Spring 2021
Video shouldn’t cost the earth Reducing the climate impact from TV and video production
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021 REDUCING THE CLIMATE IMPACT FROM TV AND VIDEO PRODUCTION The climate emergency on our screens...
Scene – the Arctic. A polar bear struggles to hunt and find food for her cubs on melting sea ice. Camera pans out to show the ice sheet breaking up. Voiceover warns of a bleak future if the current rate of global warming continues.
It’s an all-too-familiar Multiply that by hundreds This report looks at the scenario, along with the of thousands of hours challenges, how the industry wildfires, floods, droughts of TV production every is shaping up to meet them and other climate-related year worldwide. Add in and how new technologies disasters that were once the explosion in video and advances in network rare events but now feature streaming, and the power capacity can help to reduce regularly on the news. required to support it, and the carbon impact from it’s clear that the industry video editing and post- Yet even as global warming has a substantial and production activity. becomes more visible, it growing climate impact. can also seem remote and hard to relate to real life. Awareness of the problem Albert, the BAFTA backed is rising and the industry environmental organisation, is beginning to change. has broken the impact In recent years many down. It estimates that broadcasters and video every hour of TV production producers have committed generates 9.2 tonnes of to become carbon neutral. CO2 and each tonne of CO2 Most are embracing results in the loss of 3m2 of advances in technology that sea ice.1 allow them to produce more TV remotely, which uses less equipment and energy and requires less travel and transportation.
1. Albert Annual Report 2019-20 albert_AnnualReport_19-20.pdf (wearealbert.org)
1. = CO2 =
1 hour TV 9.2 tonnes 27.6m2 sea production CO2 released ice loss
The climate crisis in numbers
In 2021, the concentration of CO2 in Half of the increase in CO2 in the last Earth’s atmosphere will reach 417 300 years has occurred since 1980.3 parts per million (ppm) – 50% higher than before the industrial revolution.2
2. Met Office Atmospheric carbon dioxide to pass iconic threshold - Met Office 3. NASA http://climate.nasa.gov/news/2915/the-atmosphere-getting-a-handle-on-carbon-dioxide/#:~:text=The%20concentration%20 of%20carbon%20dioxide,it%20was%20near%20370%20ppm.
2. The Carbon Age Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and cement production. Land use change is not included.
In metric tonnes
billion
billion
billion
billion
1 billion
1 billion
billion
1 1 19 19 19
Source: Global Carbon Project; Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC) Note: CO2 emissions are measured on a production basis, meaning they do not correct for emissions embedded in traded goods.
The challenge: an explosion in demand for content
We’re living in a golden age for video content. There’s never been so much choice in what to watch or how to watch it.
As well as traditional • In a global study of viewing broadcast TV, we’re seeing habits almost half of those an explosion in platforms surveyed (49%) said they delivering video on demand watched over 5 videos a (VOD). day.4 82% With connection speeds • The rate of increase is such doubling every year, and that by 2022, video viewing even faster increases in will account for 82% of all mobile device capacity, internet traffic.5 people expect to stream high of internet traffic will • These trends accelerated quality video anywhere on be video by 2022 during COVID-19. Streaming any device. This has led to an services saw a 10% rise in exponential growth in demand viewership during the first for content. wave of the pandemic.6
4. Promo.com 2019 Online Video Statistics and Trends New Study: 2019 Promo.com Online Video Statistics and Trends [Infographic] | Promo.com Blog 5. CISCO Visual Networking Index Complete Forecast Update 2017-22 Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) 6. Grandview Research Video Streaming Market Size, Share & Growth Report, 2021-2028 (grandviewresearch.com)
3. What’s the carbon impact?
As we watch more, we inevitably use more energy too, especially as the industry moves towards higher definition resolutions that are more energy-intensive. Watching online video alone generates 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to 1% of total global emissions.7
That’s in addition to the carbon impact of watching regular TV, which still accounts for the majority of content viewed by most adults. The biggest share of carbon emissions comes from the energy needed to power streaming and the devices used to view content, as well as the delivery networks and data centres that support streaming, all of which contribute to net emissions.
How does production contribute?
