Productions and Clean Energy: Harnessing the Potential of the Supply Chain

At the Sustainable Production Forum, we center our programming around accelerating opportunities to decarbonize the production systems behind motion-pictures. Our previous article highlighted the need to acknowledge the industry’s carbon problem as a first step to build in accountability for change, as well as the role productions and studios must play in creating a strong signal for clean energy targets and infrastructure by working with local governments. 

In this article, we’ll examine how our industry can amplify the market signal for clean energy technology by engaging its supply chain, thereby creating ripple effects that enable the range and scale of options required to meet carbon reduction goals increasingly set by studios and broadcasters, as well as local and national governments.  

Industry collaboration with supply chains is a necessity

It’s a truism that collective action on climate change, including clean energy solutions to drive down carbon emissions, is how meaningful results will be achieved. No single crew member, production, or production studio can successfully and aggressively achieve carbon emissions reductions without working with others. Productions can achieve collective success by working across departments to identify mutually beneficial solutions, and both productions and studios working with local governments can help accelerate the development of clean energy infrastructure like electric vehicle charging stations and direct grid tie-in access points.   

In the vein of collective action, engaging and collaborating with the industry’s supply chain offers some of the most meaningful opportunities for clean energy to be realized. 

The role of the supply chain has been increasingly acknowledged by broadcasters and studios alike. Phil Holdgate1 (ITV Studios, UK), for instance, pointed out that roughly “90% of our emissions sits with our supply chain… outside of our direct control, but it’s definitely something that we can influence.” As a result, ITV Studios is actively working with their suppliers and collaborating with the wider industry “to really bring about that change that’s required.” Similarly, in Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada2 has committed to review their procurement criteria and practices as they work with vendors to achieve the targets established in their corporate sustainability strategy.   

By communicating and collaborating with vendors for clean energy, such as asking equipment companies directly for battery power stations and rental car companies for hybrid/EVs,  productions and studios achieve direct benefit while also significantly shifting the supply chain to reduce emissions for collective and global benefit. Similar to ITV Studios findings, the CDP’s 2019 Global Supply Chain Report noted that supply chain emissions are 5.5 times greater than a company's direct operations. This, in part, is why companies such as Walt Disney, BBC, Netflix, among many others, are increasingly working with their supply chain and communicating clean energy targets to suppliers and facilities owners to achieve emissions reductions. This ripple effect through the supply chain is necessary to truly decarbonize the industry.

A strong market signal provides security for vendors to invest in cleantech

Whether it’s individual productions or specific studios, the motion-picture industry is a key client for a wide range of vendors, like those renting diesel generators. Leaning into this reality can help rapidly influence the supply chain to invest in clean energy technology, in both breadth and depth, as noted by Adrienne Pfeiffer3 (LucasFilm). Productions, she noted, have to “really look at our power and leverage it, with regards to what we purchase, how we purchase it, and the negotiation process” around it. 

Vendors “need a nudge” said Kent Rathwell4 (Sun Country), “and that’s where I think the film industry can come in.” At the end of the day, vendors are a business that aims to retain its client base and enough economic certainty. If productions, studios, and production companies communicate to their vendors that they want to be sustainable, vendors will “follow suit”, acknowledged Sai Frame3 (Location Fixer), “and we’ll start making changes on our side of things, so it’s not just the film production, it’s everybody around it as well.”

By way of specific example, Louise Pollard3 (Murdoch Mysteries) noted that the industry has the ability to “reduce fuel usage by insisting or trying to come up with a way to [require] car rental companies to supply electric vehicles (EVs) based on demand.” This is precisely what happened in Vancouver in 2018 when the industry engaged car rental companies and showcased their commitment to EV rentals by way of a signed petition. Faced with this demand and business certainty, Driving Force purchased a fleet of EVs which were subsequently entirely rented out to Vancouver-based film and television productions. In subsequent years, Driving Force has expanded and grown their fleet and continued to find a willing partner with local productions. 

While this success is laudable, no single market or region will help achieve the transformation needed. Our industry needs to consistently and cohesively engage with vendors across jurisdictions to provide enough business certainty to accelerate clean tech investment. Ryan Doucette4 (Warner Bros) acknowledged that “you can see it coming [..] they [rental companies] just need a little bit more, they need to know that there’s a little bit more security in their purchases.” More productions adding their collective voices to communicate to vendors that they want cleantech will help us get to a tipping point, noted Louise Pollard3 (Murdoch Mysteries). 

Communicating clean energy targets provides security for vendors to invest in cleantech solutions beyond EVs. Notable investments can and have been made in battery power, and can also influence technology that may yet exist. Collaboration between vendors and the industry, for example, has helped accelerate the development of a diverse battery units from Portable Electric, MBS Equipment Company, Whites and Onyx, among others, for production needs. 

Conclusion

Implementing clean energy solutions across the industry requires a multi-faceted approach. Productions, studios, broadcasters and their vendors have the power and responsibility to shift the supply chain towards clean energy. The combined benefit of clean power technology and clean transportation options are critical opportunities to help aggressively reduce the overall carbon emissions of our productions. When productions influence the supply chain, the ripple effects in cleantech development that can be caused will not only benefit future productions, but their supply chain and all related industries as well. Effective and comprehensive engagement of the industry’s supply chain will amplify the market signal and economic certainty required to invest, develop, and deploy cleantech solutions.  

1 Getting to 2030! No Excuses! panel

2 Barbara Williams, CBC/Radio-Canada Keynote address

3 The Irrefutable Business Case panel

4 Driving Innovation Roundtable discussion

Want to learn more? You can revisit select SPF panel sessions on Green Spark Group's YouTube channel, or check out sustainable production courses on its YouTube channel! And as ever, please reach out to us with any comments or questions at hello@sustainableproductionforum.com. 

Via Appolinary Kalashnikova on Unsplash