Transitioning Europe‘s audiovisual sector – including film, television and streaming – to a more sustainable operating model is an ‘ongoing process that requires continuous collaboration between policymakers, funding bodies, and industry stakeholders’, a new report by the European Audiovisual Observatory has found.
According to its Green Transition in the Audiovisual Sector report, while challenges linked to the green transition remain, there is a growing ‘awareness and commitments’ to reduce the sector’s environmental impact.
‘Research (to precisely measure environmental impacts) and innovation (to develop alternative solutions) will be necessary to further support this green transition, and further specific policy development may prove a useful motor,’ the group, which is part of the Council of Europe, noted.
Production costs
As the report notes, large-scale productions can have significant environmental costs, due to the transport of equipment, energy consumption, set construction and travel – however the biggest impact on carbon emissions is from the production and operation of equipment and vehicles, the report noted.
Some studios have sought to address this, it added, including Sky Studios Elstree, where sustainability-driven innovations such as onsite solar panels, offsite renewable energy sourcing, rainwater harvesting, LED lighting and the use of electric vehicles are having a positive effect.
Digital media
With digitalisation reshaping the sector, the report also examines newer challenges like the growing energy consumption of data centres to power streaming services and user-generated content.
In addition, it noted that the availability of high-definition services is increasing the requirement for bandwith and data-centre usage.
“With new parameters coming into play, assessing the audiovisual sector’s environmental impact becomes even trickier,” commented Maja Cappello, head of the legal information department at the European Audiovisual Observatory. “Moving on from a physical-copy-based world to that of online content and streaming, it may seem like the progress of technology would solve most of our issues.
“Unfortunately, what happens in the cloud does not stay in the cloud. User-generated content may have a more insidious impact, which is harder for the public to grasp. The user does not directly feel the impact of their audiovisual consumption on the environment, with data centres handling the heavy lifting from afar. And the energy needed to keep them running can be staggering.” Read more here.
