BBC and ITV announce climate pledges

UK pubcasters the BBC and ITV have announced a range of measures to deliver on climate action commitments. 

The BBC has set its sights on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by pursuing a deep decarbonisation’ strategy that drastically reduces the amount of carbon produced by the organisation.

Details of the strategy include: switching to renewables and electric vehicles; reducing business travel; continuing to implement more sustainable production methods, such as BBC Studios’ use of hydrogen and battery powered generators on Winterwatch; and working collaboratively with the BBC’s suppliers to reduce emissions within their own organisations.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) also approved the BBC’s targets to reducing emissions for scope 1 and 2 (direct operations such as those from buildings and general energy use) by 46% by 2030, while the broadcaster also plans to reduce scope 3 emissions – such as business travel and those of its suppliers – by 28% over the same time frame.

ITV has agreed to the same targets as the BBC, while also becoming a zero waste and zero single use plastic business, and running a 100% sustainable supply chain. 

The broadcaster said that it will introduce climate action targets into the bonus scheme, and also committed to ensuring that all programmes produced and commissioned by ITV from 2021 onwards will go through sustainable certification through BAFTA’s albert carbon calculator.

Of its pledges, Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, said: “At the start of the year we shared our ambition to reach net zero by 2030. Since then, there’s been a huge amount of work to put in place a credible and achievable plan. We are now converting that plan into action.  This will be a huge collective effort. It won’t be easy, but we must act, and act now, to reduce our environmental impact.”

Carolyn McCall, ITV plc CEO, commented on the announcement: “Our Social Purpose ambition of shaping culture for good is integral to our overall strategy, informing both what audiences see on-screen and what happens behind the scenes. In the area of Climate Action, we’re making good progress on our ambitious goals, including being Net Zero by 2030.”