Green The Bid Hosts Member Meeting Featuring Steve Smith Project Manager For albert’s Studio Sustainability Standard
Green The Bid’s most recent member meeting on October 26th featured guest speaker Steve Smith, project manager of the Studio Sustainability Standard, an offshoot of the UK-based sustainability initiative albert, which helps lead the fight against climate change by pushing for environmental practices in the film and TV industry.
Steve spoke to the Green The Bid members and invited studios, about the objectives of the initiative, centered around developing a globally supported standard for studio facility sustainability evaluation and comparison.
By taking part in the Standard, studios can focus and pinpoint key areas within their facility, where they can decide on strategies for improvement and determine how to reduce their environmental impact. Sony Studios was among the first cohort featured in the upcoming reporting for the initiative.
Many brands and agencies have already begun announcing their carbon reduction goals and will be tracking their carbon footprint, expecting vendors to follow suit. By taking part in the initiative, studios can future-proof their studios and ensure that they do not get left behind.
Smith also emphasized that the Studio Sustainability Standard would help drive sustainability performance and push for industry competition within and between studios and production. Participating studios would receive a bespoke performance report as well as a grade, allowing them to benchmark their own progress as well as compare themselves to other studio facilities across the globe (although each studio can decide how they would like to communicate their involvement in the standard). The current regions included in this scope are the US, the UK, and Canada, but the ultimate goal is to extend this to other countries. A variety of studio types can take part in the initiative, including studios that combine with production, studio operation sites that provide rental space, and sites repurposed by production for filming.
The new Studio Sustainability Standard is important for the industry for many reasons. It measures both Scope 1 and 2 emissions, provides a clear pathway to align with Net Zero legislation, and highlights areas for improvement if a studio fails to reach the minimum standard. Those who may need an extra incentive will likely appreciate receiving an industry recognized logo and being rewarded for their good performance.
New member resources
New resources were recently added to Green The Bid’s website, including a US based food donation map that shows production companies where prepared food can be taken after shooting, and a Sustainable Production Manual with a complete breakdown of how to manage a sustainable production, featuring links to all the Green The Bid resources.
Events
Green The Bid’s Gabi Kay moderated a panel featuring Brian Stempeck (Chief Growth Officer of Potential Energy), Becky Morrison (Founder and CEO of The Light), Brian O’Kelley (CEO and Co-Founder of Scope3), and Jaclyn Paris (Head of Development at Cosmo Street Editorial) at Advertising Week.
Titled “How the F*ck Do We Get From Baseline to Net Zero?” the panel was targeted towards brands, agencies, and anyone looking to tackle the transition of their organization to sustainable and regenerative practices. It focused on the processes involved in making production sustainable, developing effective climate campaigns, and analyzing the carbon impact of data storage. One of the key takeaways was that it is not enough to just measure our behaviors, it is now vital that we begin the work of shifting them, and therefore acknowledging what gets in the way of us doing so.
On November 1st, The Telly Awards hosted a Green The Bid panel featuring four women flying the flag for sustainable advertising and production. Samira Ansari (Chief Creative Officer, Deutsch New York), Becky Morrison (Founder and CEO of The Light), Marsha Trainer (Manager, Creative Content Development and Production at General Mills), and Gloria Pitagorsky (Managing Partner at Heard City) joined forces to discuss how to transition the advertising and production industry to one that uses sustainable and regenerative practices.
Thank you to everyone who joined us! It was great seeing our members as well as some new faces, and we look forward to seeing you at our next member meeting.
