Julián

Julián is an animated feature film for children, co-produced by Cartoon Saloon, Aircraft Pictures in Canada, Melusine Studio in Luxembourg and Sun Creature in Denmark. It was funded by Screen Ireland and Coimisiún na Meán.

Julián tells the story of a child spending a transformative summer with a grandmother he barely knows, discovering his Caribbean heritage - and the courage to express who he truly is. When Julián realises he wants to be a mermaid, he must navigate difference, identity and acceptance. At its heart, the film explores belonging, intergenerational understanding and the fundamental right to self-expression in a gentle, celebratory family story. Adapted from the award-winning and best-selling children’s book Julián is a Mermaid by the acclaimed author and artist Jessica Love, the film is directed by Academy Award-nominated Louise Bagnall in her feature debut for Cartoon Saloon. 

The production’s carbon footprint was 58.81 CO2e and received a score of 76% in the Albert certification process. The Carbon Action plan was developed by the Studio’s internal Sustainability Advisor working closely with the Head of Production, the Line Producer and Production Manager, who then implemented it within the production. 

Cartoon Saloon’s sustainability commitment guides our overall sustainability approach as well as each production we work on. In 2023 we worked with Tipperary Energy Agency to create a baseline carbon footprint and a register of opportunities for carbon reduction. Resulting interventions in studio facilities management during 2023 and 2024 resulted in measurable reductions of over 8 tCO2. In 2025 we worked with the landlord of our rental studio to install solar panels and introduce a schedule for replacement of fluorescent lighting fittings with LED in the building. 

Production Engagement

We issued a Green Memo to all cast, crew and co-producers outlining our sustainability initiatives. We created an induction for all incoming crew members to explain the production’s sustainability initiatives and how they could support these efforts. We ran a number of sustainability talks during the production and gathered input and feedback from crew. The Sustainability Advisor, Line Producer and Production Manager met fortnightly to discuss progress and feed back into monthly studio production meetings. 

Our international co-producers were not familiar with Albert. We inducted them into the process and our Carbon Action Plan, and created spreadsheets to capture their footprint data which we then inputted into the Albert tool. We had regular online meetings to discuss progress and offer support. 

The Line Producer, Production Manager, Production Coordinator and Co-Director all undertook sustainability training and a ‘sustainability pass’ was added to background and prop reviews to ensure that evidence of sustainable lifestyles was included in scenes.

Energy

Energy was by far the largest category in our carbon footprint, totalling over 44 tCO2. 

We ran a night-time audit to understand how much studio equipment we left on at nights/weekends. The findings were shared with Julian crew, and crew received regular reminders to switch off all equipment at evenings and weekends. 

Our co-producers Sun Creature and Melusine were also studio-based, whilst our Canadian service studio Guru primarily worked from home, and a lot of the audio and post-production in Canada was also done remotely.  Energy was calculated using the Albert benchmark tool which has implications for the footprint (laid out in more detail in the Results section).

Materials and services

Materials contributed 0.61 tCO2 to the production carbon footprint. From catering to post-production and dubbing services, we shared our Green Memo and requested feedback and sustainability information from our suppliers. The production operated largely using digital communications and printed documents were only provided on an opt-in basis. Waste paper was disposed of in the appropriate waste stream.

Waste

Waste contributed 0.05 tCO2. We ensured that our waste disposal company operated on a Zero to Landfill basis. We monitored our waste amounts and carried out a waste audit with Voice Ireland to understand what we were disposing of. Through this we learned that our percentage of single-use coffee cups was far in excess of the national office average, that 15% of our general waste was single-use cleaning tissue and that 66% of our general waste was compostable. Voice Ireland ran a lunch and learn event with Julian crew to go through the findings, inspiring a crew member to create an illustrated slide show and presentation for incoming crew on which bins to use and why it matters. 

We removed individual bins from offices, introduced compost bins into our kitchen areas, installed cardboard bins for recycling to cut down on incorrect disposal and created new signage to make waste segregation easier. We asked our cleaning company to cut down on tissue cleaning rolls and replaced these with reusable dishcloths. As many of our crew are not car owners, we organised a WEEE collection in the studio to bring crew’s defunct home electrical equipment to a recycling facility. 

