In an industry first, 12 broadcasters and streamers have signed up to The Climate Content Pledge. The signatories – including the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, RTE, S4C and Sky – are committing to using their content to help audiences understand what tackling climate change might mean for them, as well as inspire and inform sustainable choices.

The Climate Content Pledge has been convened by Albert, the screen industry organisation for environmental sustainability. For the past decade, Albert has helped the production industry in Ireland and the UK to reduce environmental impacts and create content that helps audiences understand what a sustainable future might look like. Broadcasters, streamers and studios are already reducing the carbon emissions from production, and many are developing science-based Net Zero plans.

Meanwhile, 19 broadcasters from across Europe have also launched a climate action campaign. Co-ordinated by the European Broadcasting Union, the campaign focuses on the role of public media in highlighting the climate crisis.

The Climate Content Pledge and pan-European campaign come as RTÉ commits to highlighting the European perspective on the climate crisis, showcasing content from a range of public service broadcasters on its special climate micro-site, at Climate Change | weather, climate, environment | RTÉ (rte.ie)

THE CLIMATE CONTENT PLEDGE

Climate change presents enormous challenges which will affect us all.

With the Paris Climate Agreement, nations all over the world have committed to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects. To limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and avoid catastrophic runaway climate change, carbon emissions must be halved by 2030. The decisions that governments, businesses and individuals make now and over the next five years are crucial to setting a sustainable climate trajectory. While the situation is urgent and grave, it is not without hope – every tonne of emissions avoided or removed can prevent further damage.

We, as members of the global screen industry, have a crucial responsibility to help our audiences engage with these challenges.

Therefore, we commit to the following principles:

• We will reach more of our audiences with content[1] that helps everyone understand and navigate the path to net zero, and inspires them to make greener choices.
• We will develop processes that help us to consider climate themes when we are commissioning, developing and producing content.
• We will ensure that our efforts are informed by the science.
• We will recognise the importance of fair and balanced representations of visions for a sustainable future.
• We will work together:
• learning from and inspiring each other
• sharing relevant industry and audience insights and developing relevant metrics
• improving how we measure our impact.
• We will communicate regularly with our colleagues, partners, and audiences so that we can all play our part in meeting this shared challenge.

These overarching principles are the foundation of our commitment – in addition, each of us will develop and publish our own “company-specific commitment”. We’ll revisit this every year, to review progress against our plans and challenge ourselves and each other to do more. We will continue to work together to support our shared ambitions, and we will share our progress publicly, holding ourselves and each other to account.

This pledge was developed by a group of media companies, facilitated by BAFTA albert. We encourage other media companies to adopt this pledge.

More: Broadcasters and streamers sign up to the Climate Content Pledge – albert (wearealbert.org)

Pledge Signatories

BBC – Tim Davie – Director General

BBC Studios – Tom Fussell – CEO

Britbox International – Reemah Sakaan – CEO

Channel 4 – Alex Mahon – CEO

Channel 5/ViacomCBS UK – Maria Kyriacou – President

Discovery UK & Eire – James Gibbons – EVP Gen Mgr UK & Nordics

ITV PLC – Carolyn McCall – CEO

RTÉ (Ireland) – Dee Forbes – Director General

S4C – Owen Evans – Chief Executive

STV Group PLC- Simon Pitts – Chief Executive

SKY Group – Stephen van Rooyen

UKTV – Marcus Arthur – CEO

RTÉ And Sustainability: Key Facts

– RTÉ is the only broadcaster in Ireland or the UK to have developed its energy management systems to ISO 50001 accreditation.

– We’ve already achieved energy savings of 57.1% against the 2009 baseline, putting us ahead of the targets set out under the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

– In 2020 RTÉ was re-certified with the Business Working Responsibly Mark, one of only 60 companies in Ireland to be certified to this standard. Ø Since 2017 we have zero waste going to landfill and in 2020 we reduced RTÉ’s overall waste levels by 30%.

– RTÉ has phased out single use plastics in its restaurant operations, as well as launching a collaborative project with our drinking water suppliers to eliminate plastic cups at watercoolers.

– On top of that, RTÉ plans to roll out further measures relating to control and use of plastics in the coming years

WATCH Keep Media Good | Climate Action | EBU and Your Public Service Media – YouTube

WATCH RTÉ – The Green Broadcaster THE GREEN BROADCASTER: Sustainability and RTÉ – YouTube