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Over the last ten years Paris Opera has taken a number of significant measures to reduce energy consumption, improve catering procurement and renovate its stage lighting system. This wide-ranging environmental policy significantly optimised consumption between 2015 and 2022.

• A 10% reduction in electricity consumption: Paris Opera’s facility management contract includes an energy performance contract that sets minimum and maximum energy consumption targets. Judicious monitoring and control have reduced electricity consumption by 10% in 10 years.

• A 30% reduction in water consumption at Opéra Bastille between 2015 and 2022: these savings were the result of long-term plans to replace washroom facilities and plumbing, including the installation of low-flow taps to avoid excessive consumption, the replacement of hot-water tanks and toilet cisterns to prevent leaks, and awareness-raising campaigns among staff.

• Installation of LED lighting in public areas at Garnier and Bastille: a large-scale campaign to install LED lighting in all public areas at Palais Garnier started in 2015 and 50% of the building is now lit by LEDs. In 2017, LEDs were installed in the paver lights in the public areas of Opéra Bastille, which account for 15% of the building’s light fittings. In 2023, LEDs were used in 55% of light fittings in the buildings on the four sites, 70% of stage lighting at Bastille and 85% of stage lighting at Palais Garnier.

• Reduction in energy consumption: electricity and heating consumption fell by 16% and 32% respectively between September 2023 and April 2024 in comparison with the same period in the 2021/22 season.

• Eco-design: in the scenery production workshops, 90% of aluminium has been replaced by steel and wood for set construction since 2021, and 60% of okoume wood (an exotic species) has been replaced by European poplar and locally sourced maritime pine since 2022. Since 2019, the workshops have also developed modular steel baseplates, reused as staple components from one production to another for nearly 90% of productions in the 2023/24 season.

In 2022, Paris Opera conducted its first carbon footprint assessment based on data for 2019, a benchmark year before the covid crisis. Carried out within the framework of EY’s skills sponsorship, the assessment showed total greenhouse gas emissions (scopes 1, 2 and 3) of 44,654 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent).

For comparison, 1 tCO2e corresponds to the annual consumption of a gas-heated studio apartment or 5,000 km travelled by a petrol-engined compact urban car. In 2021, the annual carbon footprint of French residents was estimated at 9.9 tCO2e per inhabitant.

Scopes 1 and 2 of the Opera’s carbon footprint assessment account for barely 5% of the total, or 2,194 tCO2e. They correspond to direct greenhouse gas emissions and indirect emissions from the generation of energy consumed, mainly related to heating systems and power generation.

Scope 3, which corresponds to the institution’s other indirect emissions, amounts to 42,460 tCO2e, or 95% of its greenhouse gas emissions, with the following five items accounting for 89%:

At the same time as the carbon footprint assessment, Paris Opera carried out an energy audit of its two theatres that provided a detailed breakdown of energy consumption, especially electricity consumption (17,800 MWh in 2019, equivalent to the consumption of a French town of 8,000 inhabitants), and identified areas for improvement over the period 2022-2024.

Paris Opera is currently updating its carbon footprint assessment using data for 2023.

Based on the results of the carbon footprint assessment and energy audit carried out in 2022, Paris Opera has drawn up its first sustainable development action plan with a roadmap spanning nine areas of action:

An energy-efficiency plan was added to the action plan in late 2022, in response to the energy crisis. It is part of the broader government plan to reduce energy use, with a target of cutting consumption by 10% by 2024 in relation to 2019. 

Paris Opera’s four sites – Opéra Bastille, Palais Garnier, the Dance School and the Berthier workshops – span 185,000 m² that need heating and ventilation.

Paris Opera rolled out a number of energy-efficiency initiatives in 2022 in order to achieve immediate and measurable energy savings and pave the way for optimised energy management.

• Smart Impulse electricity meters were installed to identify the most energy-intensive items and fine-tune energy-consumption management through measures such as turning off lights at set times, reducing times during which equipment is in operation and adjusting consumption to use.
  
