THE CLIMATE CRISIS Finding Solutions
BROADCAST WAKES UP In an instance of the group action recommended by Preist, the DPP (Digital Production Partnership), an industry coalition of broadcasters and media tech companies, launched a sustainability initiative in November to help the media industry reduce its carbon emissions. The DPP’s new Committed to Sustainability Programme provides participating companies with a self- assessment checklist that enables them to record their progress in implementing sustainability policies, then awards them a score out of five. Completion of the assessment entitles a company to display a Committed to Sustainability mark, and to publicise engagement with the programme. Environmental impacts had already been in conversation at DPP events for some time, says DPP managing director Mark Harrison. “Sustainability was initially raised at the DPP Tech Leaders’ Briefing in 2018. It was interesting that, while only three speakers referenced it directly that year, it created a buzz around the whole event.” He continues: “There was an explicit call for the DPP to use its ability to bring together all parts of the media supply chain, to formulate an industry-wide scheme. We could see that, while the
need for action had become urgent, most companies needed help to work out how to measure their impact and improve their sustainability performance.” The Committed to Sustainability Programme looks at a company’s management, energy, emissions and waste, particularly as they impact carbon emissions, and is designed to be simple and easy for companies to implement. The assessment asks a series of questions about how an organisation manages sustainability, the policies it implements and responsibilities it assigns to individuals to manage the process. It then covers how an organisation measures, reports and reduces its energy, waste and emissions. Positive behaviours such as transparency and measures taken to reduce any one of the metrics score more highly. A company with a high score (4 to 5) will be one that is able to measure its energy use and is publicly reporting its performance. It will also have set targets to
MARK HARRISON The managing director of DPP, which recently launched the Committed to Sustainability Programme
reduce its environmental impact. While there’s nothing preventing participants from publishing scores
voluntarily, DPP keeps them confidential. “The idea behind the programme is to encourage positive behaviour and to support the industry and companies taking
10%
Other energy
6%
25%
Buildings
Electricity
SOURCES OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS by major sector
Industry
21%
Food, land use
Transportation
24%
14%
DATA FROM EPA
feedzinesocial feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook