Creative Industries and the Climate Emergency: The path to Net Zero is a recent report collating the progress each sector in the creative industry has taken in reaching net zero, and the work that remains. Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) has carried out the undertaking with Julie’s Bicycle, a non-profit mobilising arts and culture industries to take action on the climate and ecological crisis.
The report finds that across all sub-sectors including architecture, design, fashion, film, galleries, games design, museums, music and publishing, the creative industries are innovating in production, design and supply.
Despite identifying key successes it also highlights the barriers to progress for each sub-sector and where further action is needed. Government support to encourage the industry-led action would be welcome and specifically more investment for applied research is needed. It is hoped the report will highlight gaps in our knowledge, demonstrate where sectors can learn from each other, and serve as a much needed call to action.
Despite the size and impact of the creative industries – delivering £115.9bn GVA to the UK economy, accounting for 2.2 million jobs – a major takeaway from the report is that climate initiatives are largely self-driven in the sector, not regulated.
The report also looks at the issues affecting each sector individually. The findings on design, for example – here covering visual communications, graphic and product design – identify how vital the industry is to sustainability. In fact, an estimated 80 per cent of a product’s environmental impact is determined in the design stage, according to the Design Council.
In game design, environmental concerns interestingly relate less to development than Scope 3 emissions; games require considerable amounts of energy to play. With dynamically generated immersive worlds and multiplayer platforms hosting increasing amounts of players, the next generation of gaming will have “heavy energy demands”, the report states. For example, according to the studio footprint of London software designer Space Ape, 50 per cent (approximately 375 tonnes) of its carbon emissions are produced by the cloud servers used to operate their games. The urgent focus for gaming going forward will be on making computing and telecommunications less dependent on electricity generated by fossil fuels.
The report also highlights good practices across sectors. For example, carbon emissions in film productions are high – an average film production with a budget over $70m produces an estimated 2,840 tonnes of CO2. Yet, the report points to the film industry’s increasingly widespread use of the Albert tool, which calculates greenhouse gas emissions and allows producers to draw up a carbon action plan, as a vital step forward. The report also points to efforts in publishing, such as the Publishing Association working with the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) on a carbon calculator.
Across all findings, Julie’s Bicycle and Creative PEC concludes that “there is a strong willingness from the creative industries to lead change”, but macro-level guidelines, investment in areas such as R&D and education, and sectoral clarity in governmental policy are needed.
Find more information on other sectors, including fashion and the arts, in the extensive PEC report here.