As more content is produced, emissions from TV and video production will also increase. Significant emissions can come from:
Buildings and premises
Transportation
On-site equipment/trucks
Physical infrastructure CO2
Network infrastructure (servers/storage)
Data centres, virtual servers and processors
Bandwidth requirements
7. BBC Future, Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think - BBC Future
4. FACT FILE
YouTube, Netflix and Sky are all committed to game-changing carbon reductions’
5. Committing to change: the industry response
Climate-related disasters are pushing carbon reduction up the agenda with a renewed urgency in the 2020s. As well as highlighting the issue in programming, broadcasters and content producers are recognising their own impact and committing to change.
YouTube, through its parent energy certificates and • Switching to renewable Google, has committed to go carbon offsets. energy sources and electric entirely carbon-free by 2030, vehicles. In the UK, all broadcasters ensuring that all of its data are required to measure • Using local crews and centres are powered from their carbon impact using facilities so there is less need renewable energy.8 the calculator created by to travel to locations/venues. Sky has committed to achieve BAFTA’s sustainability project, • Moving to remote net carbon zero in all of its TV Albert. Along with the Digital production using cloud- production activity by 2030.9 Production Partnership (DPP), based technology, so fewer Albert provides tools and Content providers such as people are required on-site, training to help the industry global sports giant IMG are with less equipment, fewer move towards zero carbon. also committed to becoming trucks and miles. carbon neutral (see case Reducing the carbon impact study). from production As well as general energy Among the leading VOD saving and efficiency platforms, Amazon has measures, broadcasters committed to net carbon and producers are exploring zero by 2040 and Netflix a range of approaches to is addressing its impact reduce the amount of carbon by matching its energy they emit from production consumption with renewable activities, including:
Case Study
IMG – achieving sustainability goals through remote production IMG is one of the largest producers of “Remote production means that IMG can cover programming in the world, responsible for events happening all over the world without thousands of hours of content on behalf of more having to send video editors and production than 200 federations, associations and events. staff thousands of miles to be there. That’s a big The company has committed to become carbon gain, which also saves us money. neutral by 2030 through remote production, “The latest technologies, such as the Blackbird energy saving and offsetting. video editing platform, help us do more in the “We’ve been gradually reducing energy cloud without the need for extra storage or consumption and emissions for years,” processing capacity, which further reduces our explains Brian Leonard, Head of Engineering emissions when multiplied across hundreds Production and Workflows. “But those efforts are of hours of programming every week. We aim accelerating now, spurred on by projects like to invest the money we save into more energy Albert in the UK, which enable us to share ideas saving technology. It’s a virtuous cycle.” and learn from what others are doing.
8. Carbon-Free Energy | Google Sustainability 9. Major broadcaster to make all TV shows carbon neutral | Living (euronews.com) 6. FACT FILE
Watching online video generates 300 million tonnes of CO2 per annum
7. Into the cloud: towards cleaner video production
As internet capacity has increased, it is changing not just how content is delivered and streamed, but how it is produced. Editing and post- production workflows that were once tied to on premise equipment can now be performed from anywhere via the cloud.
