Sustainable Video Production Policy

Effective date: July 2019 (Updated January 2024)

This Sustainability Policy formalises our commitment to supporting the principles of environmental sustainability. It recognises that a sustainable environment is central to our organisation and the lives and work of our employees.

‍

Policy aims include:

Implement environmental actions within our organisation.
Monitor the environmental actions and improvements internally.
Demonstrate leadership by working sustainably with suppliers, communicating with customers and recommending industry-relevant environmental initiatives.

Scope:

The Sustainability Policy applies to all employees and freelancers, both full-time and part-time. This policy will be shared with suppliers, partners, and consultants to demonstrate and indicate best practices.

Our commitment:

We are committed to accelerating the move to a sustainable, low-carbon economy and to reducing and ultimately eliminating the impact on the environment from our operations.

PRINCIPLES:

These principles are critical to our sustainability policy:

To become an industry leader in sustainable advertising.
To build sustainability into all our business decisions and decarbonise our operations.
To make sure all our staff and contractors understand how vital our sustainability policy is to Toast.
We will review our working practices annually to improve our sustainability goals constantly.

‍

ACTIONS:

Office and working environments

When using computer equipment, each employee or contractor will ensure that their equipment meets ENERGY STAR® guidelines for energy efficiency. Disk drives will sleep after 30 minutes of idling, and monitors to sleep within 15 minutes.
Use cloud storage systems that have positive sustainability goals. Google Drive is the primary storage system for Toast production documents. Google has already announced that it is carbon neutral for our operations.
Toast will support working from home where possible. Employees will be encouraged to use renewable energy suppliers to cover energy usage at home.
Reduce the amount of paper used in productions by using electronic copies of documents where possible. Emailed Call sheets and production documents will be our first option.

‍

Productions and Filming

Toast commits to using lighting and equipment suppliers that offer sustainable products as part of their offering.

We will choose suppliers that can deliver equipment using EV delivery trucks when available.
Where creatively appropriate, we will use lighting systems providing efficiencies of >80 lumens per watt.
We commit to saving production lights during lunch and breaks between takes. Studio lights are to be used during set breakdown and clear-up.
Plan to recycle any props or consumables used in television productions.
Use recyclable food containers and reusable water bottles on set.
Catering on set to be vegetarian.
Rechargeable batteries will be used for any equipment needing a mobile power source.

‍

Travel and meetings

Conscious consideration of the level of travel required and the mode of travel encourages lower carbon transportation options.
For foreign filming, utilise local crew to reduce the requirement for UK crew travel and to support local suppliers, where creatively appropriate.
Avoid travel to meetings where alternatives, including Zoom or Google Meet, are available and creatively appropriate.
Reduce the need for our staff members and contractors to travel by supporting work-from-home initiatives.
Toast will provide access to cycle-to-work schemes for all employees after 12 months of continuous employment.
To limit travel, we will conduct multiple meetings on set travel days where travel is needed.

‍

Learning and Improving

The AdGreen Carbon Calculator: This allows us to measure, report, and look at ways to reduce our carbon footprint across our productions.
Albert: compiles a list of B-Corp certified suppliers that we use in as many of our productions as possible.
The Advertising Producers Association Membership gives us access to guidance, insights, training and advice to ensure we’re working and delivering to the professional standards set by our industry.
We will educate clients on methods and creative approaches with lower carbon impact.

‍

Industry Leadership

What is the role of advertising in a time of climate crisis?
At Toast, we’re exploring this question through talks with industry specialists and thought leaders, which was captured in our independent series, Is Advertising Toast? We want to transform our business and play our part in transforming the industry at large.