Green Production Initiatives

Photo: Unsplash

Productions are beginning their environmental transition, but how can a greener audiovisual sector be implemented? The whole broadcast industry is concerned: from the notes of intent of broadcast through to conservation. The ecological impact is huge and nestles in the details: power consumption, projectors, cameras, trucks, special effects, transport and catering for crews, storage and recycling of sets, waste treatment, and even the cost of streaming. Like any industry, the audiovisual industry has to go through a transformation, this is represented through time, cost, and a new economic model.

Overview of initiatives

The transition to green production is not easy for broadcasters, however we can draw inspiration from innovations already in place: teachings regarding eco-responsible processes in the film schools that train future professionals. Are we aware that various bonuses and incentives exist in Europe? Which initiatives have already proved their worth? Which ones are in the process of doing so? Here are a few:

albert

albert is an industry backed project bringing the screen industries together to tackle their environmental impact and to inspire sustainable living. Their goals are:

  • Inspire; empowering the industry to create content strategies that support a vision for a sustainable future.
  • Restore; beyond zero, enabling the screen industries to eliminate waste and carbon from production and make a positive impact.

Where is it used?

They have been working for the past 10 years in the in the UK. However, they have international partnerships with organisations in Canada, The Netherlands, UAE, and Ireland. Their latest partnership is with Fremantle who has production companies in Israel, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, India, Mexico, Norway, Denmark, US, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Indonesia, Portugal, France.

albert is currently building a new global tool to be used by productions around the world to measure their carbon footprint. At the moment there is an albert sustainable production certification which only applies to the UK, but within the new tool, there will have a certification options for each country that albert is partnered with.

They also have a UK Education partnership working with several universities and delivering a bespoke course for media students. The content focus is on climate change, impacts, solutions, film and TV production and editorial. Students also learn how to use the albert tools.

Accessible to New Members?

It's open to all. If organizations are in a territory where albert already have a partnership, they will invite the organisations to partner in a country group.

Industry Scope

They work with every genre and production method on the moving image industry. Where there is a unique challenge, albert will look to set up a separate working group – for example the albert Sports Consortium for Sports production. The focus is on pre-production, production and post-production and what’s shown on screen (Editorial).

Industry Levers

Green Rider campaign (https://wearealbert.org/green-rider/). 

Screen New Deal (https://wearealbert.org/2020/07/22/screen-new-deal/).

Tools

Certification

albert’s sustainable production certification means that productions have gone through a process of choosing actions to reduce their carbon footprint, have implemented best practices and communicated climate solutions. In order to get the certification, productions need to comply with a minimum number of actions. This process needs to be renewed every series or every year in the case of continuing productions.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

albert is funding by its Consortium and Directorate as well as industry partners. There is also a fee to join the international or educational partnership. Fees depend on partnership and organization type and size. The project is completely non-profit and all productions have access to the albert toolkit for free. However, if an important stakeholder in the industry approaches, there is an expectation that they will become an active player by contributing with a donation and become part of the Consortium or Directorate. The same model applies to international initiatives. albert’s training and resources are open and free to everybody in the industry.

Members

Our members include BBC, ITV, NRK, NPO (all channels), RTÉ, TG4, Sky, Netflix, and Viacom among many others.

Contact

https://wearealbert.org/

Roser Canela-Mas - rosercm@bafta.org

 

Ecoprod

Ecoprod's goal is to enhance sustainable productions, i.e. reducing the ecological footprint of films - taking into account a wide range of ecological aspects (waste, green house gas, resources, wildlife protection etc.). Ecoprod aims to ensure the mobilization of audio-visual professionals by informing them and providing them with free tools such as fact sheets, guides, and a carbon calculator.

Where is it used?

Ecoprod resources are used mostly in France, but we do have partnerships abroad particularly across Europe with the Green Screen Project and Cineregio.

Accessible to New Members?

Most of Ecoprod Resources are written in French. But there are no geographical restrictions - if people abroad want to use them they are welcome to do so!

Industry Scope

Ecoprod aims at covering the whole cinema and audiovisual industry. But for now the main action areas are:

  • Pre-production (including the Ecoprod Charter) that the production can sign to make an evaluation of the carbon footprint.
  • Production (largest part of Ecoprod work). 
  • Post-production (Ecoprod just recently started to add it to its missions).
  • Main industry area: Films (Fictions and Doc/ Cinema and Broadcast).
  • Other targets: the advertising business are also using more and more of our tools.

