Despite growing global climate concerns, environmental responsibility lags within the broadcast and streaming sector. While sustainability features prominently in marketing, genuine efforts to measure and reduce carbon emissions often lack rigor and standardization. “It’s not that companies don’t care,” said Simon Parkinson, managing director of Dot Group. “It’s that they don’t measure carbon footprint as well as is needed. Currently, this is still too often a manual ‘checklist’ based method. The data captured and ensuing actions are slow, incomplete and sub-optimal.”
This data gap hinders progress. Without accurate metrics, verifying impact, incentivizing reductions, or building effective strategies is nearly impossible. “Reporting, unfortunately, often relies on estimates based on spending, rather than a usage-based approach with actual measurements,” said Kristan Bullett, CEO of Humans Not Robots. “This creates a situation where real optimizations and reductions aren’t properly reflected.”
The problem's scale is undeniable. A 2025 InterDigital and Futuresource Consulting report revealed streaming accounts for 4% of global carbon emissions, double that of aviation. This encompasses the entire video value chain: production, delivery, and playback. The report indicates each hour of film production emits roughly 16.6 metric tons of CO₂, equivalent to two homes' annual energy use. Major events like the 2024 Paris Olympics had estimated media-related footprints exceeding 600 million tons of CO₂, consuming 1.25 terawatt-hours of electricity from viewing alone. Scope 3 emissions – indirect emissions from travel, catering, and post-production – remain a significant blind spot.
Parkinson emphasized allocating emissions data to individual productions and vendors, stating, “the full production lifecycle carbon footprint needs to be captured and allocated accurately.” While European broadcasters, including a new BBC, Sky, and Channel 4 initiative, have taken steps to track climate-related content, US adoption remains inconsistent. “In the U.S., the focus on energy independence and fossil fuel extraction has grown,” said Bullett. “Meanwhile, European broadcasters and telcos are prioritizing sustainability, emphasizing ‘measure, measure, measure.’”
A 2024 Sony Europe survey highlighted cultural and organizational inertia. While 73% of respondents reported sustainability improvements, fewer than half said their employer actively invested. Key barriers included financial constraints (47%), outdated mindsets (41%), and a lack of sustainable products (28%).
Parkinson attributes part of the problem to outdated manual reporting. “Platforms that require human entry of data will never be real-time nor pinpoint accurate,” he said. “Automated monitoring of virtual machines and cloud environments provides the minute detail necessary for meaningful optimization.”
Technological solutions are emerging. Cloud-based workflows enable broadcasters to scale energy use to production demands. “Historically, production infrastructure ran at peak capacity all the time,” said Jason O’Malley, senior partner solutions architect at Amazon Web Services. “Now, we can provision resources just for live events and release them immediately afterward.”
Solving the sustainability challenge requires data. Real-time, production-specific measurement is crucial for environmental and business benefits. “Unless reductions are captured and reflected in reporting, there’s no incentive to change,” Bullett said. Parkinson added that better data drives optimization, internal alignment, and external credibility. “Sustainable practices signal innovation and ethics,” Parkinson said. “They also open doors to new sponsorship opportunities with environmentally focused brands.”
However, structural challenges persist. As Sony’s Olivier Bovis noted, “Beyond the financial aspect, we found a change in mindsets is what most needs to take place… Sustainability should be considered a currency used to implement changes.” Without better measurement, sustainability remains easily discussed but difficult to implement.