Budgeting

Having line items in your production’s budget for sustainability will enable your production to take a strategy and supported approach to environmental sustainability.

The below are intended as a starting point only. Every production is different and it is important to consult and engage a Sustainability Manager who can assist with scoping your requirements more accurately.

Crew

Sustainability manager for working with you to complete the sustainability action plan. Allow roughly the same amount as you would for a Health and Safety plan for your production.
Sustainability Manager to work with you in implementing the plan through pre-production, production and wrap. Allow a similar amount to what you would for an experienced / lead Health and Safety officer.
Sustainability Coordinators or additional roles as required by your scale of production. Consult your Sustainability Manager on your requirements. Allow wages in line with Production Coordinators or Assistants depending on experience level.
Wrap can take longer to redistribute materials no longer needed. Allow for assistants or people to aid the team here to speed it up.

Offsetting

If you are planning to offset your emissions, then you should allow for this in your budget. Use our emissions estimation tool to work out what you should allow for. It’s good to allow some contingency on top.
Another way to contribute towards offsetting is to do some tree-planting, or help in wetlands rehabilitation. Consider allowing for your team to participate in this capacity.

Auditing

If you are intending to secure an official certification for your production, then you will need to allow for auditing your emissions. Allow the same as you would for a financial auditor to do this.

Training

Social sustainability is crutial in building a sustainable sector. Consider how you are supporting local, marginalised and under-represented groups through your production and providing opportunities.
Do your crew need support and training in environmental practice? They might appreciate support in upskilling in this field.

Operating Expenditure

Bins and signage can add up, especially if you are splitting into 6 or more streams. Allow a modest budget for your team to purchase and maintain these.
Reuseable items can cost more initially, but save you in the long term from both purchasing single-use items and disposing of them. Allow a little more up front and this should balance in the end.
Shuttles for carpooling is one way to reduce your commuting emissions. It can also reduce the need for parking which saves money and work from locations. Consider whether and when you might look to provide shuttles to your cast and crew.
Waste Disposal is a real cost for most productions already, so remember to allow for it in the budget. As practice improves this will be a place you can hope to see improvement!

Saving Money by Going Green

Many of the line items replace other line items or reduce your needs. As a result, the overall additional cost of environmentally sustainable practice in most cases balances out. As an obvious example, reusable cups replace single-use cups – resulting in net savings and diverting waste. This in turn also reduces the cost of waste disposal.

Have a read of some of the articles here for some inspiration. In particular Going Green and Saving Green is a great cost-benefit analysis of sustainable filmmaking (produced by the Green Production Guide).