albert launches updated Carbon Calculator and certification toolkit
Posted: 26th January 2021
This month, albert, the UK screen industry project to support environmental sustainability, launched its updated carbon calculator and certification toolkit.
The two products aim to help TV and film productions measure their carbon impact, as well as take active steps towards reducing it. The carbon calculator had been previously modified for use in Ireland, thanks to the work of the Screen Greening Coalition, which includes the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), RTÉ, Screen Ireland, Screen Producers Ireland, TG4 and Virgin Media Television.
Productions using the updated toolkit will benefit from an enhanced user experience and a wider range of questions covering additional activities allowing them to build up a better picture of their overall impact. In addition to this, an updated reports section will allow productions to assess their own impact against the industry standard as well as against other productions in the genre.
Alongside the updated calculator, the albert Certification criteria has also been refreshed to recognise the increased opportunities available to productions to reduce their impact. Productions will now be required to answer a wider variety of questions, with the pass threshold raised from 30 to 55%. In addition, productions will be required to offset any unavoidable emissions to successfully receive the albert Certification logo. From 2021, productions will also be required to respond to a question about how they’re representing the climate in their onscreen editorial.
Aaron Matthews – Head of Industry Sustainability said; “Our certification logo is a badge of honour for productions to add to their end boards and is a lovely way to recognise the efforts they’ve gone to, to reduce their environmental impact. Our updated carbon action plan which leads to albert certification means that both the production community and members of the public will know that when they see our logo on the end board that a certain sustainability standard has been achieved.”
Recently, the Screen Ireland-supported project Wolf, produced by Jessie Fisk of Feline Films and Jane Doolan of Mammoth Films in Ireland, became the first Irish feature film to be albert-certified, receiving three stars, the highest available score, for its reduction in carbon emissions.
Find more out more about albert's updated certification toolkit here.
You can find more information on how to access the Irish Carbon Calculator here.