Industry Levers

Ecoprod would like to get all the stakeholders involved. Specific tools have been created for majority of the different crafts.

Tools

We have:

  • An online commitment Charter for the production companies which is a tool to evaluate their environmental footprint as a company. By doing this evaluation and signing the Ecoprod Charter they are commiting to try improve their environmental footprint. https://www.ecoprod.com/fr/la-charte-ecoprod/signer-la-charte-ecoprod.html.
  • An online Carbon Calculator called Carbon Clap can be used for films, shorts, ads, series http://www.carbonclap.ecoprod.com/.
  • Awareness workshops: Free of charge 2 hour-classes in Film schools to give to the future audiovisual teams the basic information about sustainable production.
  • Free of charge 2 day trainings for audiovisual staff, particularly Location Managers and Producers.
  • A guide to incentivise, embed good practices and share sustainable tips from each production's expertise. English Ecoproduction Guide here: https://www.ecoprod.com/images/site/ECOPROD_GUIDE2017_EN_NUM.pdf. Practical guides: https://www.ecoprod.com/fr/les-outils-pour-agir/fiches-pratiques.html
  • Communication and information: Ecoprod is present at major industry events, organizes conferences and round tables in France and Europe, and regularly publishes studies to guide professional and political decisions.

Certification

We do not have a certification yet but we are working on it.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

The Structure is a group of 9 industry players. Anyone can use the tools and resources created by the group for free (including the training sessions).

Members

Small set of our Members include France Télèvisions, TF1, Canal Plus and Film France

Contact

https://www.ecoprod.com

Pervenche Beurier - pervenche.beurier@lepole.org

Joanna Gallardo -  joanna.gallardo@filmparisregion.com

Xaviere Farrer -  xaviere.farrer@francetv.fr

 

Ekosetti

Ekosetti is a guidebook to ecologically sustainable operations, written for the Finnish audiovisual industry. It contains practical points on how to make domestic productions more environmentally friendly, and its goal is to inspire the industry to adopt a greener production culture.

Where is it used?

Originally created for the use of the audivisual industry in Finland from a domestic perspective. English translation became available in April 2020 and it aims to serve English-speaking audiovisual professionals in Finland, as well as those international partners, who wish to gain more information about the current sustainability efforts in the Finnish audiovisual industry.

Accessible to New Members?

It's accessible to all.

Industry Scope

General sustainability guidelines to all audiovisual productions.

Industry Levers

The creators of the guidebook hope that Ekosetti speaks to everyone operating in the audiovisual industry, regardless of format, including the stakeholders in advertisements, films, TV shows, studios, equipment rentals, producers, employees, commissioners, sponsors and partners.

Tools

Guidebook.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

Project partners and sponsors of the guidebook include The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK/Vieterituki development grant, Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI and Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture/Department of Film, Television and Scenography and School of Engineering/Department of Built Environment. The guidebook has been carried out as part of Aalto University’s multidisciplinary seed funding project Sustainability in filmmaking (SUFI).

Contact

https://ekosetti.fi/ 

info@ekosetti.fi
Kaisa Astikainen - kaika@ekosetti.fi
Anne Puolanne - anne@ekosetti.fi

 

Encounter CO2/Tapaus

The purpose of the calculator is to help event organizers identify the climate impacts of their events and make the right choices. The calculated values are intended to serve as guidelines and draw attention to the climate impacts of event production. In order to ensure that the calculator is clear and easy to use, several aspects, such as logistics, material choices and technology, have been left out. Their climate impacts can be influenced through choices: minimizing travel, distances, materials and energy consumption. A good atmosphere and people coming together cause no emissions at all.

Where is it used?

Finland.

Accessible to New Members?

It's accessible to all.

Industry Scope

The events industry.

Tools

Calculator.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

Created by Tapaus, a private event production agency based in Finland.

Contact

https://www.tapaus.fi/en/co%e2%82%82-calculator

Tuuli Pinnioja - tuuli.pinnioja@tapaus.fi

 

Green Film

  • A tool designed to promote environmental sustainability for audiovisual productions and to guide producers in working in an environmentally sustainable manner.
  • A label that certifies environmental sustainability for audiovisual productions.
  • A network of partners working together to implement strategies and tools for sustainable film production and to coordinate joint sustainability-related training activities.

Developed by Trentino Film Commission, a regional Film Fund in Northern Italy, and APPA (Agency for Environmental Protection) Trento, in 2017.

Where is it used?

