Analysis of green filming additional costs
Since 2021, any additional costs incurred in order to comply with sustainability criteria in film production have been eligible for funding.
Film productions calculate and define any additional costs that may be incurred before the start of the project as a target figure. In the final accounting for the project, the actual additional costs incurred are compared with the target figure.
In the context of the analysis in this study, the focus is currently on verifiable, reported additional costs.
Potential savings resulting from sustainable measures that cannot yet be verified could not be included. These include, for example, flights that were not taken because they were replaced by online meetings or eliminated altogether, or reduced energy and material consumption.
Similarly, any additional costs that could not be reported in the actual additional costs of the productions, such as counter-offers ‘sustainable versus conventional’, could not be included in the calculation.
This means that savings are offset by missing costs that cannot be represented. This results in probable fluctuations in the available key figures, which cannot be quantified on the basis of the current data.
As of 31 December 2025, planned and actual additional costs were available for 59 cinema film projects, including
- 16 cinema documentary projects
- 43 cinema feature film projects
For better comparability, both film genres (cinema documentary film and cinema feature film) are evaluated separately in this analysis.
- MEDIAN: Since the values of the additional costs are not normally distributed due to the diversity of the projects and fluctuate greatly, a median is defined from the available data for the analysis. The median represents the central tendency of the data set in the analysis.
- KEY FIGURES: As production costs fluctuate greatly due to the diversity of the projects, key figures were calculated from the additional costs in relation to the production costs and in comparison to the Austrian share of the production costs.
- Due to the size of the sample, categorisation according to production costs is not statistically reliable at this point in time. With more data, clustering can be carried out in the future.
As a rule, the additional costs for the entire project should be reported. Since this is not always possible in the case of international co-productions, the Austrian share of financing was used in addition to the total budget.
The key figures reflect the additional cost intensity.
The analysis shows that the reported actual additional costs of Austrian cinema films are low in relation to total production, both for cinema documentaries and cinema feature films. According to the median, ecologically sustainable film production therefore does not incur any significant additional costs.
The additional costs for cinema documentaries are slightly higher than for cinema feature films in relation to production costs due to the lower budget.
The actual cost level of sustainable cinema film productions is likely to be lower due to potential savings that could not be quantified at present and could not be taken into account in the current evaluation.
Only 8.5% of projects explicitly reported cost savings. Recording cost savings is very challenging, as savings from flights not taken or lower disposal costs during the course of the project can only be recorded to a very limited extent or not at all due to time constraints.
- An analysis of the distribution and origin of the actual additional costs in relation to the production costs indicates that the level of production costs does not have a dominant influence on the extent of the additional costs.
This is evident in the fact that the additional costs per EUR 100,000 of production costs do not increase linearly for projects with higher production budgets.
Rather, there is a tendency for additional cost intensity to decrease as production costs increase.
- The calculated correlation coefficient (cinema documentary: r = 0.05, p-value = 0.86 and cinema feature film: r = −0.18; p = 0.25) shows no significant correlation. This confirms that in both film genres examined, there is no linear correlation between the level of production costs and the additional green filming costs.
- Accordingly, only a small portion of the variance in additional costs can be explained by the total production costs in the respective film genres (documentaries, 0.25%; feature films, approximately 3%). This means that there is no linear increase in additional costs as production costs rise.
- It can therefore be concluded that other production-specific factors, such as design or conscious planning, have a significant influence on the amount of additional costs.
In the case of documentaries, there is no discernible decrease in green filming additional costs as production costs rise. There is no statistically verifiable correlation.
The analysis of feature films suggests a tendency towards a decrease in additional costs, but this is not statistically significant. A trend is currently discernible, but it is not yet statistically verifiable.
With an increasing number of projects being evaluated in the coming years, the results are expected to become more precise.
An analysis of 59 film projects shows that the largest share of green filming additional costs is accounted for by additional personnel expenses.
It should be noted that a certain basic amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as personnel costs for green film consultants, for example, arise in every project. These fixed costs account for a larger share of the total costs, especially in smaller projects.
The implementation and execution of environmentally sustainable measures require additional time resources (e.g. for consulting, coordination, research, reporting).
To analyse the relative distribution of actual additional costs for 16 cinema documentary films and 43 cinema feature films, the reported actual additional costs were broken down into cost categories for detailed analysis.
Personnel costs:
- Green film consultant
- Green runner
- Additional costs for staff
Material costs:
The costs cover all other areas and also include the share of greenhouse gas compensation costs.
