Christie’s is doubling down on its environmental commitments, bringing back its sustainability-focused initiative in partnership with leading climate charities. The prestigious auction house is teaming up with the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC) and ClientEarth during its upcoming 20th/21st Century Evening Sale in London. Scheduled for October 14 and 15, the high-profile sales event coincides with the bustling activities of Frieze Week, marking the sophomore edition of the "Artists for Climate Action" program, which originally launched in 2021.
As the contemporary and modern art markets converge on the British capital this autumn, Christie’s sales floor will serve as a platform for environmental advocacy as well as high-stakes aesthetic acquisition. Leading contemporary artists have contributed significant works to support the cause, demonstrating how cultural capital can be directly channeled into ecological defense and systemic reform.
Among the prominent contributions to the charity auction is a sculpture by Igshaan Adams titled The certainty of being a rose (ii) (2025). Crafted from an intricate combination of beads, thread, and textiles, the work carries a pre-sale estimate of £60,000 to £80,000, roughly translating to between $79,000 and $1 million. Known for his deeply textural works that weave together cultural, racial, and personal identity, Adams’s inclusion brings a major contemporary voice to the auction block for environmental philanthropy.
Joining Adams is Brazilian artist Patricia Leite, who has donated her painting Brilhante (2026). The evocative canvas depicts a sweeping navy sky illuminated by the moon alongside a rich green landscape. Brilhante carries an estimated value of £20,000 to £30,000, approximately $26,000 to $40,000. Together, the works by Adams and Leite form the artistic core of Christie’s renewed collaboration with environmental advocates during one of the most important weeks on the international art calendar.
Christie’s stated that the revival of Artists for Climate Action is designed to further embed sustainability within the global art world. More importantly, the partnership directly supports the overarching goals of Artists for Climate Action, which focuses on drastically reducing the art sector’s collective carbon footprint. This encompasses critical operational areas such as international logistics, business travel, energy consumption within buildings, waste management practices, packing materials, and deeper engagement with suppliers and vendors who form the backbone of the art market’s infrastructure.
Heath Lowndes, director at the Gallery Climate Coalition, elaborated on the mechanics and ultimate destination of the funds generated through the auction. In an interview with ARTnews, Lowndes explained that the financial proceeds from the sale of the donated artworks will be divided evenly between the GCC and ClientEarth.
On the side of ClientEarth, the funds will directly bolster strategic legal action. This involves holding major corporations and national governments legally accountable for environmental degradation, actively challenging pollution and corporate greenwashing practices, protecting fragile ecosystems and vulnerable communities, and strengthening as well as rigorously enforcing environmental law across jurisdictions.
For the Gallery Climate Coalition, the incoming financial support will be channeled into maintaining and expanding the vital infrastructure that allows individuals, galleries, museums, and organizations across the visual arts sector to implement credible, measurable environmental action. Lowndes emphasized that this financial backing ensures that crucial industry-specific tools and resources remain completely free to access for the entire cultural community. This includes the widely utilized Carbon Calculator and sector-specific guidance documents, as well as the production of ongoing research and practical resources designed to make ecological action easier, more accessible, and significantly more effective for arts workers at every level.
Furthermore, Lowndes noted that Artists for Climate Action is purposefully structured as a rolling, ongoing initiative rather than treated as a fleeting, one-off event or a single annual moment. The operational model for the initiative has been intentionally designed with a high degree of flexibility. While live auctions represent one major, high-visibility route for raising funds and awareness, the organizers are simultaneously executing private sales of artworks. Looking ahead, the coalition harbors hopes of potentially expanding the initiative into dedicated live events, curated exhibitions, and other creative cross-sector collaborations.
The overarching vision, according to Lowndes, is to cultivate a resilient, interconnected community of artists, commercial galleries, and dedicated collectors who are willing to leverage the unique cultural and economic influence of the broader art world to support meaningful, long-term climate action. The explicit ambition is to build sustained momentum rather than a temporary moment in the news cycle.
The auction at Christie’s is just one piece of a remarkably busy and expansive autumn season for the Gallery Climate Coalition. Running parallel to Frieze Week in London, the charity is orchestrating the second iteration of its cooperative program titled 10% Of. In this initiative, participating commercial galleries nominate a specific artwork from their inventory. If that work successfully sells during the designated period, the gallery re-routes the standard 10% discount often extended to favored collectors directly to the GCC to bolster ongoing climate action initiatives. During its previous run, the program successfully raised £33,000, which is roughly $43,000, and organizers report that more than a dozen galleries have already nominated works for the current edition.
Looking slightly further ahead on the calendar, the GCC is preparing to host a National Emergency Briefing event at the Starr Cinema inside London’s Tate Modern on November 18. This public-facing event aims to galvanize further discussion and urgent action within the cultural sphere regarding the escalating ecological crisis.
In addition to these immediate fundraising and awareness campaigns, the coalition is looking toward long-term structural transformation within the arts. Lowndes revealed that the organization is currently in the early research stages of a major new project focused specifically on the energy transition across the United Kingdom’s visual arts sector. This extensive undertaking will examine how commercial galleries, public museums, artist studios, and various other cultural organizations can successfully transition away from fossil fuels toward cleaner, more sustainable, and far more resilient energy systems in the years to come.
