Green Producers

From 2001 to 2018 we travelled around the world shooting commercials without much thought on the emissions we caused.  Then we came across the previous IPCC report (UN climate report 2018). 

As creative individuals, passionate about storytelling and possessing a strong capacity for empathy, a chill ran down our spine as we read the outlook depicted in the report. It was a nasty story. And, unfortunately, as producers of commercials we also had to acknowledge that we weren't just a part of the story; we contributed to it. 

This acknowledgment hurt. A lot. After some weeks of self-tormenting, we decided that we, as passionate storytellers, couldn’t be part of that story. 

We needed to create a new story, an alternative story, a story we could be proud to be part of. That was the start of Green Producers Club. 

Since then we have developed a science based tool, Green Producers Tool, collaborating with climate researchers at CICERO - center for international climate research, The Norwegian Opera & Ballett, The Øyafestival, Strix, Innocode and Virke. We were granted support from the Research Council of Norway (Forskningsrådet) and EU. Green Producers Tool is a systematic tool that will measure and help reduce the CO2eqv footprint for cultural productions and events. 

And it is made by producers for producers, thus intuitive and relevant. Having a tool to help you working sustainable is great, but it is hard to do it alone. So we have the Green Producers Club. The club gathers people and industries to club meetings. The main purpose of this is to share expertise, hick-ups and best practices. It is no fun being alone, so much more fun being part of a group. A community. 

As of September 2023 there are more than 140 companies and organizations using the tool, and taking part of the community. From across the culture sector in Norway, Denmark and Sweden there are more than 1000 unique users of the tool. GPC are developing industry standards on what to measure and how detailed, in collaboration with leading organizations as NRK, Viaplay and TV2. We are also taking actively part in European roundtables to ensure alignment of standards and methodology. 

Babusjka was nominated "Green Company of the year" by the city of Oslo in 2020. This nomination would not be possible without our collaborators. Green Producers Club has twice been named Green Guardian by the IQ magazine.

(PS. In 2019 Green Producers Club first developed a much simpler tool, that helped measure your efforts. This we developed in collaboration with dear colleagues in the Norwegian film industry, Pravda, Bacon OSL, Animasjonsdepartementet, Bekk and Chooose.)