A new EBU report highlights the work being done by Europe's public broadcasters to reduce CO2 emissions arising from their content production and distribution activities. Public service media (PSM) organizations have a responsibility to improve their environmental performance, and this report brings together contributions from EBU Members that have put this goal at the heart of their mission.
The case studies in the report show "how much can be achieved in terms of sustainability just by making good and informed choices, that sacrifices are sometimes sound investments, and that these actions pay dividends," says EBU Director General Noel Curran. He encourages all Members to join the EBU's working group on sustainability, both to seek advice from peers and to contribute to the growing body of collective knowledge on the topic.
The report – available for download to EBU Members – includes contributions from some of the PSM organizations that are at the vanguard of sustainability actions within the sector. There are case studies from BBC, France Télévisions, ITV, NRK, RAI, RTÉ, RTVE, SWR, YLE and ZDF. For each organization there is information on the resources dedicated to sustainability actions, the concrete targets that have been set, and what has been achieved so far.
Roundtable on sustainability
A recent roundtable on Sustainability in Broadcast Technology provided additional detail on actions in the UK (from BBC and ITV) and Germany (from one of the key contributors to the industry-wide Green Shooting Group). The presentations included one on newly published research from BBC on the environmental impact of its production and distribution activities.
Videos of all three roundtable presentations are available to view here.
Green production
Building on the momentum established by several Members, the EBU has launched an industry-wide group on Green Production. As more sustainable approaches are fast becoming a "business as usual" way to work, the group aims to understand green production and how to implement it and deliver sustainable production transformation.
The group is chaired by Jeremy Mathieu (BBC) and Michael Becker (SWR). You can join the group via its homepage or contact Hemini Mehta (mehta@ebu.ch).