Since 2017 Green Film has been improved and it is currently shared with many other film funds across Italy and Europe (Belgium, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Iceland).

With the purpose of converging toward a common approach for fostering sustainability in film production, in 2019 the CineRegio GREEN subgroup members agreed that Green Film should be considered as the most concrete and exportable approach of all currently existing systems/schemes, and they established it as a common tool to be used by the CineRegio membership.

In Italy, in 2021 the Assembly of Italian Film Commission identified Green Film as its reference tool for sustainability in filming.

Accessible to New Members?

Accessible and open to all for free.

Industry Scope

The rating system applies to all fiction and documentary audiovisual productions.

Industry Levers

Film funds, film commissions or other entities in the audiovisual industry, that find at hand a ready-to-use tool to push producers towards environmental sustainability, and a network of partners pushing sustainability in the film industry in the same way and collaborating in its development, training, etc.

Producers, who find an easy guide to make the set more sustainable through green concrete actions that can be applied everywhere, and a label that certifies environmental sustainability for their films, applying the same standard all over Europe.

Tools

  • Green Film rating system (find it here in Italian, English, French, Spanish and Danish https://www.green.film/download/).
  • Green Film certification.

Certification

The Green Film certification is awarded to a single audiovisual project, produced adopting sustainable actions as indicated in the Green Film rating system. In order to obtain the certification, a project must comply with two mandatory requisites, a sustainability plan and a mobility plan, and score a minimum of 20 points out of 50. Points are assigned to each action, following the scoring grid included in the rating system. The Green Film certification is awarded only after a positive audit report from an independent verifying body (https://www.green.film/verification/).

Funding Model & Organization Structure

The project is developed by a public body and is completely non-profit. Any institution willing to adopt Green Film as a tool to promote sustainability among producers is encouraged to contact us and we will guide them through the simple process. All productions everywhere have access to the Green Film rating system and certification for free.

Members

Trentino Film Fund and Commission. Our partners include Wallimage, Mallorca Film Commission, Catalunya Film Commission, Vision Denmark, Zefyr Film Fund, Emilia-Romagna Film Commission, Veneto Film Commission.

Contact

 

https://www.green.film/

Luca Ferrario: luca.ferrario@trentinosviluppo.it

Alberto Battocchi: alberto.battocchi@trentinosviluppo.it

Linnea Merzagora: info@green.film

 

Green Filmtools

We provide education and training for different departments in the TV and Film Industry. Definition of Green Standards for TV Channels (ARD, ProSiebenSat1) and Initiatives like "100 Grüne Produktionen". Training and Certification of "Green Consultants".

Where is it used?

Germany, Austria and Italy.

Accessible to New Members?

Accessible to all. In the last months we conducted many online trainings across Europe.

Industry Scope

We cover every aspect and every branch/genre.

Industry Levers

Our aim is to reach out and provide training and support to all the different crafts in the Audiovisual Industry such as Production Managers, DOPs, Gaffers, Set Construction, including the creative crafts such as Set Designers, Authors and Directors.

Tools

We use the MFG-SWR Carbon Calculator which is becoming a standard. We are involved in the further development of this tool.

Certification

We have developed a guideline and system for several TV channels. The next step is a unified certification system for the entire industry which is actually being developed together with the "Arbeits Green Shooting" Initiative. In addition we have developed a certfication system for Green Experts for the Film & TV Industry.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

Independent Organisation. No Pricing. Only fees for trainings and development.

Members

Some of our Members include BR, SWR, ZDF and Sky.

Contact

www.greenfilmtools.com

Philip Gassmann - philipgassmann@greenfilmtools.com

 

Ressourcenregie

We aim to reduce the enviromental impact of the audiovisual industry. As an independent company, we assist broadcasters and film productions in becoming more sustainable.

Where is it used?

Germany & Switzerland.

Accessible to New Members?

Most of our best practices are in Germany, but we also offer services in English.

Industry Scope

Coming from classic drama productions, we are now offering our services to all sections of the industry. Currently we are designing a strategy to convert a content network of 70 social media channels into a more sustainable way of production.

Industry Levers

We work with all branches and departments in order to create a holistic approach of sustainability.

Tools

Our services are based on the carbon calculator of the MFG film fund. We offer trainings, project-based consultancy or entire sustainability concepts.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

Project based offerings.

