SUSTAINABILITY


GETTING GREENER


TV, film and commercials production have made great strides in sustainability. The challenge now is to get even greener, both on set and on screen. Pippa Considine reports


editorial, keeping narratives real for the audience, helping with sustainable choices. Major UK and international broadcasters and


T


services have pledged to get to net zero by 2030. Netflix is on track to get there before the end of this year. With physical production making up around half of broadcaster emissions, this means that producers must go green. At COP 26, with the Climate Content Pledge, 12 UK broadcasters and streamers committed to engage and inform audiences on climate change. The good news is that lockdown saw the


carbon footprint of productions in the UK halve, as clocked by the annual report from TV’s environmental support organisation, BAFTA’s albert. In 2020, the average reduction in tons of CO2 emissions per hour of TV produced dropped to 4.4 tonnes, down from 9.2 in 2019. While the number of productions measuring their environmental footprint via albert surged by over 600, to around 2000.


The next steps As we emerge from the pandemic into a


production boom, we need to stick with remote technologies and address power sources and reduce fuel used to get people and kit to and fro. Best case scenario, staying green can save money as well as proving credentials. Although the initial additional workload, alongside health and safety requirements, diversity, wellbeing and so on might seem like another cliff-face, it’s one that has to be scaled. In carbon reduction speak, it’s not just the


Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scopes 1 and 2, but GGP Scope 3 emissions that now need to come down. With Scopes 1 and 2, broadcasters have been focusing on reducing impacts in their own back yard, but Scope 3 means addressing impacts right down the length of the supply chain, putting pressure on productions and their own suppliers to walk the environmental walk. Measuring impacts is widely acknowledged


36 televisual.com Spring 2022


he TV industry is on track to radically cut emissions on productions. At the same time, there’s now a watchful eye on


TV’s green shoots grow


as the starting point to reducing impacts. Albert’s carbon calculator, originally developed by the BBC and gifted to albert in 2011, has been critical for the TV industry. Next step is for all productions to be albert certified. “We’re there to hold the industry to account on science-based targets,” says Katy Tallon, albert industry sustainability manager, “the certification is a good thing to strive for on the route to net zero.” In 2020, while certified production numbers were up to nearly 500, this


was just one quarter of the number of shows using the calculator.


A deeper shade of green As we head through 2022, the BBC, Sky, Channel


4, Netflix UK and ITV are all mandating albert certification. And the requirements for certification went up a gear in 2021. Before this, the majority of productions were getting three stars; the current, tighter rules have instead seen around 15 per cent. The list of recent three-star productions


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