Post Production

Post production was undertaken by Formosa/Picture Shop in Toronto, Ontario. Their energy supply is from Toronto Hydro. Toronto Hydro receives its electricity from the Ontario grid, which is largely supplied by nuclear (over 50%) and hydroelectricity (over 20%), with other renewables like wind and solar making up a smaller portion. The post production studio also operates a waste segregation programme and runs a sustainable travel initiative for staff. 

Travel

Travel was our second-largest category, at 13 tCO2. A log of all production-related travel was kept and we included travel for prospecting and pitching prior to production start. We replaced international travel where possible, for example using online meetings to interview potential animation service studios in Canada, and running virtual casting sessions and voice records using remote direction.

Lots of our Post Production was done online, including audio spotting, music and sound reviews and looks set. We decided not to schedule Supervisor trips to Luxembourg or Denmark as we would normally, and to build these team relationships online only.

When international travel was required, our Green Memo guided co-producers to make sustainable transport and accommodation choices. Co-producer visits were kept to a minimum, and public transport was used by co-producers to get from/to Dublin Airport. However, we were disappointed at being unable to find a taxi company in Kilkenny that only used electric cars.  

Catering

When making catering choices, we specified a vegan menu, zero single-use items and chose a supplier who uses seasonal and local produce where available. Cartoon Saloon recorded 256 vegan meals during the production, though co-producers also recorded fish and meat options, as well as plant-based options. 

Outcome

Evidence to support the Carbon Action Plan was collected from all co-producers, compiled and submitted to BAFTA Albert, and accreditation as an ALBERT Certified Production was received. The Carbon Action Plan score was 76%. Crew engagement was very positive throughout, facilitated continually by the Line Producer and Production Manager. 

Our Learnings

Julián was our first production to start in the BAFTA Albert certification process. We were successful in being awarded funding from Screen Ireland to appoint a Sustainability Advisor to guide us in this, however we weren’t able to find an advisor with an animation background and as a result we developed an in-house advisory approach.

Our biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to fit our data into the Albert carbon footprint calculator. Albert was designed for single, stand-alone productions such as live action, but animation productions are generally made in studio buildings where multiple productions at different stages are contributing to resource use and emissions. In addition to this, crew numbers rise and fall constantly throughout an animation production as multiple different specialist teams start, peak and finish along the pipeline. Working out the percentages of energy use and waste streams for an individual production in a studio is very challenging using the Albert tool.

Even more significant is the fact that Albert contains a benchmarking option for productions that can’t supply a simple meter reading for energy use - but the benchmark used is based on a standard office desk, which bears very little relation to the energy usage of animation processes such as compositing or rendering.

• ALBERT's benchmark for one person, naturally-ventilated office: 3.5 kWh per 7 hour day
• High-spec workstation: 2.8-5.6 kWh per 7 hour day
• Heavy GPU/render workstation: 5.6-8.4 kWh per 7 hour day
• Small render server: 2.1-5.6 kWh per 7 hour day
• Render rack/server rack: 35-70 kWh per 7 hour day

In a digital production pipeline, energy usage is one of the largest elements in the carbon footprint. The footprint measurement being captured for animation through Albert is an understatement, which has implications for wider sectoral measurement, benchmarking and reduction. Through the Animation Ireland subcommittee on sustainability, we shared this learning with Coimisiún na Meán and Screen Ireland, and also with BAFTA Albert, during the Julian production process. The subcommittee’s observation is that in general, the differences between live action and animation pipelines in terms of carbon emissions are not clearly understood outside of animation. Until our feedback, BAFTA Albert were unaware of the limitations of their tool in accurately measuring animation footprints, and though they acknowledge the challenge this presents, they did not feel that they would be able to re-design their tool with the required granularity to address this.

Working across an international co-production was also challenging. With co-producers in three different countries to ourselves, there were different levels of sustainability systems and approaches in place depending on geographical location - for example, 100% renewable energy or zero waste to landfill are areas that are relatively straightforward to confirm and evidence in Ireland, but can be more challenging in other countries with other energy supply structures or waste disposal legislation. We were fortunate that all our co-producers engaged wholeheartedly and strove to meet the sustainability requirements. Whilst it is possible to embed sustainable practices in our own studio, it is more challenging to require international co-producers to adhere to the same practices and ideally needs to be factored in at contract stage.

Cartoon Saloon

Sustainability Advisor: Ann Mulrooney

Head of Production: Katja Schuman

Line Producer: Liam Beirne

Production Manager: Steven McClurg