Overcoming barriers and reducing emissions in the dutch audiovisual industry.

Abstract

Increased global awareness of climate change prompted various industries and private actors to adopt more sustainable practices. Similarly, the audio-visual industry began to embrace sustainability initiatives. However, in the Netherlands, such efforts are still in their early stages. Additionally, previous research highlighted how the common perception of a sustainable transition within production will require a higher financial investment when compared to unsustainable, traditional methods. This study provided insight into sustainability within the Dutch audio-visual industry by addressing the following research question: "What was the potential for CO2 emission reduction and related marginal costs for a (tentpole) AV production in The Netherlands?" The project aimed to answer the question by compiling a comprehensive list of existing carbon mitigation measures which were organized according to five measure categories. The measure categories included transport of crew, on-set power, office power, accommodation and catering. The list was then narrowed down to seven carbon mitigation measures, which were ranked in order of cost-effectiveness by constructing a marginal abatement cost curve. Results showed that switching to a hybrid solar or battery generator will result in cost-savings while also reducing emissions. This was the same for switching to a green electricity provider in the production office. The other five mitigation measures required additional financial spending but also showed considerable emission savings. This was especially the case for the mitigation measure where all electric vehicles were used on-set. Considerable emission savings were also seen in seeking accommodation that uses renewable sources of energy, as well as a switch to a vegetarian caterer and using a low-carbon fuel to power the on-set generator. The stability of these results was checked by performing a sensitivity analysis which illustrated how results are multi-factor dependent, revealing that uncertain parameters can significantly influence the results. This highlights the necessity of conducting a meta-analysis that consolidates data from multiple productions