CEC ArtsLink is a non-profit organization based in New York City committed to transnational cultural exchange and deep community engagement.

The core of our work is artists’ mobility, connecting artists and communities across geographic, political and cultural borders. Whilst some programs can be undertaken online, our experience over the years has demonstrated that there is no substitute for direct person to person contact and encounters. Central to our sustainability policy is reducing the carbon footprint of our programs generated by international air travel.

Working with, and advocating for, the cultural mobility sector we feel a responsibility to demonstrate best practice in the field.

We have an office base in New York City, and most of our small team work remotely. All our program teams carefully consider each program and project and work in dialogue with project partners to, firstly, avoid all non-essential travel and, secondly, to reduce the number of flights by optimizing programs and travel planning as well using alternative public transport for shorter journeys of less than one hour by plane.

However, it remains inevitable that we still need to use commercial airlines to facilitate international travel for many of our programs. We are committed to following the industry standard by investing in carbon offset certificates which we obtain from Schneider Electric.

This sustainability policy will be monitored and reviewed by the staff team and Board of Directors annually to ensure it remains updated and responsive to new developments.

2023

In 2023 our total air travel was 941,624 km (585,098 miles). To offset this we have invested in  109.92 MTCO2e Green-e Climate Ecomix carbon offsets. These carbon offsets are sourced from a ~54MW capacity wind power plant located in Kinik district of Izmir province in Turkey and developed by Esinti Enerji Üretim Tic. ve San. A.S.  The wind plant’s commissioning date was 2017 with a 10-year crediting period.  Validated and verified, with regular monitoring periods – 2021 and 2022 crediting years were issued under Verra/VCS early 2023.  The project has an UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) report showing contributions to SDGs 7, 8, 13.  Registry documentation shows that the project passes one or more rigorous additionality tests such as financial IRR, showing carbon credit funding is needed to incentivize this wind power plant (certificate below).

November 2023