BBC, ITV Reveal Climate Change Goals Ahead of COP26 Conference
U.K. broadcasters BBC and ITV have revealed similar goals to significantly reduce their impact on the environment ahead of the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference at Glasgow (Oct. 31 – Nov 12).
The BBC has had its science-based targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), setting a path for the corporation to achieve its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
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The BBC will pursue a deep decarbonization strategy to achieve net zero, a plan focused on targeting and eliminating fossil fuel usage across its operations to drastically reduce the amount of carbon produced by the organization. The BBC hopes to achieve this by switching to renewables and electric vehicles; reducing business travel; continuing to implement more sustainable production methods, such as BBC Studios’ use of hydrogen and battery powered generators on “Winterwatch”; and working collaboratively with suppliers to reduce emissions within their own organizations.
Meanwhile, ITV plans to achieve a 100% sustainable supply chain by 2030. The broadcaster’s plans include incorporating delivery of climate action targets into senior leader bonus payments; linking delivery on emission reduction targets to future debt financings; ensuring all programs produced and commissioned going forward will go through sustainable certification; ensuring all staff complete climate crisis training by the end of 2021; using its reach to support behavioral change among viewers; and phasing out petrol and diesel cars in ITV’s fleet and in on-air competitions.
“In the area of climate action, we’re making good progress on our ambitious goals, including being Net Zero by 2030,” said ITV CEO Carolyn McCall. “This new raft of measures shows how, at each touchpoint, ITV is working on how we can contribute to building a sustainable society, from how we incentivize senior leadership and set the terms of our debt financing, to the cars we give away in competitions.”
Tim Davie, BBC director general, said: “At the start of the year we shared our ambition to reach net zero by 2030. Since then, there’s been a huge amount of work to put in place a credible and achievable plan. We are now converting that plan into action. This will be a huge collective effort. It won’t be easy, but we must act, and act now, to reduce our environmental impact.”
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