Holly Bassett

We set aside the glitz and glam and met with Access Booking’s ESG Director, Adam Hall, for an insight into the industry’s latest environmental efforts.

The Film and TV industry’s climate impact ranks highly alongside other high-emission creative entertainment, such as major music tours and fashion shows. Not something many people realise when heading to the cinema for an evening out. 

High-budget blockbuster or ‘tentpole’ productions can top 3,370 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions according to the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance – the equivalent of 453 American homes’ energy use in one year.

While this does not apply to every film set, it’s easy to see how different elements add up: Air travel and accommodation demands of massive crews of around 1,000, transportation of equipment, private jets for the glitterati, set construction and disposal and high energy usage from diesel generators. 

There is recognition of this with the formation of sustainable film initiatives, such as UK-based Albert, a BAFTA-owned environmental organisation for the industry, and the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, a consortium of the world’s leading film, television and streaming stakeholders dedicated to reducing the entertainment industry’s overall environmental impact.

And suppliers are catching on. Adam Hall is the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Director and the BBC Key Account Manager at Access Bookings, an Albert-approved sustainable accommodation and travel booking provider offering greener options for the media industry across the UK, Europe, and Los Angeles.

Favouring Greener Hotels

Access Bookings champions its in-house grading system that identifies which hotels are making measurable progress in environmental and social responsibility. 

“We see ourselves as an extension of the production managers themselves – their trusted partner. We give our clients as much information as we possibly can and encourage them to make more environmentally-friendly decisions. Wherever possible,” Adam said. 

With gradings based on guidance from Albert, Access Bookings’ clients can choose from accommodation with an eco-grading of bronze, silver or gold, encouraging production managers to be more environmentally conscious.

The grading questionnaire completed by hotels comprises 17 questions around topics including: water usage, waste policies, and whether food is sourced locally. Hotels that use 100% renewable energy are recognised with a symbol, up front. 

“All major TV productions in the UK covet the Albert certification, which stipulates renewable energy usage, so our clients can make informed decisions based on the information we give them,” Adam explains. 

“They don’t always make the most sustainable decisions, based on balancing budgets and locations, but we feel we equip them with a range of good options.”

This grading is helpfully available instantly to clients, with 24/7 support provided by Access Bookings – essential when clients may require reservations for film crews of up to 1,000 rooms at a time, within a tight budget and rapid turnaround.

The grading system is not third-party verified. Properties are asked, however, to provide evidence via documentation, and Adam tells us that Access Bookings carries out property audits itself. 

“We also use a tool called the hotel footprinting tool,” Adam adds. “ It uses real data supplied by the industry’s global benchmarking index, Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking (CHSB) Index 2024. This index collates emissions for hotels across the world, and we are trying to surface this to be available to our clients at the point of booking, rather than as a retrospective report.”

The system is always in flux according to Adam, with further questions to assess the property’s supply chain on the horizon, and a possible alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, giving clients the chance to engage with the bigger picture and context. 

Balancing Travel Demands and Lower Emission Choices

According to the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, fuel consumption made up nearly 48% of the average footprint for large Hollywood blockbusters. Air travel and utilities contributed about 24% of the carbon footprint.

In terms of what this means for Access Bookings’ client liaisons, it means balancing a client-centric, responsive service with promoting “trains over planes”. 

Private aircraft services are offered via their sister company, Access Travel Management, although the organisation does try to minimise impacts and suggest alternatives.

“We try and discourage, where possible, domestic air travel,” Adam said.

“If a client asks for a London to Manchester flight, we’ll share the details as well as a better alternative. For example, if you did this journey on the train, it would be faster, cost less, and with fewer carbon emissions. So we try and push that forward as well.”

“We are also able to produce reports for our clients regarding their CO₂ emissions with DEFRA factors (often called the UK Government GHG Conversion Factors) to see the impact of trains vs planes vs cars.” 

No doubt at times, people and equipment still need to be moved over large distances. Locations for filming are sometimes remote or difficult to access, meaning air travel is hard to avoid entirely. 

Concurrently in the industry, there are many emerging alternatives to the impact of a travelling circus, such as prioritising locations that are accessible by ground transport, hiring local film crew personnel, utilising fuel-efficient or electric vehicles, and virtual production technologies. 

Albert currently offers a ‘Green Rider’ that allows actors to request sustainable practices in their contracts, and the ‘Grid Project’ in London allows productions to plug into mains electricity instead of portable generators. 

The Power of Climate Content in Shifting Public Awareness

Adam credits broadcasters like the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 with helping shift the narrative. 

“There seems to be a lot more engagement, particularly in the UK – this is a big thing. The impacts of climate change are becoming well known,” he said. 

“If you asked a member of the public about climate change five or ten years ago, it wouldn’t be so much at the forefront of people’s minds. It has, however, become something we need to take action on. And I think companies are aware of that, especially ones where travel is common or are carbon-heavy.” 

And the screen industry is undeniably a powerful tool to change behaviour. A 2023 Albert-led research initiative, ‘The Impact of Climate Content’, published in 2024, showed there is not only an appetite for climate content among UK audiences, but that scriptwriters and/or TV producers can increase pro-environmental behaviours among their audiences. 

The report recommended that productions use trusted characters as ‘messengers’, i.e. likeable characters to add legitimacy to climate messaging and not characterising environmentalists as unrelatable; exploring solutions rather than purely overwhelming audiences with grave dramatisations; and providing a realistic and empowering call to action for viewers. 

Big Screens, Small Footprints?

Access Bookings aims to lead by example, although it is, by nature, a different beast from the average Hollywood blockbuster production.

“We submit our emissions to CDP, and on our last assessment, we were graded as B.” (This is the highest practical score for SMEs due to the complexity and scale of disclosures required for A-level ratings.)

Internally, the company has moved to 100% renewable energy, installed automatic lighting in its offices, and replaced diesel cars with electric vehicles. 

“We’re quite low impact ourselves, which is good, but that can always be reduced further,” Adam confirms. 

And measuring the positive impact of their guidance is another area to develop. 

“We’d like to report back on the decisions clients make and outline the exact climate impact. Hopefully, overall, we will see a net difference, and we’ll be able to say because of the information we provided, these positive climate outcomes were met.”

“We encourage not just our clients, but our staff to think about how they’re travelling, where they’re travelling to, and why they need to travel. So we’re not just saying, ‘This is what we expect our customers to do.’ We’re applying this to ourselves at every opportunity.” 

Adam says he can see clients slowly getting on board: “We have 30-odd years of experience in this industry, so generally we are proud to say our clients do listen and make changes where they can. There is an appetite there to make more sustainable decisions.”

And a shift in mindset is becoming more visible over time. “There has been a sea change in the last three or four years,” he reflected. “And this makes our job a little easier.”

Many elements are moving in the right direction, but high-emission travel and energy demands pertain. The key question remains: The TV and Film industry is making many encouraging noises, but will it  ‘go green’ fast enough? Stay tuned.