The audiovisual sector facing the challenge of sustainability

A meeting, organized by the Television Academy, brings together Juan Melgar, Susana Gato, Beatriz Morillas, Anna Casinna and Flocelo Puig to analyze the environmental, social and economic challenges of the audiovisual industry.

The meeting, which had the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture, was moderated by the meteorologist and Secretary General of the Academy, Tomás Molina, and has had the institutional welcome of Juan Melgar, director of the Cultural Industries Coordination Center of the Ministry of Culture.

The session brought together Susana Gato, Director of Sustainability at Atresmedia and Deputy Director of the Atresmedia Foundation; Beatriz Morillas, Head of Sustainability of Original Fiction Production at Movistar Plus+; Anna Casinna, Head of Original Production for Prime Video at Amazon Studio; and Flocelo Puig, Director of Business Development at Creast. All of them shared good practices, challenges and future strategies to move towards a more responsible and sustainable audiovisual production.

During his speech, Juan Melgar highlighted the firm commitment of the Ministry of Culture to a competitive, diverse, accessible and, especially, sustainable audiovisual industry in all its dimensions: environmental, social, economic and cultural. He stressed the importance of initiatives such as the Academy Breakfasts to promote dialogue between institutions and professionals, and responded to the growing social demand in the face of climate urgency.

Susana Gato He highlighted during his speech that for Atresmedia, sustainability is a global commitment that encompasses three key dimensions: environmental, social and governance, with social being the most important for the group. Although they strive to reduce their carbon footprint like any company, their main responsibility as a media outlet lies in using their great dissemination capacity to raise awareness in society, fight against misinformation and address relevant social problems, acting as a loudspeaker for important causes.

From Movistar Plus+, Beatriz Morillas explained that they have been integrating sustainability criteria into their productions for more than three years in close collaboration with production companies and consultants. They have achieved significant results in reducing their carbon footprint through various measures such as rental costumes, use of adequately powered sets, catering management, sustainable products, archival images, LED lights, efficient transportation and emphasize the importance of communicating these achievements in an understandable way to the teams to encourage their commitment.

Anna Cassina, stressed that Amazon Studios has assumed a strong commitment to sustainability in its external productions, recognizing the communicative power of the audiovisual industry beyond its direct environmental footprint. Although they face initial challenges in the implementation and availability of sustainable resources, they consider collaboration with producers and teams to be essential to integrate sustainable practices and educate the sector, promoting a transformation that, although it has advanced rapidly, still has a long way to go and requires greater coordination between public and private actors.

For its part, Flocelo Puig, explained that they are collaborating in the creation of a Spanish audiovisual sustainability standard (SESA - Spanish Audiovisual Sustainability Seal) agreed upon with the sector and accessible to all, with the aim of establishing a clear and unified guide in an environment that still lacks well-defined European regulations. But above all, what it recommends is that companies work little by little so that sustainability is integrated into all production processes.