Greening the European audiovisual landscape

Steering the way towards a sustainable European audiovisual sector

From standardised carbon footprint measurements to the integration of green strategies into funding criteria, the journey towards a greener future for film and media production in Europe is well underway. The Commission is collaborating with the audiovisual industry and (sub)national film funds to share best practices, agreeing on common tools and green standards. This is in line with the European Green Deal objective of achieving climate-neutrality by 2050 and the 2020 Media and Audiovisual Action Plan (MAAP) .

EU carbon emissions calculator for the European audiovisual sector

The European audiovisual (AV) industry has been encouraging environmentally friendly business practices. Many initiatives have been spearheaded at national level by the industry to limit the CO2 footprint of AV productions. Member States have developed their own practices, resulting in a variety of emissions measurement systems and green labels.

In response to the challenge of comparability in measurements due to diverse parameters, the Commission initiated a stakeholders’ dialogue in June 2021. The participants reached a consensus on the necessity for European action to curb carbon emissions, starting with standardised measurement practices. This resulted in the February 2022 common statement in favour of a unified measurement methodology of carbon emissions.

The Commission has procured a calculator to assess the CO2 impact of audiovisual works and initiated a project to standardise carbon footprint measurement of audiovisual productions, across EU Member States.

The project will deliver a common calculation methodology and a user-friendly web application designed for calculating the CO2 impact of AV productions. The tool will calculate and monitor CO2 footprints, as well as exchange and compare data among existing calculators. Results will be fed into policymaking at European level, contributing to the ongoing greening efforts within the audiovisual sector.

Encouraging sustainable strategies through Creative Europe

The Commission also ordered the 2021 study Greening the Creative Europe programme. The study sets out the steps that the Creative Europe programme should take to become more sustainable and support the EU’s climate change goals. In addition to the Final report , the recommendations were published in three documents:

• The Good Environmental Practices Guide provides a overview of existing good environmental practices that are recommended to applicants and beneficiaries of Creative Europe.
• The Creative Europe Programme Greening Strategy identifies areas where actions are needed and makes recommendations on green practices.
• The Creative Europe Monitoring Guide for Programme Greening proposes green indicators to measure the programme’s progress, but also to feed back into the European Green Deal objectives post-2027.

The Creative Europe MEDIA strand should include greening practices in their strategies. For instance, facilitating sustainable mobility options for the cast and crew, working with a green consultant or agency, or achieving greening certifications.

Such strategies are evaluated as part of the award criteria. This requirement aims to put greening at the core of each project design, with the goal to inspire systemic greening approaches.  Besides, the Commission is monitoring the overall impact of the award criteria introduced in 2021 and engaging regularly with stakeholders and public funds.