Albert News Consortium

The BAFTA albert Consortium A group supporting the the screen art industry’s transition to an environmentally sustainable future. With over 2,000 users from 300 companies signed up to use our tools, there are many organisations and individuals who help steer the sustainability agenda for the UK screen arts. ¹⁾

The Consortium features 13 of the UK’s largest production companies and broadcasters. Founded in 2011, the Consortium is the leading think-tank on sustainability for film and television, working to raise the profile of sustainability in the industry, championing sustainable production techniques and freely providing the tools, guidance and direction needed to reduce the impact of moving-image media production on the environment.

Kevin Price, Chief Operating Officer of BAFTA and chair of the consortium says: “Individually, the creative industries have done much to promote and embed sustainable practices. Nevertheless, by sharing opportunities, challenges and aspirations across the sector we stand to achieve much more. Our challenges and solutions are by no means unique and I firmly believe a collaborative approach to be a catalyst for greater progress.” ²⁾

The Consortium features 13 of the UK’s largest production companies and broadcasters. Founded in 2011, the Consortium is the leading think-tank on sustainability for film and television, working to raise the profile of sustainability in the industry, championing sustainable production techniques and freely providing the tools, guidance and direction needed to reduce the impact of moving-image media production on the environment.

Kevin Price, Chief Operating Officer of BAFTA and chair of the consortium says: “Individually, the creative industries have done much to promote and embed sustainable practices. Nevertheless, by sharing opportunities, challenges and aspirations across the sector we stand to achieve much more. Our challenges and solutions are by no means unique and I firmly believe a collaborative approach to be a catalyst for greater progress.”

The consortium are creating and freely distributing the necessary tools, training and guidance to improve the industry’s environmental sustainability. albert is supported by - ³⁾

albert is delivering Carbon Literacy training to help individuals get to grips with sustainability and uncover what can be done.

Across the one day course, delegates…

• will understand the impacts of climate change and how to take action to reduce carbon emissions in both the workplace and at home
• will have the knowledge and skills to create productions in a more sustainable way

Training is available for free to members of the BAFTA albert Consortium and by arrangement to external parties. Training runs monthly at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in London and can be arranged elsewhere on request. Get in touch to find out more.

Successful completion of the course ensures all delegates reach the Carbon Literacy standard. ^{4) 5)}

The news consortium was launched by albert in January, with founding members including ITN, BBC, ITV News, Sky News and Channel 4

Posted on 28th January 2021 We’ve launched a News Consortium

Today, we are very proud to announce the launch of the albert news consortium, a group which has been set up to support the broadcast and production community specifically engaged in news television.

The news consortium will work alongside the BAFTA albert consortium which is now in its 10th year and the albert sports consortium which launched in 2020 with Hazel Irvine as its chair.

Much like the other two groups the news consortium will focus on the specific environmental issues related to news and will work collaboratively to create initiatives designed to reduce the impact of news production as well as inspiring sustainable futures through its content.

Michelle Whitehead, Special Projects Manager at albert commented “The challenges faced by the broadcast news community are quite unique when compared to those of our core Consortium members, not least because news producers have to react with a moments notice to breaking news and have to broadcast from all over the world. We wanted to create a separate group that could discuss the challenges they face and work on tailored solutions that can help them achieve net-zero carbon emissions.”

“Climate stories have been steadily rising up the agenda for news teams and now is the time for us to take decisive action to shape the future of our news programming and ensure that through our actions and our reporting, we are helping the general public to understand the climate issues and more importantly, feel empowered to take positive action to prevent the deepening climate crisis”

— Oonagh Forster, Environment Group Lead, ITV News

The founding members of the group include ITN, BBC, ITV News, Sky News and Channel 4. More news groups are invited to join and should contact albert via their website for more details.

Together the group will explore creating certification for news programming, standardising the carbon footprint measurement of a news room and increasing albert training and engagement with staff.

Richard Lawson, Director of Commercial Production at ITN added, ‘We are delighted to be part of the albert news consortium. The TV industry has long shown that collaboration is a key component in the fight against climate change and we look forward to working with our colleagues from across the sector to share best practice and deliver the very best climate related content to our viewers.