  
• Sludge was cleared from heating networks and temperature settings were adjusted to save energy. From October 2022, winter temperatures on the premises and in public areas were reduced to 19° C except in areas occupied by artists, where they are kept at 22° C. In summer, temperatures on the premises are now cooled to 24° C compared with 18° C before 2022.
  
  
• Air handling units in the two theatres and the Dance School are now fitted with CO2 sensors to analyse air quality, especially in the auditoria, and optimise recycling. 
  
  
• The rollout of LED lighting that started in 2015 is continuing, especially for stage lighting units.
  
  
• A sustainably cultivated rooftop farm has been created at Opéra Bastille, helping to insulate the building.

Changing uses and extensive technical renovations will help to further reduce building energy consumption in the years to come, and new measures will be identified to continue Paris Opera’s transition towards more sustainable management of its activities.

In pursuit of that goal, Paris Opera took part in the French Energy-Saving Championship between November 2023 and November 2024 and, alongside more than 500 other entrants, entered the first CUBE État, a government-sponsored competition to promote the efficient use of public buildings. The aim is to reduce energy consumption at Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille by encouraging building users to adopt best practices.

Paris Opera repeated the experience by entering the Dance School in the second edition of the CUBE État competition, which takes place between November 2024 and November 2025. As well as reducing the building’s energy consumption, the initiative will help to raise awareness of energy transition issues among younger dancers, with a focus on the use of resources and energy efficiency.

Rollout of the sustainable development policy is overseen by Violaine Charpy, executive director for strategy, investment and sustainable development, and her staff, reporting to the General Director.

To structure and coordinate the policy throughout the institution, the initiative has the backing of Paris Opera’s executive committee, and a network of sustainable development correspondents was set up in the second quarter of 2023, bringing together representatives of all the artistic, technical and administrative departments. With around 30 members, the network promotes Paris Opera’s sustainable development initiatives, circulates information and promotes best practices among staff.

Paris Opera has made staff training a priority since the 2023/24 season. Specific communication campaigns together with proactive training and awareness-raising initiatives have been rolled out for employees in-house, backed up by the network of sustainable development correspondents, who attended initial Climate Fresk awareness-raising sessions in June 2023 as part of EY’s skills sponsorship. These workshops have been offered to all staff on the Bastille and Palais Garnier sites since November 2023. After the first year, more than 150 employees have been made aware of environmental issues via the Climate Fresk, the Biodiversity Fresk and a workshop on low-carbon living.

Two lectures given in October 2023 by the actor and stage director Samuel Valensi, co-author of Décarbonons la Culture!, a report on decarbonising culture issued by The Shift Project, gave staff an insight into the ecological transition issues specific to the performing arts. The lectures are due to be repeated each year to provide staff with further training on the subject.

Staff are also invited to take part in theatre-specific training in areas such as responsible purchasing, sustainability in textiles, and environmental responsibility in communication and digital media.

More generally, Paris Opera’s sustainable development action is underpinned by a policy of cooperation and partnership:

• with government departments, as a member of the SPE (Environmentally Responsible Public Services) network set up by the Ecological Transition Ministry with the aim of accelerating the ecological transition in public services by actively encourage staff engagement, and by taking part in the CUBE État energy-saving competition with the aim of reducing energy consumption at Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille by encouraging building users to adopt best practices;
  
  
• with other public enterprises as a member of Club DDEP, the Public Institutions and Enterprises Sustainable Development Club, since 2018. Palais Garnier hosted the Club DDEP directors meeting in October 2023, an opportunity to discuss employee expectations with regard to the ecological transition and their role as drivers of change;
  
  
• with the culture sector, especially as a member of Collectif 17h25 a grouping of five opera houses (Théâtre du Châtelet, Festival d’Aix-en Provence, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Paris and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels) set up to research practical ways of reducing the carbon footprint of performing arts. Throughout 2024, Paris Opera also took part, with around 20 other cultural institutions, in an eight-month programme of research into eco-design and digital technology in cultural activities organised by Les Augures, an association that aims to support cultural organisations in their ecological and social transition.

