Green Innovation for the Screen Sector

Environmental sustainability remains challenging for an energy- and travel-intensive sector like film and television.

Despite the increasing number of specific actions addressing the environmental impact of the screen sector, there is currently the need for a more holistic and integrated approach towards a greener screen sector.

This policy brief aims to address environmental sustainability in the Welsh screen sector through the specific lens of green innovation. We define green innovation as the process through which new production, services and technologies are created, with the aim of reducing negative environmental impacts.

The brief explores the opportunities and challenges surrounding green innovation in the Welsh screen sector, as well as how green innovation can create an effective transition towards a net zero economy. In doing so, it considers how research and development, which is the route to green innovation, can support a more holistic approach to tackling the sector’s environmental footprint.

In the brief we provide evidence from a variety of studies and reports published by organisations such as the BFI, the Welsh Government, BAFTA and Clwstwr, the leading programme that puts R&D at the heart of the screen and news industry in Wales.

Based on this review, we propose an extended framework for considering green innovation in the screen sector, which we support through specific examples represented by case studies from Clwstwr-funded projects.

Dr Ruxandra Lupu, Clwstwr Research Associate, said: "Our findings confirm that green innovation has become a viable approach to developing holistic solutions for the screen sector that create effective competitive advantages.

“However, they also highlight the need for more tailored funding programmes that match the complexity of R&D processes and are tailored to the needs of a predominantly project-driven and diverse sector. The brief concludes by acknowledging the need to offer further attention to what are the intrinsic challenges surrounding the overly technocratic definitions of R&D and the way they shape the innovation culture of the screen industry.”

Initiatives such as the Screen New Deal (a transformation plan for a zero-carbon, zero-waste future for the screen industry) and media.cymru (the follow-up programme of Clwstwr), are important insofar as they aim to make further progress in this respect.

Greening the Audiovisual Sector: Towards a New Understanding through Innovation Practices in Wales and
Beyond authored by Dr Ruxandra Lupu, Dr Marlen Komorowski, Professor Justin Lewis, Producer Gregory Mothersdale and Professor Sara Pepper from JOMEC, Cardiff University has been published in MDPI - Sustainability, as part of the Special Issue - The Creative and Cultural Industries towards Sustainability and Recovery.