Any reported cost-reducing income was taken into account when calculating the material costs. Only 8.5% of the projects explicitly reported cost savings.
Cinema documentary film
Personnel costs: 72.6%
Material costs: 27.4%
Analysis of data from 16 cinema documentary films shows that the relative distribution of personnel costs accounts for the larger part of the actual additional costs. The relative distribution of other costs, including greenhouse gas offsets, accounts for the smaller share of costs.
The share of greenhouse gas compensation costs averages 4.1% of the actual additional costs.
Relative distribution of green filming additional costs – cinema documentary films
Proportion of CO2 compensation costs in actual additional costs – cinema documentary film
Cinema feature film
Personnel costs: 66.8%
Material costs: 33.2%
Analysis of data from 43 cinema feature films shows that the relative distribution of personnel costs accounts for the larger portion of actual additional costs. The relative distribution of other costs, including greenhouse gas offsets, accounts for the smaller portion of costs.
The share of greenhouse gas compensation costs averages 3.9% of the actual additional costs.
Relative distribution of green filming additional costs – cinema feature film
Proportion of CO2 compensation costs in actual additional costs – cinema feature film
Cinema documentary film
The median production cost for the 16 cinema documentary films surveyed is EUR 445,000.
- Cinema documentaries incur average additional costs of EUR 1,249 per EUR 100,000 of total production costs. That is 1.5%.
- In relation to Austrian production costs, this amounts to EUR 1,637 per EUR 100,000 budget. That is 1.8%.
- It should be noted that a certain basic amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as, for example, personnel costs for Green Film Consultants are incurred in every project. These fixed costs account for a larger share of the total costs, especially in smaller projects.
- It should be noted that a certain base amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as, for example, personnel costs for Green Film Consultants are incurred in every project.
Cinema feature film
The median production cost of the 43 cinema feature films surveyed is EUR 3 million.
- Feature films incur average additional costs of EUR 545 per EUR 100,000 of total production costs. That is 0.5%.
- In relation to Austrian production costs, this amounts to EUR 1,024 per EUR 100,000 budget. That is 1.0%.
- It should be noted that a certain base amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as, for example, personnel costs for Green Film Consultants are incurred in every project.
Key figures comparing the additional costs of green filming:
| film genre | Target additional costs (median) | Actual additional costs (median) | Production costs (median) | Additional costs per 100.000 EUR (total) | Share of production costs (total) | Additional costs per 100.000 EUR (AT share) | Share of production costs (AT share) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cinema documantary films | 6.371€ | 6.115€ | 445.060€ | 1.249€ | 1,50% | 1.637€ | 1,80% |
| cinema feature films | 21.035 | 19.349€ | 3,0 Mio.€ | 545€ | 0,50% | 1.024€ | 1,00% |
Cinema documentary film
The trend line does not show any discernible tendency and therefore no indication that the actual additional costs per 100,000 EUR are related to the total production costs.
Additional costs compared to total production costs – cinema documentary films
Cinema feature film
- The 43 cinema feature films used in the scatter plot are represented as dots.
- The horizontal axis shows the total production costs (in millions of euros). The vertical axis shows the additional costs per 100,000 EUR of total production costs.
- The trend line slopes slightly downward, indicating a weak negative correlation between the additional costs and the total production costs.
Additional costs compared to total production costs – cinema feature films
The distribution of actual additional costs per EUR 100,000 production costs is used as a key figure for the 16 cinema documentaries and 43 cinema feature films considered. By using this key figure instead of the absolute amount of actual additional costs, films with different total production costs can be directly compared.
In addition to the analysis of the correlation between the actual additional costs and the production costs in both film genres, a graphical evaluation is carried out using a box plot, which shows the distribution of the actual additional costs per EUR 100,000 of production costs.
Cinema documentaries
- Median and mean:
The median of the actual additional costs incurred per EUR 100,000 EUR of production costs is EUR 1,249 , while the arithmetic mean is EUR 1,549. Due to the wide range of the available data, the median is used as the most meaningful indicator in the analysis.
It should be noted that a certain basic amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as, for example, personnel costs for Green Film Consultants are incurred in every project.
A total of 13 of the 16 cinema documentaries examined show actual additional costs of less than EUR 2,000 per EUR 100,000 of production costs.
Half of the 16 cinema documentary films examined have actual additional costs per EUR 100,000 of production costs below the median value of EUR 1,249, while the other half are above it. Individual cinema documentary projects with comparatively high actual additional costs push the average upwards.
The middle 50% of cinema documentary films fall within the range of EUR 838 and EUR 1,741 in actual additional costs per EUR 100,000 in production costs. Statistically speaking, based on currently available data, the majority of cinema documentary films incur actual additional costs in this range.
Distribution of green filming additional costs – cinema documentary film
Median of green filming additional costs per 100.000 EUR production costs – cinema documantary film
Cinema feature film
- Median and mean:
The median of the actual additional costs incurred per EUR 100,000 of production costs is EUR 545, while the arithmetic mean is EUR 635.40. Due to the wide range of the available data, the median is used as the most meaningful indicator in the analysis.
It should be noted that a basic amount is incurred regardless of the production budget, as, for example, personnel costs for Green Film Consultants are incurred in every project.
A total of 35 of the 43 cinema feature films examined show actual additional costs of less than EUR 1,000 per EUR 100,000 of production costs.
Half of the 43 cinema feature films examined have actual additional costs per EUR 100,000 of production costs below the median value of EUR 545, while the other half are above it. Individual feature film projects with comparatively high actual additional costs push up the average.
The middle 50% of cinema feature films fall within the range of EUR 285.90 and EUR 805.10 in additional costs per EUR 100,000 in production costs. Statistically speaking, based on currently available data, the majority of cinema feature films incur actual additional costs in this range.
Distribution of green filming additional costs – cinema feature films
Median additional costs per 100.000 EUR production costs – cinema feature films
The analysis of the comparison between planned (TARGET) and actual (ACTUAL) additional costs for 16 cinema documentary films and 43 cinema feature films is based on the median, as the underlying data shows a high degree of dispersion. This high dispersion of additional costs indicates that they can vary greatly from project to project.
Cinema documentary film
- For the 16 cinema documentary films, the planned additional costs amounted to a median of EUR 6,371. At the end of the project, a median of EUR 6,115 in additional costs was reported. This corresponds to a saving of EUR 256 in absolute terms (median).
- A comparison between planned (TARGET) and actual (ACTUAL) additional costs shows that the additional costs for cinema documentaries fell by a median of around 4% at the time of settlement.
Cinema feature film
- For the 43 cinema feature films, the median planned additional costs were 21.035 EUR. At the end of the project, the median additional costs reported were EUR 19,349. This corresponds to a saving of EUR 1,686 in absolute terms (median).
- A comparison between planned (TARGET) and actual (ACTUAL) additional costs shows that the median additional costs for feature films fell by around 8% at the time of settlement.
The Austrian Ecolabel comprises over 60 guidelines and is awarded in five categories (products & services, tourism & gastronomy, schools & educational institutions, green meetings & events, art & culture). It is a government Type 1 environmental label in accordance with EN ISO 14024, and is a voluntary, independent, multi-criteria-based eco-label that certifies products.
Following the revision of the Austrian Ecolabel’s ‘RLUZ76-Green Producing in Film and Television’ guidelines, cinema film projects have been eligible for certification since 2021.
The first edition dates from 2017 and has been available in version 3.0 since 2025. The guideline must be revised every 4 years.
A specific cinema film is certified as a product, while the production company becomes the licensee. The permitted use of the label for the product is valid for 4 years.
Responsibility for the Austrian Ecolabel lies with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management, supported by the Association for Consumer Information (VKI). The VKI is involved in the testing and certification process and manages the pool of auditors.
There are application, usage and assessment costs, as well as recertification costs. Exact costs can only be obtained by direct enquiry. These depend heavily on the testing effort, such as the size of the production, the number of shooting days, the number of trades involved, but especially on the effort required by the assessor. Therefore, costs are often calculated on a project-by-project basis.
The project-related costs, up to the completion of the film, are currently covered in full by the arts and culture budget in the subsidised cinema film sector. Recertification or usage costs are paid by the production companies.
Since 2021, 22 cinema film projects out of 169 approved projects subject to the regulations for mandatory sustainable implementation have sought certification in accordance with the Austrian Ecolabel’s UZ76 Green Producing in Film and Television guideline. This represents 10.63% of all approved cinema film projects.
The costs were calculated at EUR 112,775.50, which is an average of EUR 5,126 per project. The absolute costs cannot currently be stated for 22 cinema films, as the projects have not yet been completed.