Green Filming Action Plan – Next Steps Towards the Future

After several years of implementing mandatory sustainable standards, regulations and film funding laws in the film industry in Europe, cross-border coordination, mutual recognition and European standards are now being considered more and more concretely.

Green co-production is now becoming an important topic in international working groups (e.g. Eurimage Sustainability Study Group, EFAD Sustainability Working Group).

The GREEN CO/PRO EUROPE working group, initiated in Austria in April 2022 by EVERGREEN PRISMA, has been working specifically and systematically on international, sustainable co-production for several years now.

A growing network of European institutions across national borders is pooling its expertise in this think tank. In 2023, impressive cross-border cooperation and coordination has already been achieved between the Austrian Film Institute, the IDM Film- and Music Commission, the FFA German Federal Film Board and MOIN Filmfunding.

Work is being done directly on and with projects and productions that have financial participation from the respective countries.

With the increase in co-productions in 2023 and 2024 to up to 57% of all ÖFI-funded projects, this necessity was prepared with foresight.

In addition, and with a forward-looking willingness to cooperate, the Green Filming Department of the Austrian Film Institute made its expertise and experience from recent years available in 2025 for the implementation of the Nordic Ecological Standards for cinema, TV, and online/VoD productions (NES) of the 5 NORDICS (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The standard is based on German and Austrian ecological standards (Ecological Standards for German Cinema, TV and Online/VoD Productions and Criteria Catalogue of Ecological Standards for Austrian Cinema Film Productions ÖFI/ÖFI+) and represents a country-specific and cross-border standard for the Nordic countries.

The visionary power that began in 2020 with the Green Filming Austria synergy model is now bearing fruit thanks to the Europe-wide networking efforts of EVERGREEN PRISMA and the Austrian Film Institute.

SYSTEM:
Nationwide and/or regional regulations or film funding laws that include sustainable film production form the legal basis.
Country-specific, established, ecological standards that are (currently) based on each other and are moving towards each other in their further development.
 
SYNERGY:
Mutual recognition and cooperation between the institutions and countries involved.
 
BRIDGING – cross-border instruments:
The use of country-specific, film-specific CO2eq calculators that are based on each other and can provide comparable and complementary data.
These instruments are currently available in several languages in Austria, Germany, South Tyrol and Switzerland. Apart from Germany, these film-specific calculators are financed by the respective institutions and made available free of charge to country-specific Green Film Consultants for their work:
 
AT: Evergreen Prisma / KlimAktiv-Greenshooting CO₂ Calculator
CH: SWISS/KlimAktiv-CO2 Calculator Film & Media
DE: MfG / KlimAktiv-Greenshooting CO₂ Calculator
IT: IDM Film Commission South Tyrol – KlimAktiv-Greenshooting
 
EVERGREEN PRISMA CO₂ Calculator for Film & TV Austria
https://idm.greenshooting.eu/en_GB/
https://mfg.greenshooting.de/de_DE/
https://www.green-shooting.ch/de_DE/
 
In addition, a film-specific European CO2eq calculator, MEDIA Carbon Calculator, was financed and introduced by Creative Europe Media of the European Commission, which can be used as a basic tool. The project coordinator for the MEDIA Carbon Calculator is Florian Reimann.
 
MEDIA Carbon Calculator
 
In 2025, the first steps were also taken in the area of Green Consultancy Europe to provide professional training and in-depth knowledge. Coming soon.

At the end of 2023, the Austrian Filminstitute, together with representatives of the Austrian film industry and after consultation with the Austrian Filminstitute’s supervisory board, formulated and adopted regulations for majority and minority co-productions.

The Green Filming Department has developed its own ‘TEMPLATES’ for practical implementation, which can be adapted to the respective project and can respond to the complexity and great diversity of projects with the greatest possible flexibility.

These ‘TEMPLATES’ represent a questionnaire for the project that finds the best solution for the project in question in terms of reporting, auditing and CO2eq calculation.

In general, co-productions are challenging to implement. In addition to issues such as different financing and funding logics, territorial regulations, legal and contractual complexity, logistical challenges, scheduling, the risk of financing gaps or currency risks, sustainable co-production presents additional and often very different challenges.

While sustainable implementation requires a reduction in mobility and transport as well as resources, this is often countered by established implementation methods that are inherent to co-production.

Cultural, country-specific differences in terms of sustainability, varying levels of knowledge regarding sustainable film production among co-production partners and different regulations in different countries are the biggest challenges, alongside a lack of preparation time.

There are no easy solutions.

These challenges must be addressed with great care and the most strategic and systemic approach possible. This is possible if institutions work together with filmmakers and in cross-border cooperation on an equal footing to find synergies from already established systems and instruments.

A uniform standard alone does not constitute a system.

All the tools and expertise are already in place. In order to use them together and put them into practice, cooperation, focus, a 360-degree vision, institutional flexibility and solidarity are needed.

Green storytelling is not just planet placement or the narration of highly relevant, eco-social and global issues; it also has the power to incorporate very specific considerations into the development of film material in order to support environmentally friendly production methods during implementation.

A synergy effect of green storytelling, as a creative basis and narrative structure, and green filming in practical implementation. Evergreen Prisma has been addressing the topic of green storytelling since 2021:

EVERGREEN PRISMA | SPOTLIGHT – Green Storytelling

EVERGREEN PRISMA | TRANSFER – Green Storytelling

The ‘Green Storytelling Checklist’ is a tool from the Green Storytelling Initiative for screenwriters, dramaturgs, producers, editors and other decision-makers to take the ecological impact of their stories and productions into account.

Green Filming | MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein

Green Storytelling – Project figures from the Austrian Film Institute

As part of its project data survey, the Austrian Film Institute has released initial figures on how many projects have been approved or contractually committed. Planet Placement was not taken into account. The figures are based on the available synopses of projects that include sustainability or eco-social themes.