CARBON AWARE PRODUCTIONS
CARBON AWARE PRODUCTIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How to deal with your carbon emissions is a pioneering process and that means there is still some confusion around best practise. Here are some of the most common FAQs.
WHAT ARE CARBON EMISSIONS? Carbon emissions (also called greenhouse gases) are gases which, when emitted, hang in the atmosphere and trap the sun’s heat which drives up global temperatures. The dominant gas is carbon dioxide (CO2) which is released when we burn fossil fuels in our homes, vehicles, factories, power stations and in the natural environment. Others include methane (CH4) produced from landfill sites and cow burps, and nitrous oxide (N2O) which comes from industrial processes and farming.
WHAT IS A CARBON FOOTPRINT? A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon emissions produced directly or indirectly by all items and activities. When we switch on a light, eat a sandwich, jump on a bus or buy a new coat, we are doing things which either directly, or indirectly, produce carbon emissions. When totted up they will result in our total carbon footprint.
WHAT IS CO2e? Carbon emissions are collectively referred to as CO2e which means their ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’. The dominant greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide but others are also important. Methane, for example, is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide if you compare the two gases over a 100 year period. Nitrous oxide is 265 times more potent, refrigerant gases are several 1000 times more. To make these greenhouse gases easier to talk about collectively they are referred to in relation to their carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e, which has been calculated over a 100 year period.
WHAT DOES A TONNE OF CARBON DIOXIDE LOOK LIKE? Visually it looks like a small 500 m3 hot air balloon. You’d have to burn just over 2 x 200 litre drums of petrol to generate 1 tonne of CO2. You would get 1kg of CO2 by burning about a pint of petrol. And a gram would be generated by burning fuel the size of a 50p piece.
HOW MUCH CARBON DIOXIDE IS IN THE ATMOSPHERE? The current daily average concentration of CO2 in the world’s atmosphere is 422.19 ppm (parts per million). Scientists suggest that 350 ppm is a safe place to be for atmospheric CO2e. We are adding 2ppm to the atmosphere each year. Put another way: in 1950 the world emitted 6 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. By 1990 it was 20 billion a year. Today it is over 35 billion tonnes each year. That annual total has begun to slow down, but we have still not reached the projected peak.
CAN CARBON BE OFFSET? Carbon offsetting allows individuals or businesses to compensate for their own emissions by paying people, often in the developing world, to reduce emissions elsewhere. Emissions reduction schemes can range from distributing efficient cooking stoves to installing clean energy systems to rainforest protection schemes, etc. The problem is that these kinds of carbon offset projects are fundamentally flawed. Investing in carbon saving initiatives in the developing world and ensuring forests are not cut down is certainly an extremely good thing to support, but to tackle climate change they need to happen anyway. There is too much CO2e in the Earth’s atmosphere which is leading to rising temperatures. To deal with this we must first stop adding to those greenhouse gases - and so reducing our emissions is critical – and then draw back out of the atmosphere the emissions we couldn’t avoid producing to store them permanently back in the ground. This can be done using carbon removal strategies (see below). Carbon footprint guru Mike Berners-Lee points out in his book ‘How Bad Are Bananas?’ - “‘Offsetting’ is a seductive concept, especially when it is offered at prices as low as £3 per tonne CO2e – which would work out at £40 per year for the average UK person to ‘offset’ and salve their entire carbon conscience. At that rate, the whole climate crisis could be solved for a trivial 0.2 per cent of global GDP. If only that were true. Sadly, it is nonsense.”
WHAT ARE CARBON REMOVAL TECHNOLOGIES? Carbon removal technologies consist of both nature and technology based solutions to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it permanently back in the ground. Technology based options are things like ‘Direct Air Capture’ which involves large numbers of big fans sucking in air from the sky to filter out CO2 molecules and pipe them back underground. ‘Carbon Capture and Storage’ is another example which involves capturing CO2 wherever it is being emitted whether off the chimneys of industrial furnaces, out of waste facilities, or from the exhausts of our cars, to again pipe it back underground. These technologies are slowly developing and improving but they are expensive and also have a simple negative effect: the very prospect of them being efficient ‘one day’ encourages many (including the big oil & gas companies) to delay getting fully active in the fiddly business of transitioning the world from fossil fuels to clean energy systems. Nature based solutions are things like soil carbon sequestration (better farming practices), peat restoration and tree planting. Tree planting has many obvious advantages, but it cannot be relied upon to stabilise the climate crisis alone. Trees are slow at absorbing carbon dioxide, they require a lot of land and they do unfortunately die at which point they release their CO2 back into the atmosphere. It is important that any trees planted are allowed to reseed and grow in order to continue the cycle of locking carbon dioxide away.
WHAT IS NET ZERO? Net Zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are produced and the amount that are removed from the atmosphere and stored back in the ground. It is a term that is banded loosely around and is rarely genuinely achieved. To lock away all the CO2e that you may be responsible for is no small feat. Be mindful of companies that shout about their net zero achievements.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN CARBON EMISSIONS FROM PRODUCTIONS? The main carbon emissions generated on a film production are from travel, power, set builds, food & waste.
