Telling Climate Stories at Scale: Netflix's Strategy for Sustainability and Impact
Sep 11, 2024
auto_awesome
Stewart, Netflix's first Sustainability Officer, shares his vision for integrating sustainability into entertainment. He discusses the challenges of weaving climate narratives into popular content, making them compelling and relatable. Stewart highlights Netflix's pioneering strategies for reducing its carbon footprint, including electrifying productions and collaborating on clean technologies. He also emphasizes the shift from risk-focused to opportunity-driven narratives, showcasing how entertainment can inspire climate action and innovation.
Netflix's sustainability strategy focuses on decarbonizing its operations and productions while leveraging innovative clean technologies to reduce emissions.
The company actively supports creators in embedding climate themes into their storytelling, enhancing audience engagement with environmental narratives.
Deep dives
Integration of Sustainability in Operations
Netflix's approach to sustainability involves establishing a dedicated team to decarbonize the company in line with science-prescribed targets. This includes efforts to reduce emissions from its production processes and corporate operations. The company works with external partners to procure renewable energy and power its facilities, including a significant solar project in Albuquerque that aims to address its expanding electrical needs. This three-part strategy also focuses on supporting creators who want to integrate sustainability themes into their storytelling while highlighting existing sustainability narratives available on the platform.
Production Process Emissions and Innovations
The majority of Netflix's carbon footprint stems from the production of film and television content, primarily due to fuel and electricity usage. Several initiatives are underway to electrify transportation for productions and decarbonize auxiliary power traditionally reliant on diesel generators. Netflix is piloting mobile battery technology and fuel cells to replace diesel, enabling cleaner operations while maintaining reliability on film sets. These innovations not only reduce emissions but also position Netflix as a leader in adopting clean technologies within a notoriously carbon-intensive industry.
Supporting Climate-Themed Storytelling
Netflix actively encourages storytellers to incorporate climate themes into their content by providing resources and expertise. The sustainability team offers technical support to creators across various genres, from documentaries to scripted series. For instance, the reality show 'Next in Fashion' features a strong emphasis on upcycling, while titles like 'Leave the World Behind' explore the impacts of climate change without directly naming it. This collaborative effort reflects a growing appetite among creators to address environmental issues and engage audiences in a meaningful way.
Navigating Challenges and Industry Collaboration
Despite the challenges of integrating sustainability into the entertainment sector, Netflix has leveraged partnerships and external expertise to drive innovation. The company is also addressing a lack of accessible clean technology within various filming locations and has incentivized productions to adopt greener practices through budgetary support. Additionally, the creation of regional sustainability advisors has facilitated the adoption of clean technologies across multiple productions. This proactive approach signifies Netflix's commitment to climate action while setting a precedent for wider industry cooperation on sustainability efforts.
In this episode of Climate Rising, we explore how Netflix, a global entertainment powerhouse, is leveraging its platform to tell compelling stories about climate change. Stewart, Netflix's first
Sustainability Officer, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss the company’s strategic approach to sustainability, and the importance of embedding climate themes in popular content. Stewart shares insights into the challenges and opportunities of incorporating climate considerations into both operations and storytelling, revealing how Netflix is contributing to the global climate conversation.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode