The Sydney Opera House or Sustainability into practice!

The Sydney Opera House is one of Australia’s premier tourism destinations. A world-class performing arts centre and celebrated community meeting place, the Opera House welcomes 10.9 million visitors to the site annually, including more than 2.1 million performance and tours patrons. A global beacon for creativity, the Opera House is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is now midway through a program of major upgrades to ensure this 20th-century icon continues to inspire 21st-century artists, audiences and visitors.

Each year the Opera House hosts thousands of events and serves millions of meals producing 5000 cubic metres of waste and using electricity equivalent to 2500 households (nearly 16 GWh). It is committed to finding innovative and efficient solutions to reduce its carbon footprint and inspire the community to do the same.

But let’s have a look now at what already achieved and implemented in terms of ecological transition!

The Sydney Opera House has been awarded in May 2023 a 6-star Green Star performance rating by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), representing world leadership in environmental and social sustainability operations. Key sustainability achievements include reducing emissions by 26%, moving to 100% renewable energy and diverting over 90% of event waste from landfill. The implementation of new energy and water-saving technology, has helped the Opera House achieve these significant milestones.

As outlined in the Sydney Opera House Strategy (2018-23) and Environmental Action Plan (2020-23), the Opera House aims to be an environmental sustainability leader by:

Embedding environmental sustainability in strategic planning and operational delivery across its diverse business, while conserving and enhancing the Opera House heritage values.
Identifying impacts and managing risks in order to protect and enhance the environment in which the Opera House operates.
Engaging employees, partners and the community on key sustainability issues and inspiring them to effect positive change, individually and collectively.

This commitment supports global efforts to safeguard the natural environment and sets out a number of ambitious targets:

Achieve a 6 Star Green Star Performance Rating from the GBCA;
Eliminate single-use plastic packaging from all venues and restaurants;
Take steps to become climate positive; and
Achieve compliance to the International Standard for Sustainable Event Management (ISO20121).

The building of the Opera house has had a number of sustainable wins, including its recent Carbon Neutral certification, thanks in part to an implementation of a new waste management program, efficiencies in water use and a more than nine percent reduction in energy usage.

As he was designing the Opera House, architect Jørn Utzon kept the environment top of mind, from the building’s pioneering seawater cooling system (using seawater to efficiently cool the building), self-cleaning tiles (rainwater washes them off) and green cleaning methods (an age-old technique of using olive oil to polish brass).

In 2014, the Opera House replaced the light bulbs in the concert hall with custom-made LEDs, reducing energy consumption by 75 percent. In 2016, a new waste-management program was introduced, and the Opera House expanded its recycling of papers and plastics to include mobile phones, fluorescent tubes, toner cartridges and batteries.

In 2017, food waste (from staff and performers in the green room, concerts, visiting artists, etc.) was moved to Earth Power, an organics facility that converts it into energy.

Most recently, staff from across the Opera House and Energy Australia travelled to Mount Carmel in Campbelltown this September to plant numerous plant species in collaboration with Greenfleet. Over their lifetime, these trees will help absorb and store carbon, regenerate land, and eventually provide wildlife habitats essential for native species. So far, 20 staff of Sydney Opera House have planted 300 native species of trees.

The 6-star Green Star performance involved providing technical advice and reviewing documentation for:

indoor environment quality monitoring and management (including an innovative bushfire dust response system)
building services information management (including an innovative digitally responsive maintenance platform)
fire system test
water reuse
energy and water metering and monitoring
sustainable procurement
operational waste management
refurbishment waste management
building user sustainability information sharing
content and performance sharing using the innovative ‘From Our House to Your House’ online platform during the global pandemic to enable access to both live and recorded performances to audiences all over the world.

The Opera House’s 6 Star Green Star Performance certification joins a list of achievements worth celebrating:

switching to 100% renewable electricity
maintaining carbon neutral status year-on-year since 2018
retrofitting the building with new technology to monitor energy, water and indoor environment quality
reducing electricity and water usage by approximately 20% since 2018
increasing operational waste recycling rate from 55% to more than 90%
diverting more than 90% of major building works construction waste from landfill
installing an artificial reef in the waters around Bennelong Point to restore habitat, clean the harbour water, and increase marine biodiversity
diverting 95% of event waste from landfill for Vivid LIVE and outdoor concerts in 2022 (and on track for 2023)
completing major building improvements including new accessible passageways, lifts and facilities and creating a new Centre for Creativity that provides hands-on creative experiences for all ages
Providing a stage for diverse artists and climate conversations
Updating venues and facilities with new and energy efficient technology to reduce lighting consumption
Investing in nature-based projects like tree planting for koala habitat in the Northern Rivers or projects that support First Nations communities in the Northern Territory as part of the Opera House’s carbon neutral certification.

The Opera House is also developing a roadmap to become climate positive by 2030. This includes transitioning the building to be fully electric and exploring new onsite sustainable technologies such as battery storage.

Sydney Opera House CEO has recently stated that

“We hope our focus on sustainability, which is part of the Opera House’s DNA, will help inspire organizations everywhere, big and small, to create positive change.”

— Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron

The Consortium partners of Butterfly project do also strongly believe in the power of cultural organisations leading by example effective carbon neutral pathways and encouraging greater community awareness in reducing impacts on the environment. We are all inspired by the Sidney Opera House sustainability results and are now deeply committed to take action following in the footsteps the Sidney Opera House and many other Opera Houses moving in the same, climate-needed direction.