Many people spend hours a day watching movies and series. Streaming technologies have a larger carbon footprint than people realize. Online video viewing accounts for the largest share of global internet traffic at 60%. Digital technologies are responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Even greater, however, is the environmental impact of the creation of film products.
On the set
To make one hour of television, the companies involved in the production emit 9.2 tons of carbon dioxide, according to a study by the pan-industry organization Albert, commissioned by the British film organization BAFTA. By comparison, this amount of carbon is more than the average person in the UK emits for a whole year.
A Hollywood report found that the biggest movies have an average carbon footprint of 3,370 tons, which is about 33 tons per shooting day. A half-hour single-camera scripted drama has a carbon footprint of 26 tons per episode. Production of a film with a budget of more than 70 million dollars generates 2,840 tons of carbon dioxide according to data from the British Film Institute. This is the equivalent of 612 cars running at the same time. About 3709 acres of forests are needed to absorb this amount of CO2 in one year.
Tons of disposable props are used in the filming process. Diesel generators, power lights and cameras are used. The use of paper should not be underestimated, especially at the post-production stage.
In 2015, the movie “Mad Max: Fury Road” damaged the “fragile deserts” of Namibia, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2000 film “The Beach”, shot in Thailand, contributed to the flock of so many tourists, that the use of the beach in question is now prohibited in order to preserve the biodiversity of the place. The entire film business is a major contributor to the climate crisis.
Green practices
The movie “The Whale” is one of the good examples of “green” filming. It was recorded in a studio that required low energy consumption and transport emissions. Typically, transportation accounts for about 51% of a film’s carbon emissions, while electricity and gas use account for about 34%.
Chrisa Pagitsas, author of Chief Sustainability Officers at Work, which examines the leadership strategies of Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG executives at Fortune 500 companies, shares what Netflix is doing in the area of sustainability.
In its own productions, the company integrates into its stories behaviors that can inspire viewers to adopt more sustainable habits. Focusing on environmentally sustainable behavior through storylines and characters contributes to mitigating the impact of the film industry on the environment.
