. Equity for a Green New Deal offers solidarity to these workers as they organise themselves and campaign for a just transition. Their voices and experience, not the corporate energy industry, should be central in government plans to create new, socially beneficial energy systems.
We support a well-managed phase-out of oil & gas production, involving large-scale job creation in clean industries, fully funded retraining programs, and the safeguarding of workers' rights. Workforces across the country - including the theatre, TV and film industries - have a huge opportunity to benefit from publicly owned, local and renewable energy.
Donate NowSustainable Screen
Concerned by film and TV's huge carbon footprint, Equity for a Green New Deal formed the Sustainable Screen initiative in December 2022. Our goal is to collaborate with all sectors of our industry to negotiate ambitious, actionable, and binding sustainability standards that will lower emissions. Read our Ten Sustainability Commitments.
Sustainable Screen are also working to empower actors to push for greener practices on set. Building on work done by BAFTA albert, we have drafted a Green Rider for actors to use when negotiating contracts. Read The Green Rider here.