SILVER SPRING, Md. - eTradeWire -- The rapid evolution and expansion of the digital media and entertainment industry have significantly impacted the environment through carbon emissions, energy use, and waste generation.

According to research from the Sustainable Production Alliance, tentpole movies had an average carbon footprint of 3,370 metric tons—or about 33 metric tons per shooting day. Large films had a carbon footprint of 1,081 metric tons, medium films had a carbon footprint of 769 metric tons, and small films had a carbon footprint of 391 metric tons. TV series, noted researcher, can have an even more significant impact because prolonged production activities generate more carbon over their entire run.

Nevertheless, the industry has several key opportunities to improve its sustainability posture through enhanced knowledge sharing and the adoption of interdisciplinary strategies that leverage the efforts of content creators, distributors and consumer device manufacturers, according to a recent virtual roundtable discussion with Barbara Lange of Kibo121, communications consultant Josh Gordon, and Bill Redmann of InterDigital.

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While progress toward reducing the industry's carbon footprint varies significantly across the globe—panelists note Europe as a leader in advancing the sustainability agenda—the general trajectory of environmental regulations worldwide is prompting industry players to pursue more proactive initiatives, according to the participants.

"Technology and innovation are playing a crucial role in achieving sustainability objectives, with advancements in broadcasting equipment and streamlined processes poised to reduce carbon footprints significantly," noted Kibo121's Lange. "As a result, we are seeing significant progress in accurately measuring—and reporting on—sustainability initiatives."

She added, however, that most industry efforts are still in their nascent state.

"While some organizations have been on a sustainability journey for some time, the industry as a whole is still in a phase of knowledge sharing and learning," Lange says.

Obstacles to Industry-wide Sustainability Efforts

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"Many organizations are just beginning to understand the environmental implications of activity at each stage of the value chain. As a result, we have still not achieved a full consensus on sustainability concepts and metrics," said InterDigital's Redmann.

Regulatory inconsistencies also pose significant challenges, as different regions—such as those enforced in Europe and the US—vary greatly. In some cases, they even conflict. For instance, the EU's Ecodesign Directive sets stringent energy efficiency and environmental standards for specific devices. In contrast, the US has different standards and, in some cases, less stringent requirements under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA).

These inconsistencies, explains Redmann, complicate compliance for global operations that already operate in extremely intricate environments. The net effect adds friction to efforts to execute sustainability initiatives across the entire community of stakeholders.

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