About the BSC Sustainability Committee:
The BSC Sustainability Committee (SC) was set up on the initiative of BSC President Chris Ross and he tasked David Raedeker BSC and Mattias Nyberg BSC with being Co-Chairs.
The committee now also include David Katznelson BSC, Joel Devlin BSC and Pat McEnnallay of Greenkit.
The idea behind the creation of the SC is to help educate our membership around carbon literacy and to share useful tools for how you can help reduce CO2 emissions both at work and at home. It’s also looking at how the BSC and its events can be more sustainable.
Among other things the SC are conducting fact-finding meetings with lighting rental houses, studios and gaffers. It’s aiming to have met with all the major lighting rental houses by the end of the year. It is also meeting with other industry bodies such as ALBERT and The Production Guild.
Anything the SC publishes on this page, or elsewhere, are recommendations and it is not instructing or telling anyone what to do either at work or in their personal life.
What is Climate Change? And why does it happen? We are all aware of the concept of Climate Change and Greenhouse Effect but we are perhaps not aware of the science of it.
In this fascinating clip renowned Cosmologist Carl Sagan very clearly explains what the ‘Greenhouse Effect’ is and what causes it - and how it impacts on the earth’s climate.
What can I do to bring down personal and work Green House Gases emissions to a sustainable balance?
Here are seven ways you can take action:
- Switch your bank
One of the most powerful individual choice you can make is choosing a bank, which doesn’t invest into fossil fuels. This is a highly effective way of making an impact on CO2 emissions and it’s very easy to do.
Useful Sources
- https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/money-finance/shopping-guide/current-accounts
- https://www.comparethemarket.com/current-accounts/content/ethical-banking/
- https://moralfibres.co.uk/best-ethical-banks/
- Switch Your Pension Fund
Without our pension money the fossil fuel industry could not sustain itself.
“Pension firms invest some $56tn (£41tn) worldwide – that's more than the GDP of the US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK combined. UK pensions alone hold around £2tn in assets, making them "the largest single group of institutional investors in the UK", according to the UK government.” (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220218-how-i-made-my-pension-sustainable)
Richard Curtis is behind the campaign - Make My Money Matter - on the website you can contact your pension provider and ask them not invest your money in fossil fuels Make My Money Matter - https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/
On the Ethical Consumer website you can see how pension funds rank in terms of ethics Ethical Consumer - https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/money-finance/shopping-guide/ethical-pensions
- Switch Your Transport
Transport is a huge emitter of CO2 and other toxic particles. Confidential Carbon / Sustainability reports the committee has seen from UK TV Dramas suggest Transport is responsible for roughly 50% of a production’s total CO2 emissions. These reports do not include crew and cast transport to-and-from location / studio, so the number is likely higher.
What can you do to mitigate your CO2 emissions from transport at home and at work?
- Whenever possible use public transport or cycle
- Whenever possible take the train instead of the plane
- In your Deal Memo insist on that you are transported by an electric vehicle, either chauffeured or a rental that you drive yourself
- Buy or lease an electric car to travel to work
- On shoots work with your Gaffer and other key crew to make your departments transport as efficient as possible. This includes trying to make your equipment deliveries as minimal as possible.
- Switch Your Power
At work
- Wherever possible, favour mains supply
- Work with your gaffer to find battery and hybrid solutions, talk to your lighting rental company about solutions that fit your shoot. There are now many rental houses that can provide Hybrid / Battery solutions. Using a hybrid generator solution cuts CO2 emissions on average by 80%
- Switch to HVO fuel - but please make sure it’s certified Palm Oil Free. If it’s not certified then don’t use it, as palm oil production is a massive driver of deforestation worldwide.
At home
- Sign on to a truly green energy supplier, for example Good Energy. Make sure the energy supplier gets their credentials from investing actively into renewable energy and not from Renewable Energy certificates.
Useful Sources
- https://greenecofriend.co.uk/eco-friendly-energy-suppliers/
- https://ethical.net/guide/a-guide-to-ethical-energy/
- https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy/shopping-guide/energy-suppliers
- Switch Your Diet
About 20% of Greenhouse causing gases come from food production. Meat and dairy is responsible for the vast majority of those. Reducing your meat consumption to just a few times a week will greatly reduce your CO2 emissions.
Confidential Carbon / Sustainability reports the committee has seen from UK TV Dramas suggest roughly 93% of CO2 emissions from food catered come from meat and fish. For example on one production 23,500 meals were served, producing 70 tonnes of CO2 emissions. 40% of the meals were vegan / vegetarian - but they only contributed 7% of CO2. Out of the 70 tonnes, 65.1 were from meat and fish.
Useful Sources
- https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/climate-impact-meat-vegetarian-vegan-diets
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00795-w.pdf?pdf=button%20sticky
- https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/how-to-cut-your-foods-carbonfootprint/
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-meatless-diet-is-better-for-you-and-theplanet/
- Advocate for Carbon Accounting on your next production
Production carbon calculator:
- https://wearealbert.org/carbon-calculator-and-production-certification/
Be aware of your own CO2 emissions
Personal carbon calculator:
- https://calculator.carbonsavvy.uk
- Use and promote low carbon products at work and in your personal life.
Reuse packaging and recycle. Question suppliers and production and show willingness to
support their sustainability efforts.
Suggest ‘planet placement’ at your preproduction creative meetings.
