CARBON AWARE PRODUCTIONS
CARBON AWARE PRODUCTIONS
REDUCE
YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS
Cutting down carbon footprints is now essential, achievable and gratifying.
The most effective way to do this is to employ a CAP Guardian to work with your production.
Here also is a guide that gives tips and links for reducing production carbon emissions. Many are obvious but easily overlooked. Power & travel are the most carbon hungry aspect of productions and therefore the focus of CAPs carbon calculator, however changes made in every category will be beneficial.
TRAVEL
Reducing travel will have a massive impact on your carbon output.
USE LOCAL CREW It will bring down your emissions. Consider location finding agencies like Scout Productions who have remote teams already in place nationwide.
STICK WITH VIDEO CALLS IN PLACE OF FACE TO FACE MEETINGS WHERE POSSIBLE
WORK FROM HOME If everyone working in offices worked from home on one day each wk you would reduce your travel and office Co2e output by a fifth.
ELECTRIC CARS Try London taxi co LEVC & check out Green Tomato Cars. For car shares nationwide try Zip Cars & ask for one of their electric vehicles.
PEDAL COURIERS use 90% less emissions than standard couriers. Companies are popping up throughout the UK. Try Velocious for Bristol, Pedal Me for London, Pedal & Post for Oxford.
DRIVE CAREFULLY Cutting your speed from 80mph to 55mph and being less 'heavy' on the pedals when braking and accelerating can reduce your emissions by a third.
BIKE2WORK SCHEME Use the Government's
Bike2workscheme.co.uk which allows your employees to buy a new electric bike with reductions of up to 48.25%. For Employers it's free and can also save you thousands in national insurance contributions.
GIVE EMPLOYEES TIME TO TRAVEL ABROAD BY TRAIN & CAR, NOT PLANE. CLIMATE PERKS is an employer benefits scheme where staff receive paid ‘journey days’ to choose low-carbon holiday travel instead of flying.
FLYING
"The hard truth is that we are a long way off putting a long-haul passenger plane into the sky without burning around 100 tonnes of fossil fuel...there is no getting around the need to be frugal with flying. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise." How Bad Are Bananas Mike Berners-Lee
If you can't avoid flying, this is good to know: FLY ECONOMY. Business class tickets produce twice the carbon emissions as economy because your seat uses up more of the plane.
POWER
GREEN ENERGY PROVIDERS Ask your production office, studio, post house, if they have taken the plunge and switched. 100% renewable electricity has a limited carbon footprint. Albert are making this even easier than it is by making the switch for you.
ELECTRIC GENERATORS with no noise and no fumes are here. Check out Green Voltage. For hybrid generators try the Panalux Hydbrid H40. For ultra low emission generators try On Bio. They all result in less emissions and reduced costs. Next Generation 4x4 Ltd plant trees when you hire from them.
HYDROGEN POWER FOR LIVE BROADCAST In a world first GeoPura & Siemens powered BBC2's Winterwatch 2021 live using a green 250kW hydrogen power unit & water electrolysis. The only bi- product...pure water.
LOW ENERGY LIGHTING See AdGreen guide. The lights are cooler, lighter, have no flicker or buzzing and the reduced energy needed to power them means reduced costs for everyone.
RECHARGABLE BATTERIES They work. See this case study from Albert.
PLANET FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING If the internet was a country it would be the 7th largest polluter. Get providers like Erjjio to host your website.
CATERING
CHOOSE CATERERS WHO PRIORITISE LOCALLY GROWN SEASONAL FOOD. There's no point in having Peruvian asparagus or Californian grapes, they have to be flown in (unless your production is in Peru or California). Try Showbites or Green Tea Live. And for carbon neutral coffee from self sufficient trailers try Keep Rolling Coffee.
REQUEST VEGETARIAN & VEGAN FOOD A stew with chickpeas at its heart is 60 times less carbon hungry than one made with beef reared on deforested land.
ASK FOR REUSABLE CROCKERY & CUTLERY Anything disposable, whether biodegradable or not, is unfortunately a wasted resource. For London productions check out china hire from Rayners and enamel hire from London Event Hire.
REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLES & REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS Encourage crew and cast to bring their own.
CHOOSE CANS OVER BOTTLES Glass bottled drinks are carbon hungry because they are heavy and more fuel is needed to transport them. Canned drinks are lighter and therefore better.
PROVIDE ALTERNATIVES TO DAIRY 2.5 pints of cows milk per day each yr is a tonne of Co2e, equivalent to a flight from London to New York.
SPLIT FOOD WASTE, GENERAL WASTE AND RECYCLING Use separate bins on location. London productions, check out Quantum Waste.
LIMIT FOOD WASTE Upload leftover food to food sharing App Olio & to City Harvest.
WASTE
Sending recyclable rubbish to landfill produces Co2e in two ways; the emissions from the rotting process and the emissions needed to reproduce virgin products.
RECYCLE PRODUCTION WASTE Check out Quantum Waste.
BIODEGRADABLE & COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING from companies like Vegware must be collected separately and sent to industrial compost facilities. It cannot be recycled with standard plastic.
Get Everyone On Board
To achieve Paris Climate Agreement targets the world needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 7.6% every year for the next decade. Amibtious? An understatement.
To make this happen everyone needs to play their part from cast & crew to heads of department.
Consider joining Cut It, the industry members group that is growing in number & campaigning with one voice to make a difference.
If you would like to recommend further eco friendly services nationwide please drop us a line.
AFTER MORE INFORMATION?
Further tips and links to green solutions can be found at AdGreen and Albert's Top Tips for All
If you want a deep dive on how to reduce all carbon footprints read How Bad Are Bananas by Mike Berners-Lee.