CIMAM Joins the Global Call “We Make Tomorrow”
We Make Tomorrow is a Global Call on policymakers to place culture at the heart of climate action, and to fully integrate culture into the UNFCCC second Global Stocktake.
Action on climate is failing to keep pace with science and public opinion. We need rapid, urgent and systemic cultural change that upholds the rights and knowledge of communities, and leverages the transformative power of arts, creativity, cultural memory and practice to accelerate climate action.
Despite culture being central to all our lives, heritage, the arts, and the creative industries are mainly unrecognised as climate solutions.
Around the world, culture-based solutions are protecting and regenerating the earth, supporting communities, and centering climate justice. But we could be doing much more! Formal recognition and respect for culture-based solutions are critical for the movement.
CIMAM supports We Make Tomorrow because we firmly believe that culture must be placed at the heart of the climate crisis. Culture, heritage, and the arts are not peripheral, but essential drivers of change: they inspire new ways of thinking, foster collective responsibility, and offer ethical and imaginative frameworks to guide action. By integrating culture into climate solutions, we acknowledge its capacity to transform lives, empower communities, and build the momentum necessary for a more just and sustainable future.
We Make Tomorrow is a broad coalition including the Climate Heritage Network, Global Artivism, Petra National Trust, Europa Nostra, British Council, Entertainment + Culture Pavilion, Group of Friends for Culture Based Climate Action, UNFCCC ECCA and artists, cultural institutions, museums, festivals, and grassroots collectives across 100+ countries.
This Global Call is gathering 10,000+ signatures from heritage, arts and creative industries united in calling for culture to be at the heart of climate action to present to climate leaders and decision-makers at COP30, as part of the Brazilian Presidency’s #MutirãoCOP30.
We Are Tomorrow builds on the commitment made in 2023 to place culture at the center of climate action. What began as a global call by the Climate Heritage Network on September 28, 2023, has now grown into a coordinated international effort. That call, launched at the European Cultural Heritage Summit in Venice, urged negotiators at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP) to recognize cultural heritage, the arts, and creative sectors as vital components of climate solutions. This momentum led, on December 8 at COP28 in Dubai, to the creation of the Group of Friends of Culture-based Climate Action, chaired by the Ministers of Culture of the United Arab Emirates and Brazil, and supported by UNESCO, ALECSO, ICESCO, and the European Union. With over 30 governments and intergovernmental organizations involved, the Group of Friends has consolidated a strong political platform. We Are Tomorrow is essentially a renewal of this commitment, signaling not only continued advocacy but also the need for tangible progress, a concrete agenda, and collaborative actions that harness culture’s power to address the climate crisis.