Green Filming
Green filming has been a key reason for making a joint travel purchasing network for the EUFCN, as environmentally sustainable travel is one of their focus areas. However, most productions will not consider green filming before travelling. So it is up to the travel booker to find the most sustainable air travels, car rentals and hotel accommodation. This has to be done without negatively affecting quality, cost or the time spent on travelling. Reducing the latter is a win-win as shorter flights are often more sustainable to begin with.
Green filming is not only about sustainable air travel, but also about minimizing the travel distance between hotels and filming locations. A lot of CO2 can be saved by picking a hotel location close to the filming location and this is something Production Travel primarily focuses on. Together with the EUCFN and leading experts, we are also in the process of developing an up-to-date carbon calculator tool. This tool can be used for enhancing green filming, and creating environmentally friendly productions that are sustainable globally and locally.
Air flights produce on average 90% more CO2 than hotel stays. As an example, the combined CO2 emission from a round trip of 1100 km equals to that of 10 nights in an environmentally friendly hotel. According to the calculations of The Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), around 26% of the total CO2 emission of a movie production comes from transportation and around 4% from housing. Therefore 30% of the total emission comes from travel and accommodation, so this is why green filming is so important. The incorporation of this concept into production planning creates a win-win situation both for the environment and for the budget of the movie. Many film funds now require a sustainable profile from film crews in order to receive funding from this particular project.
For more information here are some resources on green filming:
Green film shooting Berlinale 2016.pdf
VAF e-mission year report 2015.pdf
And some tools for calculation on carbon offsetting.
Hotels – Hotel Footprinting tool
Cars – easiest is to use the DEFRA factors
