Briefing

Focus on climate action

he COP26 summit in Glasgow focused the world’s attention on climate change, and sparked a raft of pledges from broadcasters and producers about how they plan to help viewers to decarbonise their lives.

The summit also led to calls for studios, streamers and producers to invest in clean power solutions to dramatically lower the carbon footprint of content production.

Of course, many media industry companies have already made significant green pledges. Earlier this year, Netflix said it wants to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022. Ad Net Zero also recruited high profile supporters such as Publicis, WPP, Dentsu, Unilever, Omnicom and Droga5 as part of its ambition to help the ad industry achieve net zero by 2030.

ITV already has plans to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and on the eve of COP26 committed to running a 100% sustainable supply chain by 2030. In Italy, Rai has committed to procuring green energy from renewable sources – 97% of its energy consumed is from green energy sources. Sometimes it’s been about small steps: Swiss public broadcaster RTS uses water from Lake Geneva to help cool the server rooms in its Geneva building. It will be no easy task for the entertainment industry to go green though. Film and television sustainability organisation Albert reported this year that the average tentpole film, with a budget of over USD70 million, generates 2,840 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 11 one-way trips from the Earth to the moon. Transport has the largest impact in terms of carbon emissions, accounting for approximately 51% of total emissions for tentpole films.

MaKERS

What are entertainment companies doing to make sure they hit green targets?

Ahead of COP26, ITV led the way by revealing that it is to link bonus payments for its senior leaders to the delivery of its climate action targets. ITV has also agreed to commit to the delivery of carbon emissions reductions targets as a requirement of future bank and debt capital market financings.

MaKERS

What other green pledges did COP26 elicit?

Leading German broadcasters, streamers and producers made a joint pledge to embrace more sustainable production methods. The so-called Green Shooting initiative includes production companies such as Constantin Film, Bavaria Film and Studio Hamburg, as well as ZDF, Netflix Germany, RTL Germany and Sky Germany and Austria. They committed to a set of standards for sustainable productions, including switching to LED lights, more train journeys, more environmentally friendly vehicles and vegetarian foods. The standards also include the avoidance of diesel generators, short-haul flights and disposable dishes.

The powerful Producers Guild of America also called on its studio, streaming and production partners to dramatically lower the carbon footprint of content production. It set out a number of emissions reduction priorities including eliminating the use of diesel generators, installing EV charging stations to enable the electrification of production fleets.

MaKERS

What are broadcasters doing to help viewers decarbonise their lives?

12 leading UK broadcasters and streamers signed up to The Climate Content Pledge, a commitment to use their content to help audiences tackle climate change and to inform sustainable choices. The signatories –who represent over 70% of time UK audiences spend watching TV and film – include the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 / ViacomCBS, Discovery UK and Eire, ITV, RTE, S4C, Sky, STV and UKTV.

MaKERS

What kind of content are we talking about?

Speaking at COP26, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said there are two ways to address climate change on screen. One is very overt, with specific programmes on climate change which try to change people's views. “Equally important is the more subtle messaging,” said McCall. She cited Emmerdale only using electric vehicles for the last three to four years. “That subliminal message, which is electric is available, accessible and good, is a very important message.” She also noted a growth in vegetarian recipes on ITV’s daytime programming and said quiz show The Chase will incorporate facts about climate change. “It will be entertaining. And it will get more people to remember the facts in a quiz show than it would if you were doing a documentary.”

Also at COP26, Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon said the number one issue for young people is climate change, but that it was important for broadcasters to address the issue in way that's not lecturing or hectoring, and to give practical examples of how people can change their behaviour. She cited Vegan Week on Bake Off or Grand Designs featuring projects using sustainable building materials.

SUSTAINABILITY COP 26

CLIMATE CHANGE