Swiss Museum of Transport calculates carbon footprint with First Climate
First Climate undertakes the calculation of the carbon footprint of the Lucerne-based Swiss Museum of Transport, where the results will be presented in conjunction with a permanent exhibition on display in a new exhibition room focused on energy and mobility.
Energy is a focal point of the museum’s program in 2023. This is also reflected in the new permanent exhibition, “Experience Energy!,” which is dedicated to the interconnectivity between energy and mobility. It shows the possibilities of how a sustainable energy supply and a responsible use of resources might look like in the future. In Switzerland, transportation is responsible for the highest percentage of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Through the electrification of the transportation sector and subject to renewable energy sources cover all necessary electricity needs, these emissions are expected to be reduced to a large extent in the coming years. The Swiss Museum of Transport also wants to position itself more strongly around the themes of energy and climate. Together with First Climate, it has embarked on its climate journey – starting with the calculation of its carbon footprint.
Following the opening of the “Experience Energy!” exhibit at the beginning of April, the results of the calculations from the 2019 base year relative to the museum’s emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 will be displayed interactively on two screens within the new exhibition room of the museum. Thereby, the calculations show where most museum’s operations-related carbon emissions came from, and how the museum has been able to reduce these emissions in this time. Over the next years, the museum’s carbon footprint is expected to be further reduced.
Images left and right: © Verkehrshaus der Schweiz
Reduction measures in the name of climate protection
To reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, the Swiss Museum of Transport is taking various additional emission reduction measures. The “House of Energy”, which also includes the new permanent exhibition, meets the Swiss Minergie standards and is equipped with photovoltaic systems on the roof and façade. To lower its Scope 1 emissions, meaning the direct emissions related to fuel consumption, since 2022, the museum has been using water from Lake Lucerne to generate energy for heating through its own newly installed energy hub. This initiative will have a positive, long-term impact on the results of its carbon footprint. However, the museum has not stopped there. In the midterm, it also plans to eliminate the consumption of fossil fuels in the areas of heating, air circulation and cooling to make way for a transition to renewable energy.
“The Swiss Museum of Transport has already laid out important building blocks for its decarbonization strategy with the calculation of its carbon footprint and other carbon reduction measures it has already undertaken. The museum’s leadership is sending an important message regarding greater sustainability and climate action with their transparent display of active engagement. We are naturally thrilled to be the museum’s exhibition partner,” says so Barbara Mettler, Head of Climate Engagement Programs at First Climate.
Find more information on the Swiss Museum of Transport and the new permanent collection here: Swiss Museum of Transport.
About the Swiss Museum of Transport
The Swiss Museum of Transport opened on July 1, 1959, and quickly became the most visited museum in Switzerland. Originally, the Swiss Museum of Transport Association was founded with the aim of creating a forum for transport and communication in the interests of the founding partners. In the meantime, the Swiss Museum of Transport has become a successful national technical museum for transport and mobility. The focus of the collection is - as the name suggests - on transport technology and mobility themes, the development of which is presented in the various exhibition areas with a view to the social and cultural history dimension. Today, 2,000 historic Swiss objects are on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport. Still today, the Swiss Museum of Transport hosts a wide variety of events on the topics of the "past, present and future of transport and mobility".
