Introduction & Purpose
By founding the Climate Pledge, Amazon confirmed its commitment to building a sustainable business for customers and the planet in 2019. Through the Climate Pledge, Amazon’s operations will be net zero carbon by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement, focusing on regular reporting and decarbonization. Beyond the commitment to decarbonize our operations, Amazon is working to send less material to landfills and more back into the circular economy loop, including reducing food waste by 50% by 2030.
These policies align with Amazon’s latest additions to our Leadership Principles: (1) Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer and (2) Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility. While the production sustainability program focuses on the environment, Amazon Studios (“AS”) works closely with DEIA partners and productions to ensure social sustainability is also included in AS policies and programs.
Amazon Sustainability Resources
AS has a dedicated in-house Sustainability Team who can help answer questions about the policy. The AS Sustainability Team will also review carbon emissions and environmental reporting data and the post-wrap analysis put together by on-set staff. Generic questions can be addressed to amazon-studios-sustainability@amazon.com
See additional Sustainability FAQs here.
Sustainability Accounting
Accounting teams have been updated with the new Sustainability budgeting and expenditures process for accounting code #96- in the Chart of Accounts (CoA). ‘Environment and Sustainability’. Appropriate tagging and more sustainability accounting procedures can be found in the Finance and Accounting policies ( Link to India Finance Policies here)
Budgeting for Sustainability
Budgeting should be conducted prior to the Greenlight process and the AS Sustainability team can provide budget recommendations. Prod Co currently pays for the sustainability policy implementation and reporting. No sustainability program spend has ever exceeded 1% of the total GL locked budget in any territory.
Sustainability Vendors
Amazon Business members can view Climate Pledge Friendly products on Amazon.com and as best practice, are encouraged to prioritize ordering eco-friendly products.
Sustainability Staffing
The Prod Co is responsible for hiring at least one dedicated sustainability vendor. They will be on the production payroll. They create a sustainability plan and budget, and ensure compliance and execution of sustainability on-set. Sample job descriptions can be found here. The AS Production Executive and AS Sustainability Manager must approve any sustainability budget.
Wrap Planning, Reuse and Donations
Reuse should be prioritized and any storage of items coordinated with the Sustainability and Asset Management team. Donate salvageable unneeded set materials (e.g., construction, set decoration, wardrobe, props) to approved nonprofit organizations (e.g., Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity), local theaters, libraries, archives or schools. Ensure this is following the Asset Planning, Retention and Disposition Document and AS Asset Policy. Resale of items is under the discretion of the production teams. All food donations depend on Health and Safety regulations and must be pre-approved by Production Sustainability and Risk.
Sustainability Requirements
AS has 10 sustainability requirements and 10 sustainability recommendations, separated by Levels 1-2, depending on the territory, type of production and/or infrastructure available. Please work with the AS Sustainability team to develop a plan.
Sustainability Deliverables
Sustainability Reporting
- The PEACH tool is required to evaluate best practices checklist that also evaluates productions on a point system and should be completed in Hard Prep to evaluate areas to improve, and again at Wrap.
- All productions must fill in the Green Production Guide’s PEAR tool and submit it via the AS Sustainability Wrap Report.
- The PEAR (Production Environmental Accounting Report) is a tool to measure the environmental impact of your production based on the energy used in offices and on stages, the fuel used in vehicles and generators, and the emissions from air travel and accommodations.
- Filling in this information should be a joint exercise between the dedicated on-set sustainability staff, Accounting, Transport, Catering, and more.
- One PEAR should be filled out for the entire production, and a separate PEAR should be filled out just for Post Production.
- Accounting guidance can be found in the (Add link to India Finance resources here)
- Productions can use other trackers if they choose but must still submit the PEAR tool and submit it via the AS Sustainability Wrap Report as outlined above.
Sustainability Templates & Exhibits
Sustainability Checklist
It’s important to plan for sustainability as early as possible. A sample checklist of activities for the Production staff and/or Prod Co to complete is provided below:
1 |
Department or External Service Providers |
Key Area to Discuss |
2 | Accounting | Carbon tracking (Energy bills, etc.) |
3 | Department Keys- Art Dir., 1st AC’s, Best Boys, 2nd’s | Budget, Admin, Operational Oversight to review policies, plans and resources. Emphasize sustainable procurement efforts |
4 | Procurement | Sustainable procurement and contract language |
5 | Transportation | Fuel use/reduction and alternative fuels/ vehicles |
6 | Facilities | Waste management, opportunities to use grid energy |
7 | Production | Eco-friendliness of locations/stages, e.g., energy efficiency |
8 | Producers and AD’s | Training, messaging, enforcement. Designate a sustainability “champion” in each department on a volunteer basis |
9 | Catering | Food choices (e.g., reduced meat), service ware, drinks |
10 | Construction, Art, Make-up, Landscape | Low carbon emitting, recyclable, reusable materials. Donate where possible |
11 | Waste Haul Providers | Ensure waste separation of trash, recycling, and compost, and that a diversion report can be issued. Specialized disposal companies must be identified for items requiring special handling and disposal (e.g., solvents, paints, coatings, aerosols, miscellaneous toxic materials, batteries, electronics, etc.) |