Policy brief·London
Frieze Climate Pledge Back for Year Two With Half the Galleries — But Christie’s Joins In
The Gallery Climate Coalition’s “10% Of” initiative returns to Frieze London with 13 galleries pledging a tenth of proceeds from nominated works, after raising £33,000 last year. Participation has nearly halved, with Gagosian and Sprüth Magers dropping off, while two donated works by Igshaan Adams and Patricia Leite head to Christie’s sales this week to benefit the charity and ClientEarth.
The Gallery Climate Coalition has brought its “10% Of” fundraising scheme back to Frieze London for a second edition, coinciding with the fair’s invitation-only opening on 14 October. Thirteen galleries have signed up to donate a tenth of the proceeds from a nominated work on their stands, with each dealer free to choose whether that means ten percent of the sale price or of the gallery’s share. Among this year’s participants are Hauser & Wirth, Victoria Miro, Thomas Dane Gallery and Kate MacGarry. The inaugural edition raised £33,000. The initiative has also been given a boost from the auction world. Two works donated by artists Igshaan Adams and Patricia Leite are being offered in separate sales at Christie’s this week, with the hammer price divided between the Gallery Climate Coalition and the environmental law charity ClientEarth. The two organisations are joint partners in Artists for Climate Action, the collaborative fundraising platform staging its sophomore outing during the 14–15 October evening sales. The returning scheme arrives with a sting, however. The number of galleries taking part has nearly halved year on year, with Gagosian and Sprüth Magers among the drop-outs, and the paper notes that only 16 of the charity’s 400-plus member galleries qualify as “active” members — those judged to have put genuinely sustainable practices in place. Environmental action, it suggests, remains a minority concern across the wider trade. Gallery Climate Coalition director Heath Lowndes pushes back on the gloom. The charity’s first Stocktake Report, published last year, found that 79% of early members had cut their carbon footprints by more than a quarter, and he argues “lots of people are doing this” — the task now is scale. A small sustainability industry has in any case grown up around visual art since the coalition’s founding in 2020: Murmur, a leadership body for the climate crisis in the arts, was established in 2024, and this year seeded Climate Action Services International, a consultancy founded by the team behind the coalition itself.