This has huge potential for transfers at lightning speeds, • Giant cloud data centres broadcasters, not only helping with no latency or loss of can generate large amounts them work more flexibly quality. This, in turn, enables of CO2. They need to be on and productively, but also more workflows – and even 24/7 to ensure uninterrupted helping them save energy large-scale live sports events supply, which can reduce and emissions by reducing – to move to the cloud without the sustainability benefits. the trucks, equipment and worrying about capacity limits • Most solutions also require people required on site. The or processing speeds. extra computer equipment technology has come into Limitations of hybrid and bandwidth to enable its own during COVID-19, cloud solutions each user to connect to the enabling video editors and cloud and publish from it. post-production staff to work Using the cloud has been a from home and continue to huge leap forward. However, it However, new technologies deliver programming. is not without issues: have emerged which can leverage the freedom of the The only barrier has been the • Most cloud-based solutions cloud and the growing speed capacity of the internet to substitute existing physical and capacity of the internet handle the huge amounts of infrastructure and storage to achieve the same result as data generated by video. But with virtual servers and current cloud-based solutions, rapid increases in internet processors in the cloud, without the need for extra speeds and cloud capacity, which are more efficient but equipment or infrastructure. combined with advances in still consume a lot of energy. fibre networks, allow vast data
Case Study
Tata Communications – enabling complex live events to be produced in the cloud
Tata Communications is a global digital ecosystem “Today, once cameras are connected to lightning- enabler that powers today’s fast-growing digital fast fibre networks, editors can remote in to live economy, with a subsea fibre network that carries video feeds from anywhere, using cloud-native 30% of the world’s internet routes. Its media and platforms such as Blackbird, with no latency or loss entertainment business is a leading enabler of of functionality. That removes the need to transport cloud-based remote video production and live large crews and heavy equipment, contributing to broadcast, supporting over 5,000 events globally. the reduction of carbon footprint. It also increases With its global partnerships, it has reached over 2 productivity because the same crew can now billion sports fans with content delivered through cover multiple events on the same day from a 90% of global sports broadcasters. central location. “Things that were once unimaginable become “So far, this works for up to 10 cameras, but in the possible once you have enough capacity,” future, as the capacity continues to increase, we says Jeremy Dujardin, CTO Global Media and think that even the most complex live events, such Entertainment Services. “Until recently, any live as motorsport that have up to 100 cameras and sports events with multiple camera feeds would really huge capacity requirements, will be able to have to be produced and edited on-site because go remote.” the volume of data and processing complexity was too great.
8. Cloud native: the next level of carbon reduction
Rapid advances in technology are expanding the boundaries of what’s possible in the cloud. This is making it easier to migrate entire workflows without the need for connecting hardware, or even the virtual infrastructure within the cloud.
By using fully cloud native Professional editing in a no extra computer equipment solutions, broadcasters have web browser or bandwidth needed at the the potential to achieve user end. Any number of users Blackbird achieves this by further reductions in the can work at the same time on transcoding video from live energy consumed and ordinary laptops using normal camera feeds or files into emissions generated by video Wi-Fi strength bandwidth. a lightweight proxy version production. that goes direct to the cloud Taking all of these factors Key to this is the ability to in real time. This enables together, Blackbird’s cloud compress the vast amount frame-accurate video viewing, native solution can offer of data generated by video, editing and publishing, while significant energy and so that it can be edited and reducing the need for the emission savings not only over produced entirely within heavy virtual infrastructure a traditional on premise setup, the cloud without needing associated with standard but also when compared to large storage or processing cloud-based editing solutions. most existing cloud-based capacity or having to go back video production platforms. The platform can be accessed to a traditional video editing through a normal web platform for any part of the browser, which means there is process.
9. Moving to cloud native solutions, like Blackbird, will minimize the need for “ on premise equipment. This helps to reduce our carbon footprint as fewer vehicles are on the road and employees can stay at home. Suresh Kumar \ Director of Technology \ Sky” News Arabia
Case Study
Sky News Arabia – reducing emissions from travel
Sky News Arabia is a 24-hour Arabic news “Moving to cloud native solutions, like Blackbird, channel, broadcasting to 50 million households will minimize the need for on premise equipment. across the Middle East and North Africa. This helps to reduce our carbon footprint as fewer vehicles are on the road and employees “When we talk about sustainability, it can start can stay at home. We learnt a lot during the with even small things like switching off your COVID-19 period and this has accelerated our lights or TVs after office hours,” says Director of move towards better sustainability as a side Technology, Suresh Kumar. effect.”
10. Video editing: comparing the carbon impact
To assess the carbon emissions from video production, environmental consultancy Green Element compared the impact of three different model workflows – on premise, cloud based and cloud native.