Contact

www.ressourcenregie.de

Fabian Linder - fabian.linder@ressourcenregie.de

 

Secoya

With Secoya Eco-tournage, you can reduce the financial and ecological costs of your film production. Whether you are a film maker, an advertising agency, a film studio, a company, a local government or a NGO, all your costs must be controlled and the planet has to be preserved. Secoya will help you align economical and ecological requirements.

Where is it used?

Mostly in France currently, but we are also working in Belgium, UK and Spain.

Accessible to New Members?

It's accessible to all. Secoya also helps institutions, NGOs or any structures in the definition of sustainable objectives.

Industry Scope

We work on all kinds of audiovisual productions and on the whole production line. Based on the study and the project solutions are established, and an action plan is set up considering three main points: Costs, Ecological values and Economic benefits. We put forward concrete proposals with short, medium and long-term objectives. This ensures the integration of changes, the achievement of results and the ambition of the objectives!

Industry Levers

The action is global and it has to embrace all the stakeholders. This approach must integrate as many people as possible, both internally (technicians, service providers, institutions, etc.) and externally (public, partners, press, etc.). It is from this communication that the opportunities (partnerships, innovations etc.) will arise. Raising team awareness, enhancing partnership value and integrating the ambitions of local institutions are all essential points on which to rely.

Tools

We are working on tools and we use the French "carbon clap" - http://www.carbonclap.ecoprod.com/

Certification

It's Secoya certification based on our KPIs.

Funding Model & Organization Structure

A quotation is made on demand regarding the specificity of the production.

Members

France Télévisions, RTBF & Ecoprod.

Contact

www.secoya-ecotournage.fr

Mathieu Delahousse - mathieu@secoya-ecotournage.fr

 

TheGreenShot

Real-time carbon footprint and cost management app. Our purpose is to help productions reduce their carbon footprints by

  • protecting against the complexity of different certifications,
  • connecting CO2 reductions to cost reductions,
  • including every talent in the change.

TheGreenShot treats sustainability as a ‘business imperative’ by embedding sustainability in every part of the operational processes. Our mobile and web app is used by talents, heads of departments, accountants. Its rich set of features

  • Facilitate every phase of productions – from initial planning to location scouting, from talent onboarding to time reporting, from selecting green suppliers to sharing tips and tricks.
  • Protect against the complexity of different certifications, by automating the data collection and exporting the right information

Invented by Max Hermans, general location manager on large co-productions, TheGreenShot offers a secure, GDPR compliant app, as well as a network of trained talents and ambassadors available to work on shoots in different countries.

Where is it used?

Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, UK and Canada.

Industry Scope

TheGreenShot is a platform for the entire Cultural and Creative industry - from pre-production to post-production of films, TV series, documentaries, events and festivals. It also extends to the production of commercials. The application is used by film crews, producers, film commissions, eco managers and financial risk management.

Tools

  • Green Production Management Suite – mobile and web application.
  • Trained talents and green managers available for onsite support.
  • Green management training services.

Certification

TheGreenShot is an open solution with a secure Data Connector interface. This interface is used to insert TheGreenShot in operational workflows – with existing interfaces to CarbonClap, CarbonPilot, Doconomy, GreenFilm, MovieMagic, Sage, Xotis. We add new connections on a weekly basis and also offer a secure standard Data Connector to connect to internal tools used by our customers.

Contact

https://www.thegreenshot.green/ - Online demos can be booked directly online

Véronique Pevtschin – vero@thegreenshot.green or sales@thegreenshot.green

 

Workflowers

We are an engineering services company helping media companies in their transition to a more sustainable model. We provide consulting services, training services and can accompany the change in production. We have an extended background in science, technology and production that helps us provide state-of-the-art emissions reports and propose organisation and technical solutions that can be fully assessed.

Where is it used?

Workflowers has been active globally since 2006, we are involved in French national projects and institutions (CST, Ecoprod) as well as international ones (SMPTE, VES, HPA, DPP).

Industry Scope

We provide reports for the whole production chain, up glass-to-glass (camera to device). Our background in production technology allows us to dive into fine granularity, from camera/lighting choices to editorial codecs or storage infrastructure.

Tools

For emissions reports, much of what we do is still very much experimental (e.g. postproduction, distribution) we use methodologies such as ISO 14064-1 (2018), GHG protocol, ABC 8.5 to make precise assessments. We publish documents on our website, such as good practices for central storage (www.workflowers.net).

Certification

We provide reports and audits but no certification.

Contact

https://www.workflowers.net/

Cedric Lejeune - cedric@workflowers.net