Cultural heritage: an overlooked yet critical aspect of climate change

In June 2024, climate activists sprayed Stonehenge orange, demanding urgent action from the British government to phase out fossil fuel. This divisive act evoked a destructive yet often overlooked impact of climate change: the damage and destruction of cultural heritage. We are losing our cultural heritage at an unprecedented speed and scale to climate change, according to a 2022 report by the European Commission. Extreme climate events are coupled with insidious, deteriorative processes that threaten not only monuments but a deep pool of connected, often intangible characteristics that define culture.

Whilst defending the activists attempt to bring attention to much-needed action on climate change, some supporters stripped Stonehenge of its cultural value and depicted it as merely stone. Whilst Stonehenge has weathered much throughout its history, dismissing its cultural value risks feeding into broader trend in climate reporting and decision-making: damage to cultural heritage has been historically overlooked despite its harmful knock-on effects on social cohesion and climate resilience.

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