To make a true like-for- • On premise: Editors travelling much higher emissions than like evaluation, they based and working on-site, either of the cloud workflows their calculation on a live physical video editing suites/ – 11 times more than the event, which allows the most trucks transported and Blackbird cloud based solution accurate comparison since powered on-site, network in the 2 week event. each workflow is picking up infrastructure including However, there is also a the same video feeds in real physical processors/servers significant gap between the time. required to manage high two remote production models. bit-rate video transfers. What are the calculations In the one-day example, based on? • All models: carbon emissions from Blackbird emissions from hardware are less than half that of the • Cloud native (Blackbird): are calculated based on cloud based model. This gap Editors working remotely the length of the event as a increases dramatically with on regular laptops from proportion of the average the length of the event. Over the office or home, no extra hardware life cycle of four a two-week event, the cloud physical or virtual hardware, years. based solution produces servers or processors six times more carbon than required. What do the results show? Blackbird. This is because the • Cloud based: Editors working The charts show the relative cloud based solution transmits remotely in the office or at carbon impact of each model much more data and needs home, extra routers and based on one-day, four-day more hardware over a longer computer hardware needed and two-week long sports time period, while the power to access cloud systems, events. As expected, the on required by Blackbird’s low plus virtual servers and premise model, which includes data, low bandwidth solution processing machines to edit travel to the venue and on- does not increase significantly. and publish. site production rigs produces
FACT FILE
Blackbird generates up to 91% less CO2 compared to an on premise workflow for a 2 week sports event
11. Comparison of emissions for sporting events
One-day sports event 4 • 40 hours of TV • 5 editors • emissions from 100km 0.29 travelled by on premise 0.08 editors (average size x4 diesel car)
1 represented by 0.21
Emissions (’000 kg CO2E) 1 x2 0.15 Up to 0.07 On Premise Cloud based Cloud native Blackbird 75% less CO2 with Blackbird
Four-day sports event
• 200 hours of TV 2.14 • 10 editors • emissions from 200km 0.34 x5 travelled by on premise 1 editors (average size 1.80 diesel car) 1 represented by
Emissions (’000 kg CO2E) x3 1.15 Up to 0.40 On Premise Cloud based Cloud native Blackbird 80% less CO2 with Blackbird
Two-week sports event
• 4,000 hours of TV 174 1 • 50 editors 16 15 • emissions from 2,000km 14 travelled by on premise 1 159 x11 editors (economy class 1 plane travel) represented by 6 Emissions (’000 kg CO2E) 96 4 x6 Up to 15 On Premise Cloud based Cloud native Blackbird 91% less CO2 with Blackbird
12. FACT FILE
A 25% reduction of carbon emissions from UK public service broadcasters’ programme making would save over 200,000m2 of sea ice per year10
1 0. Blackbird calculation using annual Public Sector production hours sourced from www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/200503/media-nations-2020-uk-report.pdf) and 27.6 square metres of sea ice per hour of video produced (see Page 2: 1. Albert Annual Report 2019-20 albert_AnnualReport_19-20.pdf (wearealbert.org) 2. Met Office Atmospheric carbon dioxide to pass iconic threshold - Met Office)
13. Conclusions
As the effects of the climate emergency become increasingly visible, they also become measurable, and therefore undeniable.
What this means for Most broadcasters and architected specifically to humans is that carbon major content producers be optimized for the cloud reduction has to be at the are now routinely using environment. The result is a core of everything that the cloud for some of their game-changing reduction we do. It is the consistent editing and post production. in carbon emissions. and cumulative effect of It’s an important transition, As is so often true with sustainable development needing less physical sustainable options, there that will keep us from the infrastructure and fewer are other fundamental edge of a climate disaster. people in specific facilities or benefits to cloud native locations. But this approach The TV and video industries solutions too: flexibility, still calls for significant are not exempt from this. scalability, resilience and energy-sapping hardware, They certainly need to convenience. and merely replicating on- change, as other industries premise workflows if the With cloud native are. If the five main public cloud is used inefficiently technology, making video service broadcasters in still leaves a large carbon doesn’t cost the earth. the UK reduced carbon footprint. emissions from their programme making by a Hybrid solutions will quarter, it would save over never be as efficient as 200,000 square metres of native technologies such sea ice per year. as Blackbird, which are
14. Want to know more? Contact us at: [email protected] www.blackbird.video/sustainability
“Through awareness, collaboration and commitment in the industry, we can make a meaningful reduction of carbon emissions. If the technologies that exist today are leveraged correctly, it would result in a large, positive and immediate impact. We owe it to future generations to act as leaders and collectively focus and prioritise cleaner video production that will benefit our environment. ”
Ian McDonough CEO Blackbird
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021