Paris Opera’s scenery production workshops are constantly researching and developing less polluting alternative materials, for example by using recycled paints or a different type of resin, reducing the use of okoume wood, an exotic species from Gabon, in favour of PEFC and FSC-certified timber, and reducing the use of aluminium and polystyrene. At the same time, the workshops are investing in equipment to reduce the amount of waste generated by their activities. Since 2019, they have developed modular steel baseplates, reused as staple components from one production to another for nearly 90% of productions in the 2023/24 season.

Fume cabinets have been installed in the props workshops to capture toxic fumes from paints and solvents, and the costumes workshops laundry has installed a washing machine that uses less water. Stage directors are also systematically invited to browse the store of categorised props.

In 2024, the scenery production workshops teamed up with the Athem design agency to reuse the advertising billboards installed on Palais Garnier during works on the building. They are now stored in the Opera’s workshops for reuse either as protective covers for painted sets during storage or transport (tours, rentals, coproductions), or to protect safety mats in the paint workshops at Bastille and Berthier. This will help to significantly reduce the use of polythene, a fragile plastic previously used extensively in the workshops.

At the Costume Department, nothing is thrown away and all costumes are stored after the run of performances ends so that they can be reused if the production is revived. Racks of decommissioned costumes are either kept in reserve at the Berthier workshops or offered for hire or sold or passed on to recycling organisations like La Réserve des Arts.

In 2024, the Costume Department set up a partnership with We Turn, a company that recycles unsold textiles and textile waste, which helps Paris Opera to recycle offcuts from its costume production. Four textile skips have been put in place in the workshops for small scraps of fabric no longer suitable for reuse (muslin / cotton / linen, wool, silk / other fabrics (polyamide, polyester, etc.). Some fabrics are unwoven then rewoven to make new thread, while others are used as heating fuel.

Collectif 17h25 is a forum for thinking about and sharing environmental best practices, especially in the eco-design of opera and ballet sceneries. Created in 2019, it has five members (Théâtre du Châtelet, Festival d’Aix-en Provence, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Paris and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels) and aims to pool their research into practical ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the performing arts.

In 2022, the collective embarked on an ambitious three-year eco-design project, selected in the first Green Alternatives call for projects under the France 2030 plan. Its aim is to define a common approach to designing structural set components (not visible to the audience) so that they can be reused in other productions, even those designed by another venue.

Thus, in a coproduction or rental production, only the artistic components (visible to the audience) would be made and transported from one theatre to the other. The ultimate goal for the five venues is to constitute a library of structural components that they all share, on the scale of the entire sector.

The trips made by artists from all over the world are a key challenge for reducing Paris Opera’s carbon footprint.

To reduce the environmental impact of the international travel of guest artists from all over the world, in 2022 Paris Opera added an incentive clause to artists’ contracts ending the reimbursement of travel expenses for guest artists taking a flight where there is an alternative by rail that takes less than five hours.

Another initiative that will help to limit environmental impacts is the creation of a company of singers as of the 2023/24 season, with the primary goal of supporting young artists’ careers over several seasons. In 2023/24, the 15 or so artists in residence will sing over 30 roles that would formerly have been taken by guest artists, reducing the travel generated by Paris Opera’s artistic activity.

To encourage sustainable commuting, Paris Opera is in the final stages of negotiating a sustainable transport package for its staff, including a flat-rate allowance and a grant to buy equipment.

As part of the process, an in-house transport use survey was circulated to all staff in September 2023 in order to assess habits and needs. Of the 390 respondents (25% of Paris Opera’s headcount):

• 51% use public transport to get to their place of work;
• 22% come by bicycle or other means (scooter, etc.);
• 7% come by car or motorised two-wheeler.

On the basis of this information, new infrastructure improvements will be rolled out during the 2024/25 season, such as the provision of changing rooms and more bicycle parking spaces.

Bike repair workshops

Since 2024, Paris Opera has offered its staff bicycle repair workshops in spring and autumn. The workshops have several aims:

• Prevent accidents by carrying out detailed bicycle safety checks,

• Save time on trips to repair shops before or after work,

• Encourage staff to travel by bicycle in order to reduce the share of commuting in Paris Opera’s carbon footprint.

Contact :

Violaine Charpy, executive director for strategy, investment and sustainable development: vcharpy@operadeparis.fr