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE TRAVEL EMISSIONS? USE LOCAL CREW Consider location finding agencies like Scout Productions who have remote teams already in place nationwide. STICK WITH VIDEO CALLS in place of face to face meetings where possible. WORK FROM HOME If everyone working in offices worked from home on one day each week you would reduce your travel and office CO2 output by a fifth. ELECTRIC CARS Try London taxi co LEVC & check out Green Tomato Cars. For car shares nationwide try Zip Cars & ask for one of their electric vehicles. PEDAL COURIERS use 90% less emissions than standard couriers. Companies are popping up throughout the UK. Try Priority Express for Cardiff & Bristol, Pedal Me for London, Pedal & Post & Velocity for Oxford. DRIVE CAREFULLY Cutting your speed from 80mph to 55mph and being less 'heavy' on the pedals when braking and accelerating can reduce your emissions by a third. BIKE2WORK SCHEME Use this government scheme to allow your employees to buy a new electric bike with reductions of up to 48.25%. For employers it's free and can also save you thousands in national insurance contributions. GIVE EMPLOYEES TIME TO TRAVEL ABROAD BY TRAIN & CAR, NOT PLANE. CLIMATE PERKS is an employer benefits scheme where staff receive paid ‘journey days’ to choose low-carbon holiday travel instead of flying. FLYING "The hard truth is that we are a long way off putting a long-haul passenger plane into the sky without burning around 100 tonnes of fossil fuel...there is no getting around the need to be frugal with flying. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise." How Bad Are Bananas by Mike Berners-Lee If you can't avoid flying, this is good to know: FLY ECONOMY. Business class tickets produce twice the carbon emissions as economy because your seat uses up more of the plane.
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE POWER EMISSIONS? GREEN ENERGY PROVIDERS Ask your production office, studio, post house, if they have taken the plunge and switched. 100% renewable electricity has a limited carbon footprint. Albert are making this even easier than it is by making the switch for you. ELECTRIC GENERATORS with no noise and no fumes are here. Check out Green Voltage. For hybrid generators try the Panalux Hydbrid H40. For ultra low emission generators try On Bio. They all result in less emissions and reduced costs. HYDROGEN POWER FOR LIVE BROADCAST In a world first GeoPura & Siemens powered BBC2's Winterwatch 2021 live using a green 250kW hydrogen power unit & water electrolysis. The only bi- product...pure water. LOW ENERGY LIGHTING The lights are cooler, lighter, have no flicker or buzzing and the reduced energy needed to power them means reduced costs for everyone. RECHARGABLE BATTERIES They work. PLANET FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING If the internet was a country it would be the 7th largest polluter. Get providers like Erjjio to host your website.
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE CATERING EMISSIONS? CHOOSE CATERERS WHO PRIORITISE LOCALLY GROWN SEASONAL FOOD. Try Showbites or Green Tea Live. And for carbon neutral coffee from self sufficient trailers try Keep Rolling Coffee. REQUEST VEGETARIAN & VEGAN FOOD A stew with chickpeas at its heart is 60 times less carbon hungry than one made with beef reared on deforested land. ASK FOR REUSABLE CROCKERY & CUTLERY Anything disposable, whether biodegradable or not, is a wasted resource. For London productions check out china hire from Rayners and enamel hire from London Event Hire. REFILLABLE WATER BOTTLES & REUSABLE COFFEE CUPS Encourage crew and cast to bring their own. PROVIDE ALTERNATIVES TO DAIRY 2.5 pints of cows milk per day each yr is a tonne of CO2e, equivalent to a flight from London to New York. SPLIT FOOD WASTE, GENERAL WASTE AND RECYCLING Use separate bins on location. London productions check out Quantum Waste. LIMIT FOOD WASTE Upload leftover food to food sharing App Olio & to City Harvest.
HOW CAN YOU REDUCE WASTE EMISSIONS? Sending recyclable rubbish to landfill produces CO2e in two ways; the emissions from the rotting process and the emissions needed to reproduce virgin products. RECYCLE PRODUCTION WASTE Check out Quantum Waste. BIODEGRADABLE & COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING from companies like Vegware must be collected separately and sent to industrial compost facilities. It cannot be recycled with standard plastic.
WHY PLANT TREES? Tree planting is the simplest way to sequester carbon dioxide. It also has the advantage of dealing with the biodiversity crisis and can make the world a more beautiful place. It is believed that land space is available to plant about a trillion trees around the world, with the potential to absorb 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over a 100 year period. Annually the world currently emits almost 37 billion tonnes. It’s therefore not enough to plant madly as a solution to climate change on its own. Tree planting has other draw backs too. Not all trees will survive. Mono cultures are sometimes planted instead of indigenous woodland. It takes trees many years to absorb carbon dioxide, and when they die the CO2 is released as the tree decomposes. It is therefore important to plant indigenous trees in the right areas and to safeguard the entire woodland so that the tree can reseed itself and continue sequestering CO2. For these reasons it is important to accept that reducing carbon emissions as a first port of call is the most important thing to do. Any emissions which are completely unavoidable can then be offset, or ‘acknowledged’ by planting trees.
HOW MUCH CARBON DIOXIDE IS ABSORBED BY A SINGLE TREE? The amount of carbon a tree can absorb depends on its size which is influenced by what species it is, local conditions and the way it is managed. A single adult tree can absorb anything between 21.77kgs of carbon dioxide and 31.5kgs.
HOW MANY TREES SHOULD YOU BE PLANTING? Time is the swing factor here. To draw a tonne of CO2 out of the atmosphere in a year, you’ll need to plant approximately 40 trees. To acknowledge each tonne of unavoidable carbon emissions we advise planting 4 trees to sequester that CO2 over 50-100 years.