PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA CALL TO ACTION:
THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
MUST TRANSITION TO CLEAN ENERGY TO MEET THE CURRENT LEVEL OF CLIMATE CHANGE THREAT
“Based on the science, we are now in a Climate Emergency with less than 9 years to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% to avoid irreversible, catastrophic climate change.”
-- UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
This November, world leaders are coming together at the United Nation’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow with the mission of accelerating climate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
For our industry, climate change is impacting our productions. Our health and safety, and filming locations are being irreparably damaged by increased pollution, wildfires, floods, storms, and droughts. Climate change is also a threat multiplier including setting the stage for viruses like COVID-19, which further add to health & safety issues and uninsurable cost risks.
That’s why as producers we are coming together to call on our studio, streaming and production partners to innovate, invest in, and scale up clean power solutions to create the infrastructure necessary to dramatically lower the carbon footprint of content production across our industry.
The global entertainment industry has a massive carbon footprint, producing millions of metric tons of CO2 per year. Depending on the size, productions emit on average between 391 and 3,370 metric tons of CO2. Our industry’s emissions have been known to surpass those of aerospace, clothing, hotel and semiconductor industries
The sustainability measures currently being taken in our industry are sporadic and wholly inadequate to meet the current level of threat. Though some cleantech solutions are being successfully implemented by productions, they are not yet available at the required scale and affordability for all productions. It is important to acknowledge that investment in clean energy infrastructure will result in long term savings eliminating thousands of dollars of fuel costs per shoot day.
The science is clear. The urgency is now. We must work together to accelerate our sustainable actions to reduce our emissions by 50% by 2030. There are existing solutions that we can implement and work on now to start moving towards this goal. Our emissions reduction priorities include:
1. Eliminate the use of diesel generators at soundstages, backlots and all production locations.
• Provide clean and renewable energy infrastructure. This includes offices, stages, mills, workshops, backlots, parking areas for equipment trucks, caterers, basecamps, air conditioners, and other support that requires electricity.
• Provide mobile clean power generation to power our sets, trucks, basecamps and vehicles on location.
• Use renewable fuels to reduce impact of the harder to electrify categories such as large scale mobile energy, transport trucks and air travel.
2. Install EV charging stations to enable the electrification of production fleets.
• Install L2 chargers for current fleets, and DC fast chargers to ensure that production vans and trucks coming to market in the next few years will be able to charge at their home base.
3. Maintain energy efficient and low carbon buildings.
• Transition all office and house lighting to fuel efficient lighting (eg LED)
• Decommission and/or upgrade HVAC units, and install energy efficient equipment.
• Use electric heat pumps for new builds, avoiding new natural gas infrastructure.
4. Use renewable energy.
• Generate renewable energy on site (i.e. solar) where possible.
• Procure renewable energy from local utilities.
• Procure renewable fuels to reduce carbon intensity for generators and transportation fleets.
5. Update equipment rental inventory.
• Transition lighting inventory to all LED set lighting.
• Stock clean mobile power equipment (i.e. batteries, green hydrogen) to transition away from diesel generators.
• Use electric support equipment - lifts, golf carts etc.
• Scale up EV vehicles, trucks and trailers.
6. Support Important Green Initiatives:
• Provide Waste Management Solutions: Ensure that our productions are able to maximize diversion of waste from the landfill through reuse, composting and recycling systems.
• Provide Access to Clean Water: Equip offices, stages and workshops with filtered water systems and refill stations to eliminate the need for plastic water bottles. Provide refillable water stations on all locations and clean water hook-ups for catering, craft services and trailers to avoid the need to run water trucks.
• Provide Green Vendors: Ensure that affiliated vendors are sustainable in their practices.
• Track Metrics for fuel efficiency, utility use, waste diversions, and water consumption.
As climate change continues to worsen, it is time for our industry to step into a leadership role and take action.
We must come together to set transformative changes that lead to a more sustainable future that will help not just our industry, but entire communities around the globe.
Signed,
Producers Guild of America
About the Producers Guild of America (PGA) / PGA Green
The Producers Guild of America is a nonprofit trade group that represents over 8,000 producers and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media. The Producers Guild’s national PGA Green initiative was established in 2008 as part of the Producers Guild of America’s commitment to actively promote sustainability in the entertainment industry. PGA Green has partnered with The Sustainable Production Alliance to create GreenProductionGuide.com, a public site that includes: Best Practices Checklists, a Carbon Calculator, an international Vendor Guide, and educational materials including Case Studies, Industry Reports & News. PGA Green’s leadership are committed ambassadors speaking at international and domestic film festivals, networking at sustainability summits, and facilitating forums for scientists, advocacy groups, and unions and guilds to work together.
Further information:
1- “Carbon Emissions of Film and Television Production.” The Sustainable Production Alliance - industry-wide report of film and television carbon emissions averages for productions between 2016 and 2019.
https://www.greenproductionguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SPA-Carbon-Emissions-Report.pdf
2- The Screen New Deal - ALBERT
https://wearealbert.org/2020/07/22/screen-new-deal/