The Green Toolkit kicks of the Academy Sessions, a complimentary, modular training seminar for sustainability managers, producers, consultant, and other film/TV professionals. Structured in three 45-minute online sessions, the seminar gives an insight in different approaches and tools to calculate the carbon footprint for film and TV productions. ISO 14067 and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) can be applied to calculate the Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF).
The seminar is given by Elisabeth Ignasiak, who works for over ten years as consultant and software expert in the sustainability sector. She advises clients on climate action, circular economy, and sustainability reporting. She helps organizations to integrate sustainable practices and technologies into their operations in order to optimize their environmental impact. Thanks to this expertise, Roman Russo developed the Green Toolkit, the first carbon calculation software for film productions that applied ISO 14067 for the life cycle assessment.
The first seminar, tht takes place on July 17 and September 17, gives an insight in the international standard ISO 14067, that defines the requirements necessary for companies to qualify the carbon footprint of their products. The main goal of ISO 14067 is to determine the greenhouse gas emissions produced during each stage in the life cycle of a product.This can ultimately help a company seek new, innovative ways to reduce emissions. The seminar will provide information how this standard can be applied to film and TV productions and what knowledge was gained by that.
At the second session on July 30 and September 23 the focus is on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG), which is the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards and guidance. The seminar participants can learn how studios use the GHG Protocol to manage their corporate carbon footpring (CCF).
With the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU is pursuing the goal of achieving greater transparency regarding sustainability information and comparability between companies and sectors. The CSRD obliges companies of various sizes to report on environmental, social and governance aspects in accordance with binding EU standards (ESRS). Companies are required to disclose information on various environmental factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, water resources, pollution, resource use and the circular economy.
In order to reduce the associated administrative burden, the EU Commission simplified the regulations for sustainability reporting this year with the so-called omnibus package. The application deadlines for the CSRD and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) have been postponed by two years.
The third seminar on August 12 and October 16 will present what are the distinctions and connections between ISO 14067 and the GHG protocol. voneinander unterscheiden. It is crucial to understand how they work together in practice, from projects to tool certification. The gola is that the participants can build a future-ready strategy for their production company.
The seminar participants will get access to the Green Toolkit platform and can participate in a quiz on ISO standard. Moreover, the Greentoolkit Academy offers a Eco Rep semiar for film and TV professionals in the U.S. Roman Russo developed a training seminar which is designed in a gamification format. The new eLearning platform provides industry professionals in a playful manner how the work on film set can be done in a more eco-friendly way.
The Academy sessions are always taking place at 5 pm (CEST), 11 am (ET), 8 am (PT). The participants can register here.
“The time for half-measures and climate denial is over. Unless we move quickly away from fossil fuels, we’re going to destroy the air we breathe, the water we drink, the health of our children, grandchildren and future generations. If we’re going to avoid the worst of the impacts, then we’ve just got to act boldly. And we must act immediately."
Robert Redford
Actor, Director, Producer, Environmentalist
"The media has a powerful role to play in the fight against climate change. Through films, television, and all media outlets, we must continue to deliver the message that solutions are out there and are happening now. We have to make it attractive for people to take action. Movies like Avatar, The Day After Tomorrow, and documentaries like Years of Living Dangerously, which I was proud to be a part of, have been very popular, reaching and inspiring millions of people. And I believe films in particular can really inspire and make people want to take action. It’s great to see some of my film-industry friends working with climate related organizations to push forward those messages."
„It‘s high time to reorganize film production in Germany in a ‚greener‘ and more sustainable way. So far, I am flabbergasted by how much our industry works in environmentally harmful ways.To this very day, it starts with until today one-sided print-outs of scripts, and then it continues with plastic bottles in production offices and lots of plastic waste with every catered meal, and it doesn‘t stop with the limousines that pull up to a red carpet.
