Climate Change and Museums: a Book About Indoor Risks

updated February 2026 

Climate change is reshaping the design, operation, and risk profile of museum buildings worldwide. Among the extensive literature on climate adaptation, Managing Indoor Climate Risks in Museums (Ankersmit, Bart and Marc H.L. Stappers. Managing Indoor Climate Risks in Museums. Springer International Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9783319342399) offers both strategic vision and actionable guidance for professionals managing real-world challenges in heritage preservation.

The volume, authored by Bart Ankersmit (Senior Scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage) and Marc H.L. Stappers (Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage), represents the translation and significant expansion of the original Dutch Klimaatwerk guidelines published in 2009.

Analysis and structure

The book’s strength lies in its systematic nine-step decision-making framework that prioritizes process alongside outcomes. The methodology moves beyond prescriptive temperature and humidity targets toward a contextualized risk management approach—a paradigm shift that acknowledges institutional constraints, energy costs, and collection-specific vulnerabilities.

The Nine-Step Framework

1. Towards a Balanced Decision – establishing decision context and institutional goals
2. Valuing Heritage Assets – systematic collection and building valuation
3. Assessing Climate Risks to the Moveable Collection – defining collection-specific environmental needs
4. Assessing Building Needs – evaluating physical structure requirements
5. Assessing Human Needs – staff and visitor comfort considerations
6. Understanding the Indoor Climate – analyzing building physics and current conditions
7. Defining Climate Specifications – developing realistic environmental parameters
8. Mitigating Strategies – identifying intervention options 
9. Weighing Alternatives – cost-benefit analysis and decision implementation.

The book

The book excels at integrating conservation science with building physics and institutional reality. Unlike earlier prescriptive approaches that mandated rigid environmental bands (typically 40-55% RH, 68-72°F), Ankersmit and Stappers promote risk-based strategies that allow seasonal variations and energy optimization without compromising preservation.

The authors provide historical context for climate control evolution in museums, demonstrating how past practices—including simple interventions predating HVAC systems—often achieved acceptable preservation outcomes. This historical perspective challenges the assumption that complex mechanical systems are universally necessary.

The book is primarily oriented toward temperate European climates and established institutions with baseline technical infrastructure. Museums in extreme climates, developing regions, or those lacking HVAC systems entirely may require additional guidance on passive climate control and vernacular building techniques.

The 2017 publication predates several critical developments: the accelerating frequency of extreme weather events (heatwaves exceeding 35-40°C in galleries), energy crises affecting operational budgets, and smoke infiltration from wildfires—now recognized as specific threats to collections.

Chapter 9 (Step 8: Mitigating Strategies) deserves particular attention from fire safety professionals, as climate adaptation measures directly intersect with fire risk management.

Direct fire safety implications

Building envelope modifications discussed in the book—including secondary glazing, enhanced insulation, and vapor barriers—alter compartmentation, thermal performance during fire, and means of escape. Fire safety engineers must evaluate these interventions under ISO 23932-1:2018 performance-based frameworks to ensure climate adaptations do not compromise life safety or structural fire resistance.

Upgrading an HVAC system for humidity control introduces additional ignition sources increases the combustible load (ductwork insulation) and alters smoke movement pathways.  Therefore, modelling fire scenarios specific to museum occupancies is essential for integrating humidifiers dehumidifiers and air filtration.

Emerging climate-fire nexus

Climate change amplifies museum fire risk through multiple pathways not fully addressed in the 2017 text. In case of risk of wildfire smoke infiltration, museums require enhanced particle filtration (MERV-13, HEPA) to protect collections from combustion byproducts during regional fire events—filters that also increase HVAC fire load.

Extreme heat events, when temperatures reach 35-40°C indoors (documented in European GLAMs) stress electrical systems, increase spontaneous ignition probability in organic collections, and exceed design parameters for detection/suppression systems. A similar risk can be identified  in drought-driven structural failures. Historic buildings in prolonged drought experience differential settlement, cracking masonry, and compromised fire compartmentation—risks requiring integrated structural and fire engineering assessment.

Current museum climate guidelines rarely cross-reference fire safety standards, creating potential conflicts between conservation and life-safety objectives. Fire safety engineers must proactively integrate climate adaptation planning with fire strategy design from initial risk assessment through building commissioning.

