Green Regio

Cine-Regio is a network of 43 regional film funds that span twelve EU member states, in addition to Norway and Switzerland. A growing number of CineRegio members have recognized the need to engage responsibilities to limit the impact of film and TV production on the environment.

A number of Cine-Regio members, including Ffilm Cymru, form the Green Regio subgroup, whose aim is to raise awareness and share knowledge on sustainable film production tools, measures and policies. The need for European training activities and a European carbon calculator for co-productions are also discussed.

In the lead-up to COP26, we asked Green Regio members what environmental sustainability means to them, and what practical actions they are taking. Here’s what they said:

Filminvest, Norway

"Sustainability is an area of high importance to the fund and will become even more so in the coming years.    

When applying for funding, the applicant has to provide a plan for green filming. We require a green report at the end of the production."

Wallimage SA, Belgium

"Sustainability means taking care of others: resources, biodiversity; changing the way we do cinema, circular economy, wellbeing, and UN SDGs.    

Use of the Green Film Rating System has been mandatory for each application to our film fund since January 2021."

Sardinia Film Foundation, Italy    

"Sustainability means the possibility for our community to grow in justice, fairness and progress with respect for our Mother Earth and love for each other.

In 2014 we actively started the ‘greening the film industry’ mission, launching our project Heroes 2020 and becoming one of the greenest film institutions in Europe, activating in Italy a strong awareness on sustainability and developing incentives for green sets and training initiatives."

Trentino Film Fund, Italy    

"Sustainability means to keep supporting audio-visual production processes, while contributing, at the same time, to the change of mindset that is necessary to reduce the impact of the film industry on the planet.

We are providing practical guidelines and a certification of environmental sustainability through the Green Film rating system, to encourage producers to reduce their impact on the environment, and ultimately change their mindset."

Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Belgium

"Sustainability is to be aware of the potential impact of all your choices, not only in the field of climate change, but also on more social aspects (health, diversity, equity) or ecological field (nature, biodiversity).

We coach all VAF-funded film and media production; after an intake, productions are asked to reflect on how sustainable choices can be implemented in all their departments."

Zürcher Filmstiftung, Switzerland    

"Sustainability does not only have an ecological dimension but also a social and economic one. We try to address all the three in our actions as a fund.  

We've implemented a website that contains information about how to produce a film more economical friendly, and we try to spread this information also in other art disciplines."

Tartu Film Fund, Estonia    

"Sustainability means the wise use of human and natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. 

For us, being involved in the GreenRegio network and learning from network partners' experiences is very valuable and helps us to share the best practices with the film community in Estonia."

Film London, UK            

"Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Film London’s work is focused on social and environmental sustainability to underpin the growth of the screen production industries. We use the UN SDGs as our moral compass.

Film London works in partnership with Greenshoot (Melanie Dicks and Paul Evans) and we have jointly developed a platform for productions to certify through Green Screen - a practical online tool that supports environmentally friendly filming in London. The platform enables productions to set their own environmental targets, and provides them with an action plan to help them achieve their goal.

Productions that register for Green Screen receive access to resource guides, a bespoke crew memo, simple tailored tips for each production department and a trained Green Steward. After achieving their goals, they are awarded with the official Green Screen stamp, which they can use on their endroll and promotional materials to demonstrate their green credentials to the world.

Every Green Screen production is helping to make London's screen industries more sustainable, cutting their own costs through reduced waste and energy consumption and reducing their carbon emissions."