“As the Principal Partner and Media Partner of the COP26 Summit, Sky is committed to using our voice and our reach through Sky News to report on this pivotal moment for climate recovery.

There has never been a more urgent need for our Industry to report accurately and informatively on the climate crisis. At Sky News, we have campaigned for the removal of single-use plastics, appointed a dedicated climate change reporter and brought our audiences environmental stories from around the world with 'A New Climate'.

The albert consortium provides a fantastic platform to share best practice among peers, including learnings from Sky's overall ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030”

— Sarah Whitehead, Deputy Head of Newsgathering, Sky News ⁶⁾

Thursday 4 February 2021

Sky News will become one of the founding members of the newly launched albert news consortium, a group which has been set up to support the broadcast and production community specifically engaged in news television.

The news consortium will work alongside the BAFTA albert consortium - now in its 10th year - and the albert sports consortium which launched in 2020, of which Sky Sports are members. Much like the other two groups the news consortium will focus on the specific environmental issues related to news and will work collaboratively to create initiatives designed to reduce the impact of news production as well as inspiring sustainable futures through its content.

The albert news consortium will support Sky achieving its overall ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030.

Sky News reports from the front-line on climate issues that matter with dedicated climate change correspondent Lisa Holland and bespoke programming including ‘A New Climate’ and the award-winning Alex Crawford documentary, ‘The Plastic Nile’.

Alongside other founding members including ITN, BBC, ITV News and Channel 4, the group will explore creating certification for news programming, standardising the carbon footprint measurement of a newsroom and increasing albert training and engagement with staff.

Sarah Whitehead, Deputy Head of Newsgathering, Sky News, said: “As the Principal Partner and Media Partner of the COP26 Summit, Sky is committed to using our voice and our reach through Sky News to report on this pivotal moment for climate recovery.

There has never been a more urgent need for our Industry to report accurately and informatively on the climate crisis. At Sky News, we have campaigned for the removal of single-use plastics, appointed a dedicated climate change reporter and brought our audiences environmental stories from around the world with 'A New Climate'.

The albert consortium provides a fantastic platform to share best practice among peers, including learnings from Sky's overall ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030.”

Sky News is available to all free of charge via Sky TV channel 501, Freeview 132, and the live international streaming service on Sky News mobile and website as well as 24-hour breaking news coverage and analysis across our social channels.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place, easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes the arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice. ⁷⁾

What broadcasters have agreed to is a promise to ensure the correct message filters through to an unsuspecting public. Sky, together with the Behavioral Insights Team (or ‘Nudge Unit’ as it was known when it was set up in 2010 by David Cameron’s government), claims that 75 per cent of people support ‘TV broadcasters “nudging” viewers to think about the environment, whether that’s through documentaries, advertising or increasing the coverage of environmental issues in the news’. Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy has recently been announced as chair of the Albert news consortium. He has been enlisted to ‘explore how the climate change conversation is represented on screen’. Broadcasters must now take into consideration whether their output fits with Albert’s principles. So much for impartiality.

By buying into Albert’s mission, the broadcast media have agreed to combine forces to make sure their output, from soap operas to news, sport to children’s cartoons, puts the planet into programme content. ‘Collectively, our industry reaches millions of people every single day. That represents an unprecedented opportunity to shift mindsets… It’s a chance to shape society’s response to climate change,’ says Albert. The broadcasters agree: ‘We believe broadcasters have a clear role and responsibility to encourage lifestyle changes,’ said Dana Strong, CEO of Sky Group. As an example of where this leads, in the run-up to COP26, the producers of Casualty, Coronation Street, Doctors, Emmerdale, EastEnders, Holby City and Hollyoaks worked together on a climate-change storyline.

But Albert’s influence doesn’t stop there. Production houses can join its certification scheme, in which their company is tracked, traced, monitored and advised on how to do better. The resulting certificate has up to three stars. (Birds of a Feather, for example, has been awarded two stars; Loose Women, three.) As Albert says: ‘This is the only possible way our industry can move forward.’ ⁸⁾