Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting has become increasingly important in Australia due to anticipated mandatory climate-related disclosures. Whether it’s the planning and coordination of equipment or the movement of entire crews across cities and countries, film travel contributes to a production’s carbon footprint.

Did you know the global entertainment industry generates millions of metric tons of CO2 every year? Depending on the size of the production, movies can emit on average between 391 metric tons for a small film and up to 3,370 metric tons of CO2 equivalents for large tentpole productions—that’s the equivalent of powering 656 homes for a year. The film industry is not slowing down with travel and essential services to deliver on-time productions, so the industry can look to strategies and solutions to help reduce its carbon footprint and adopt sustainable practices.

“Sustainability is no longer a nice to have. With Australia introducing mandatory climate reporting and consumers demanding more meaningful action from organisations, ensuring ESG initiatives are understood and embedded across all areas of film and production is crucial. With sustainability capabilities from time-of-booking carbon comparisons to comprehensive emissions reporting, Show Group’s expertise, backed by Corporate Travel Management’s (CTM) Climate+ tools, is well positioned to support clients to make positive and sustainable changes through every stage of this journey.”

Lauren Hook, CTM’s Head of Sustainability

Below, the team at Show Group share some tips on how the film industry can work to reduce its carbon footprint, by exploring the importance of itineraries, reporting and education programs.

Plan sustainable travel itineraries

It is well understood that from preliminary planning to receiving the ‘green’ light, the need to confirm travel can move quickly. Non-stop (direct) flights tend to be better for the environment. They are shorter and use fewer resources, primarily due to fewer take-offs and landings, where carbon emissions have the greatest impact. While direct flights may not be possible for every destination, Show Group can help you find the best options for direct flights based on volume, cost, frequency and emissions. With the backing of the CTM Group, Show Group can negotiate competitive rates that align with your budget and sustainability goals.

Where practical, you can also explore ride-sharing opportunities through tools such as CTM’s ride-share. Ride sharing helps not only reduce travel spend by alerting travellers of opportunities to share a ride but also helps to decrease emissions by reducing the number of cars on the road. Further, by using an online booking tool (OBT) like CTM’s Lightning, you can view carbon emissions for each segment of your trip, providing you with an understanding of the environmental impact. Lightning also sorts flights, hotels, and cars by the lowest emissions to support informed sustainable travel decisions. For example, by using CTM’s Lightning, Show Group found that flying from Sydney to Perth on a direct flight instead of connecting via Melbourne can reduce carbon emissions by approximately 54%*.

*Based on 1 passenger, AM one-way Business Qantas service SYD-PER/SYD-MEL-PER in September 2024

The importance of sustainability reporting

The detail is in the data and partnering with Show Group provides clients access to CTM’s Data Hub.This tool provides carbon emissions data that is required when completing mandatory climate-related disclosures for special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to meet the Australian Mandatory Reporting Standards. It is well known in the film industry that the wrap-up of an SPV can be challenging and that’s why it is essential to gather the necessary data throughout production. This significantly reduces the burden on the production accounting team.

Reporting tools such as Data Hub provide you with visibility of your travel carbon footprint. This helps to reduce the workload when reporting on scope 3 emissions from film travel. These tools collate key carbon emission data points, creating digestible summary snapshots and can drill down to individual traveller, trip, and supplier levels. This allows you to not only monitor and report on your carbon footprint, but also identify opportunities to improve the sustainability of your film travel such as staying in a different hotel with lower carbon emissions.

Implementing an Education Program

A helpful way to integrate sustainable practices into your film production culture is to educate your team. This can be factored into the pre-production planning stage through various means such as sustainability workshops, educational sessions, or by providing sustainability guides and resources. This is where Show Group can support your efforts by providing regular updates such as new sustainable initiatives by hotels or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) adoption by airlines. By introducing practices such as selecting hotels extending green initiatives or services or renting hybrid or electric vehicles, the team will understand how they can make a difference. This helps to foster a culture of sustainability and equips the team with the right knowledge and resources to drive significant progress towards your sustainable objectives.

For travel coordinators or self-bookers, it will be important to communicate your production’s carbon budget. These budgets can be set with the support of Show Group and access to technology such as CTM’s Climate+ tools. This technology can be leveraged to establish carbon approval thresholds by trip emissions, ensuring sustainable compliant travel.

Discover the difference with Show Group

As sustainability continues to become front of mind within the film industry, Show Group is positioned to deliver customised travel solutions that maximise the wellbeing of both your production team and the environment. With the backing of the CTM Group and its Climate+ technology, learn more about the impact of your travel and discover actionable insights to achieve your sustainability goals.