RTL Group | 01/29/2020

Fremantle Aims To Reduce CO2 Emissions From TV Production

The production of one hour of TV programming causes the same volume of emissions as running three households for a year. Fremantle now intends to reduce its carbon footprint worldwide. The company uses a carbon calculator, which the British TV industry has been using since 2011. The Albert carbon calculator will now be used internationally for the first time.

Power generation, transport, industry – when it comes to the biggest generators of CO2 on Earth, these are the sectors that first come to mind. And rightly so. But entirely different segments of the economy also damage the climate by emitting CO2. The film and television industry in Britain is aware of this and is facing up to its responsibilities, first and foremost with Project Albert, launched in 2011. It enables British TV companies to precisely calculate their CO2 emissions and then reduce them. Fremantle and Albert now want to raise this idea to an international level so that international production companies and broadcasters can calculate their carbon footprint. RTL Group’s production arm with its many activities and branches all over the world, is becoming the first global media group to do so.

The protagonists are well aware that CO2 emissions from the film and television industry are not insignificant: According to Albert, 13.5 tons of carbon dioxide are generated for the production of one hour of TV programming – the equivalent of running three homes with gas and electricity for a year. The fact that the British organization is able to measure its own emissions so accurately is due to the Albert carbon calculator, which it developed itself. It was introduced in 2011 and is now used by more than 900 companies in the U.K. to calculate their emissions. The calculator enables the precise calculation of the expected carbon footprint of productions, and automatically suggests ways to reduce it.

Fremantle now plans to use the calculator for its productions and business worldwide – to further reduce its own carbon dioxide emissions, and as a pilot project for other international TV companies. To this end, Fremantle and Albert will develop and test an international version of the calculator. Jennifer Mullin, CEO of Fremantle, says: “We have a great privilege at Fremantle to change perceptions through our global storytelling, and I hope that our partnership with Albert will help re-define how the industry views sustainable productions.”

Kevin Price, COO of BAFTA and Chair of the Albert Consortium, speaks of a fantastic partnership that “allows us to take our project to a global audience and help production companies around the world to join us in our sustainability efforts.” And Roser Canela-Mas, Industry Sustainability Manager at Albert, adds: “Fremantle is the first global media group to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their productions worldwide and we hope this will encourage other international organizations to follow suit.”

The company says the global version of the calculator will be used by all Fremantle subsidiaries and holdings worldwide. The aim is to establish precise measures to reduce the carbon footprint of film and television productions within the next three years. Albert can and will support Fremantle in this process. In addition to reducing emissions, the initiative also addresses its members in another, sector-specific field: to enable creative people in the TV industry to create content that supports the idea of sustainability. Fremantle also commits to this in the partnership.