Practical Recommendations from the Book

Collection managers should adopt risk-based climate specifications. Gradual seasonal variations (e.g., 1°C nighttime setback) reduce energy costs without measurable collection harm. Zoning strategies should be implemented for high-risk artefacts such as photographic film and varnished paintings to ensure tighter environmental control. Robust materials can tolerate wider bands. Moreover, the use of passive buffers (i.e.  sealed cases with conditioned silica) can help  maintain microclimates during HVAC failures—critical for power outages during climate emergencies.

Building Managers on their side, should prioritize monitoring over control. Real-time sensors revealing environmental drift enable preventive intervention before damage occurs plan for resilience (i.e. Elevate mechanical equipment above flood zones, ensure generator capacity for at least one air handler, and stock spare HEPA filters for wildfire smoke events) and LED lighting retrofits, to reduce heat gain (cutting cooling loads) while minimizing UV exposure should be considered.  

Fire Safety Engineers should be informed about the need of modelling climate system failures as fire scenarios. The event of loss of HVAC during fire conditions alters smoke stratification and tenability calculations. More over, they should evaluate material compatibility (i.e. vapor barriers, insulation upgrades) and humidity control materials to meet reaction-to-fire classifications appropriate to building occupancy. Also detection strategies should be integrated. In fact, enhanced air filtration for climate control affects aspirating smoke detection. 

Post-Publication Developments (2017-2026)

Since the book’s 2017 publication, the museum sector has confronted climate realities that underscore—and extend—its core arguments:

Energy Crisis and Net-Zero Mandates. European museums faced acute energy cost escalation (2022-2023), forcing rapid adoption of the book’s seasonal set-point flexibility recommendations. The CLIMATE4WOOD project at Rijksmuseum (2020-2024) operationalized Ankersmit & Stappers’ framework, demonstrating that wooden panel paintings tolerate wider humidity bands than traditional 50±5% RH standards—achieving 30% energy savings without measurable deterioration.

Extreme Weather Documentation. Summer 2023 saw indoor temperatures exceeding 35-40°C in European galleries lacking adequate cooling—conditions not contemplated in 2017 risk models. This has prompted reevaluation of “acceptable” climate drift limits and emergency response protocols for heat-driven collection evacuation.

Wildfire Particulate Threats. North American and Australian museums now routinely experience smoke infiltration events requiring HVAC shutdown and temporary closure. The book’s air quality chapter (focused on gaseous pollutants and mold) requires supplementation with protocols for particulate matter PM2.5 management during regional fire events.

Policy evolution in Europe

The European Parliament’s 2023 briefing on museums and climate change explicitly cited the need for updated guidelines addressing simultaneous conservation and carbon reduction imperatives—validating the book’s integrated approach while calling for expanded climate justice and regional adaptation content.

The Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage now offers formalized training in the nine-step methodology, addressing the book’s complexity through facilitated workshops that customize the framework to institutional capacity. This operationalization confirms the authors’ process-focused philosophy while acknowledging implementation barriers for under-resourced museums.

Conclusion

Seven years after publication, Managing Indoor Climate Risks in Museums remains the definitive English-language reference for museum climate strategy. Its enduring value lies not in specific environmental targets—which continue to evolve with research—but in the structured decision-making framework that balances conservation science, building physics, institutional capacity, and stakeholder values.

For fire safety professionals, the book is essential reading: climate adaptation measures directly affect fire safety design, and integrated risk management requires early coordination between conservation and life-safety disciplines. The accelerating pace of climate change since 2017—manifested in extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and energy constraints—only strengthens the case for the adaptive, resilient approach Ankersmit and Stappers advocate.

The fire safety community needs more publications of this caliber: practical, evidence-based, and willing to challenge prescriptive orthodoxies in favor of performance-based risk management. As museums worldwide navigate the intersecting crises of climate change, energy transition, and heritage preservation, this volume provides an indispensable roadmap.

Recommended Additional Reading

• European Parliament briefing: “Museums, libraries and archives in the face of climate change” (2023).
• CLIMATE4WOOD Rijksmuseum research findings on energy-efficient wooden artifact conservation.
• ASHRAE guidance on museum HVAC resilience against smoke, flood, and power loss.