Singapore Repertory Theatre

 

Towards a Carbon-Positive Visit to the Theatre

As part of SRT’s commitment to creating solutions towards a more sustainable future, and reduce the impact our work has on the planet as much as possible without compromising on our impact and quality, one of our key initiatives is adopting mangrove rehabilitation and restoration to help make our theatre productions planet positive. Mangroves are important because of their ability to regulate the global climate.

According to a report featured in the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), mangroves are powerful carbon sinks. They store more carbon per acre than any other forest variety as a result of carbon being locked away in the soil underneath their roots. Blue carbon — that is, carbon captured and stored in coastal ecosystems — can be kept safe in mangrove forests for thousands of years if they are left undisturbed. Experts believe that mangroves store as much as four times more carbon than tropical forests do.*

To make the change actionable and easy, we are partnering with Handprint.tech. They are an innovative technology company that curates the most effective impact organisations so that the contributions make a positive change. They use a proprietary tool called the Handprint Target Calculator to allocate regenerative responsibility based on the consumption patterns of the organisation. The calculation calibrates the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per ticket and the number of mangroves needed to remove that additional carbon from the atmosphere.

So a simple yet sophisticated calculation based on our energy consumption and an estimated 80% of our patrons driving to the theatre, the calculation shows that for less than $1 per ticket you can make your theatre visit not only planet neutral but planet positive as the mangroves we aim to plant with this initiative not only absorbs the carbon dioxide SRT puts into the atmosphere for all our productions but support our general operational footprint too.

380 mangroves were planted to make SRT’s theatre production of Lungs in June 2021 carbon positive.

Restoring mangroves bring massive benefits. Besides offering carbon storage, they are also life-giving by being nurseries to much marine life as well birds and providing nourishment for coast-dwelling communities.

*https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/in-climate-crisis-mangroves-bring-massive-benefits


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