EMA Green Seal: how it works for film and TV productions

What the Environmental Media Association is

EMA is a US organisation that has worked at the intersection of entertainment and the environment for more than 30 years. Its mission is to promote environmental action through entertainment, storytelling and education, and it works with the screen industry to drive more sustainable practices.

What the EMA Green Seal is

According to its official website (opens in a new tab), the Green Seal has existed since 2003 as a programme recognising progress in the sustainable production of commercials, films, animation, TV series and print advertising. EMA states that it has recognised more than 1,800 projects with the seal.

Unlike a standalone footprint calculation, the Green Seal focuses on the practices the production applies during the project and how it substantiates them.

The role of environmental best practices

Best practices are the concrete actions the crew applies in each area: reducing generator use, organising shared transport, avoiding single-use plastics in catering, reusing set materials or separating waste on set. The sooner they are defined, the easier it is for departments to build them into the way they work.

Why the measures taken must be documented

A practice that cannot be demonstrated is hard to assess. That is why every measure needs support: a document, a record or an image showing that it was applied, when and how.

Typical evidence

• Supplier invoices and contracts reflecting the measure.
• Fuel and electricity consumption records.
• Delivery notes or certificates from waste contractors.
• Dated photos of the measures applied on set.

Collecting it during the shoot, supported by an EcoPA, avoids having to rebuild it at the end, when documents or crew members are already missing.

How the project is assessed

The production submits information about the practices applied together with their documentation, and EMA assesses it against its own criteria. The specific requirements, submission format and how each project is scored are those published by EMA at any given time.

As well as practices, EMA includes the reporting of the production's environmental data. As with other standards, the methodology specified by the organisation itself should be used. The Green Production Guide (opens in a new tab), created by studios and industry professionals, offers tools to plan and track sustainable practices and to calculate a production's emissions.

Organising the work during the production

At La Tribu Verde we support productions applying for the Green Seal with planning practices and gathering evidence, as explained on our services page, and we organise that information in MERA, our in-house tool.