Green Production Guideline

In this section it’s all about the 'what’ and the 'how'.

Everything from transportation to catering can help to reduce the environmental impact. With our Green Production Guideline, we’ll provide you with key action points to take to lower the CO2 emissions of your production.

Please keep in mind, as soon as your very first initiatives start, the Sustainability topic shall become a natural topic in your planning. The relationship that you are developing now with the providers and key stakeholders will make the integration of Sustainability into your project easier. ​​​​​​

Additionally, the Green Binder is a mandatory deliverable for our Partners. Please find more info on the Green Binder below in our Guidelines.

• Train travel should be preferred. If the journey by train exceeds 5 hours or if the distance is more than 500km air travel can be an option IF the travel time door to door using the train is longer than by air travel.
• Consider production cars that are electric if possible or use CO2-reducing fuels or at least use EURO6 certified vehicles: hybrid, electric (preferably from renewable sources), LPG, CNG.
• For trucks, only CO2-reducing fuels or EURO6 certified vehicles should be used, examples are hybrid, electric, LPG, CNG.
• Reduce passenger and material transport as far as possible. Prioritize carpooling or car sharing and offer green transport alternatives on set: e.g., bicycles, e-scooters, golf carts, etc.
• Choose accommodation as near as possible to the filming/event locations.
• At least 50% of the overnight stays should be in hotels with an environmental program (measurement examples: usage of renewable energy, energy and water saving initiatives, separation of waste). Pay attention to the EU Environmental Ecolabel or other comparable certification (Green Global, GreenKey, Leed, etc.)

• Give preference to catering companies that work according to ecological criteria. Use caterers that provide as regional, seasonal & organic products and ideally try to reduce meat options to a minimum. Use reusable crockery for catering. 
• Prioritize reusable containers and avoid single use plastic bottles or cups. 
• For smaller groups, restaurant catering is preferable to catering companies.
• In areas without drinking water, reusable canisters should be preferred rather than many individual containers.
• Plan catering needs in advance to minimize food waste. 
• Make sure that there are (reusable) take-away-containers available to avoid food waste.

• Use renewable energy where possible, including post-production.
• Prioritize procuring renewable energy at all production sites. For example, ask your providers whether they are using green electricity on location and in their server farms and whether they are reusing the server heat.
• Use energy via a power supply line whenever possible. Battery Units or Hybrid-Generators must be preferred. If these are not available, the generator should have an exhaust gas cleaning system of at least stage 3A. Avoid (as far as possible) the use of diesel generators! When using a small generator, prefer a gas generator. The output of each generator should be tailored to requirements (no oversizing, no idle times).
• Avoid disposable batteries on all production sites, in favour of rechargeable batteries.
• Reduce the energy consumption through the appropriate location selection according to the availability of light, as well as the choice of energy-efficient light sources, e.g.: LED headlights or alternative lighting concepts such as reflector systems, or the use of daylight.

• Environmental pollution is to be avoided!
• If any harmful substances are released, measures to eliminate them should be taken immediately. In case of paints and varnishes, preference should be given to products with the Ecolabel or the 'Blue Angel' label.
• The use of the following is only permitted in exceptional cases: PVC, solvent-based paints, Styrofoam, isocyanates, and other environmentally harmful substances. 

• Recycling is important, but it is even better to not create waste in the first place. Therefore, ask for products and devices designed to be reused, repaired, shared or remanufactured rather than buying material for a single use.
• Correct collection and disposal of all waste at production sites is essential. Inform yourself about the regional specialties in waste collection and recycling.
• Avoid disposable single use plastic as far as possible at all production sites.

• Where a printout cannot be avoided save paper by reducing the number of printouts and preferring double-sided printing. Only print colours when needed – standard settings on black/white.
• All natural wood products, as well as chipboard etc., should be FSC or PEFC certified and in the best case regionally sourced.
• Production ensures that no waste water is improperly discharged on site. Toilets need to be properly inspected and maintained. Ecological mobile toilet facilities are on the market – prefer them over chemical toilets.
• Reuse/upcycling stock for costume, use sustainable cleaning materials and green cleaning services, sustainably certified make-up products, microplastic (and animal testing) free both for textiles (fleece) and for cosmetics.

The Green Binder is a mandatory deliverable for our Production Partners. It consists of:

• CO2 Calculation: Consistent monitoring of emissions and data collection facilitated through the Green Toolkit is mandatory (access provided by your Red Bull Production Manager). This process ensures ongoing and accurate tracking of environmental impacts for effective sustainability management.
• Green Production Report: The Green Production Report is a checklist where you provide feedback on the action points from the Guidelines that you were able to implement. It also documents the process and the measures taken.The template can be downloaded here:

• For dedicated projects where high environmental impacts are to be expected we recommend to hire Green Consultants/Eco Managers who will support the process from Pre-Production to Post-Production.

• Remote production or at-home production - is a workflow in which live event content is captured and sent via IP links to a centralized production facility where the final program is produced and distributed, which is allowing you to have less people travel to the shooting/event location. If you consider doing your project remote or want more information on this topic, please reach out to our experienced Production Managers.