For many years, people have sneered at me when I brought my own cup or I declined to eat cheap meat served on paper or plastic plates with plastic knives and forks. It would be great if the Green Shooting Card could change all that.“
Director (Ben X, Time of My Life)
„It’s absolutely great that filmmakers all over the world are trying to clean up their act, and are trying to film as sustainable as we possibly can. Still, I think we shouldn’t underestimate the incredible power of the moving image to also change the hearts and minds of people.
So, apart from trying to be more environmentally aware in our business, I think the big gain lies in how we might make everyone more environmentally aware. Yes, cinema can change the world.
I think filmmakers should start using the powerful weapon in our hands that is the camera.
Let’s not only try to do ‘less bad’. Let’s try to do right, and help drive the change that we all know needs to arrive.“
“We are living in a time in which we can’t afford to behave irresponsibly towards nature. The more important is it that film productions try to work as environmentally friendly as possible. A film team produces every day tons of garbage. I try to avoid using plastic cups on set, I bring my own cup, use ecofriendly cosmetics and avoid needless single rides.”
Photo ® Maddalena Arosio
Darren Aronofsky, Director, Noah / Jury President, 65th Berlin International Film Festival
“When we did Noah we knew we were making a film about the first steward of the earth, so we wanted to be good stewards ourselves. There’s so much waste on film sets. Because of groups like Earth Angel, we were able to change that a little bit.”
"As a TV and film producer I try to incorporate environmental storylines into my projects as much as possible. But it’s just as important, if not more, to ‚go green‘ behind the scenes! Therefore, I help run the Producers Guild of America’s Green Initiative.
We provide resources such as a Best Practices and a Carbon Calculator to help producers green their productions. We also partnered with all the major studios to create www.greenproductionguide.com which is a free green vendor database with over 2,000 vendors offering sustainable production solutions worldwide!"
‚Green screens excepted, we will do everything in our power to be as innovative as we can in order to make our production as green as possible.‘
Photo: (c) herbXfilm Dieter Mayr
Lars Jessen
Director (Fraktus, Dorfpunks, Am Tag als Bobby Ewing starb)
‘It is somewhat embarrassing that green filming is only now becoming an issue in our industry because there have long since been many possibilities to shoot more efficiently.
Technical innovations such as energy efficient lighting are as much a part of this as the awareness of every crew member.’
I do work with a company in the States called Sungevity that leases solar panels to homes. They figured out how to move forward environmentally and how to make it economically successful.
So that’s my small but steadfast global contribution. I think everybody doing a little bit is all that’s made any difference, ever.‘
Producer, Director and Visual Effects Supervisor (2001: A Space Odysee, Blade Runner)
"Trumbull Studios in Massachusetts is dedicated to being green as much as possible, including the use of LED lighting, solar power, and solar laptops. This is not just because our location has limited amperage and no three-phase, we believe we have a responsibility to our community and our planet to be a clean industry.
We are planning for digital photography in 3D 4K at 120 frames per second from remote and inaccessible locations that will not have available power. Solar is the way to go."
Dieter Kosslick, Director Berlin International Film Festival
„The Berlinale is already actively addressing the sustainability subject since years. We appreciate it very much that a growing number of filmmakers, among them this year‘s jury presiden Darren Aranofsky, is following green guidelines on set.“
Benoit Delhomme
Director of Photography (A Most Wanted Man)
‘I never have been told precisely what the rules are for shooting a green movie, but we are trying to do it. This is something new for me. Sometimes people overlight scenes at night. I don’t. If I can see with my own eyes, then it is enough for the film. In that sense I am a green DoP.’
Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons who stars in the Berlinale Competition entry The Night Train To Lisbon is a fan of source segregated recycling. „Especially in Germany you have done a lot for that. You are examplary in the matter of waste separation.“
The Hollywood actor travelled around the world to promote the environmntal documentary feature film Trashed by Candida Brady which deals with the global garbage problem: „We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it“, says Brady. „With Jeremy Irons as our guide, we discover what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that goes unaccounted for each year.“
Since the world premiere at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2012 Trashed picked up various nominations and awards at international festivals.