Year: 2023

What else must change, was the question asked in the opening panel session on Day 2 of ABU-Rai Days.Issues covered in the discussion included due diligence, changes in governance, operational risks, cultural alignment, as well as global and local competition.Rai Sustainability ESG Deputy Director, Micol Rigo said sustainability “is a great opportunity to re-establish our role in society, in the areas of environmental, social and governance.”

“Organisations that do business with us have been urging us to be accountable for our sustainability.” The first pressures came in through finance compliance reporting requirements and now there more pressure for wider corporate sustainability reporting “It is a challenge, but we need to drive the change and manage the uncertainty that will come with it. “A company’s responsibility is to make a profit, but what is the idea of profit? Is it just money or does it also include long term decision making for the good of the planet? This is an opportunity for us to become leaders in the area of sustainability,” said Rigo.EBU Director of Legal and Policy/General Counsel, Richard Burnley quoted Leonardo Da Vinci: “People of accomplishment don’t sit back and let things happen to them. They go out and made things happen.”“We are trying to shape the regulations proactively within our PSM ethical framework, not letting things happen to us.“Software companies are putting binding clauses in their customer contracts to ensure sustainability… companies are including clauses that ensure cooperation for sustainability without compromising competition laws.Media companies first got on board with sustainability to improve their reputation, but now they are moving from a reputation based to a legal based motivation, where they will be able to show their legal and regulatory compliance.“We need to monitor our progress to avoid Green Washing – making false claims or claims that you can’t substantiate.”Quoting various academic studies, Università Svizzera Italiana Professor Matthew Hibberd urged broadcasters “to be more positive about what can be done about climate change in our coverage, show what people can do.”He also made the point that the sustainability of broadcast companies needs to be addressed too, because broadcasters are losing out to the global world of big tech and to misinformation. “Public service broadcasters have tried to keep up, but in reality have lost ground to big commercial tech companies… PSBs are also now under pressure from disinformation channels.” European News Alliance, Secretary General, Alexandru Giboi applied the sustainability lens to News. “We must secure the present without ruining the future,” he said.“Our public is slowly fading away, so to ensure that we still have an audience in future, media need to adapt and find the right channels to attract the younger audiences. “News agencies have already started to do so. We are adapting our newsgathering and our output so that audiences will remain interested in the news output we have to offer, but we are not losing the responsibility we have to report the news correctly.”He pointed to a new trend where young audiences are searching directly for news on TikTok and Youtube, rather than through general search engines. Audiences now want content that they are interested in to find them, they don’t want to have to go searching for it.“The old way was to go to a press conference and quote the person who spoke about the topic. Audiences no longer want to consume that type of news. The sustainable approach to news should address the whole value chain from when the story is gathered to when it reaches the audience. If we don’t connect our news to audiences, we will lose our relevance.”Journalist training and media literacy are two other areas where more work needs to be done so ensure news sustainability. “Media literacy is important so that people understand the important role that good media can play in society.”One of the legal issues facing broadcasters is the misappropriation of their signals, for example the illegal rebroadcasting of sport, according to ABU IP and Legal Committee Chair, Suranga Jayalath.Sustainability was a theme running through all these topics, from environmental sustainability to the sustainability of media business models in the modern competitive environment. […]

The second session in today’s ABU-Rai Days conference was titled Showcasing a sustainable media industry and explored how some major broadcasters in Europe and Asia Pacific have taken up challenges of making their organisations and activities more sustainable.The session was moderated by RAI International Relations and European Affairs Director, Simona Martorelli (pictured).The first speaker, MediaCorp Singapore Head, Sustainability & Lead, Production Services, James Hollis, began in his role less than a year ago without a background in sustainability. He outlined how he brought a bottom-up approach to implementing a more sustainable company culture by involving 70 volunteer employees to help drive the change. This was made through what the broadcaster describes as a AAA framework:

ACTION: James gave examples of new ways they are implementing more sustainable solutions such as solar energy to offset 6.5% of the energy consumed. Solar trees have been installed on the roof as a shared space that staff use (pictured below); virtualisation of operational servers reduces space and has less energy usage; green walls in the building make sustainability visible to staff, who can harvest the vegetables grown on the walls each week. Other initiatives include: monthly news letters, clothing drives for charity and quizzes to increase staff knowledge.

AWARENESS: included having an understanding of business, regulatory, audience, employee expectations; The Awareness approach was driven from the bottom up. The broadcaster also has a sustainability council made up of heads of department so that the Content division has a commitment on sustainability.
AMBITION: Carbon neutral targets; expert consultants used to help broadcasters achieve their aims, because sustainability his not a broadcaster’s core business.
RAI per la Sustainability ESG Director Roberto Natale, and Deputy Director, Micol Rigo explained the importance of having a top down approach to focus on the areas of Environment, Social and Governance.The goal is for sustainability to become structural within RAI as part of redefining the role of Public Service Media. The formula to achieve this goal is content + dedicated governance +Ad-hoc Plan. An example of ESG in content is the television drama, A Place in the Sun, where one of the characters reminds the other to keep the heating temperature at home on 19 degrees.RAI’s focus on sustainability led to organisational change. The ESG activities and milestones are being tracked carefully within the organisation as change takes place.Accountability is evident in the plan below where the majority of the goals are achieved or in progress.The learning from the experience is divided into checks and balances or strengths and challenges.
Areas: Environment, Social (Campaigns), Governance
Goals: Sustainability to become structural for RAI as PSM and to redefine the role of PSM
How: content +Dedicated governance +AD hoc Plan
Need to reach wider audience and enter the programs where viewers don’t expect to find sustainability content e.g. A place in the sun e.g. dialogue
Vision and strategy: importance of setting goals and to measure our achievements; Nine social value are already at the core of our mission “a chance to build from where you are to make a cultural change by building our priorities, taking account of governance and what is financially possible. Importance of setting targets eg. How many more people do you wish to engage?
Goals were prioritised and accountability achieved my measuring the outcomes.
ABC Radio Sydney Manager, Steve Ahern is Chairman of the Green Ears project in Australia, which focuses on sustainability in the radio and audio industries. He outlined the commitment of all Australian audio broadcasters to support increased sustainable practices through this initiative.
Radio and Audio are the most sustainable of the media industries compared with the tv/screen, outdoor advertising and film industries.
The Green Ears project unites all sectors of audio broadcasting in Australia with the goal of improving sustainability, because audiences and advertisers are demanding accountability from their broadcasters.
Transmissions is generally the largest contributor to emissions (Broadcast and Streaming) however Digital (DAB+) transmission significantly reduces power usage with its multiple shared services on one transmitter. The next largest contributors to emissions for broadcasters are usually communications (telcos, cloud computing) and buildings.
The EBU’s Sustainability Lead, Hemini Mehta focused on sustainability for Public Service Media, highlighting Organisational strategy, Carbon calculators, reporting, Buildings/ transport/ travel
Green production initiatives use Carbon Calculators to identify Waste/ Travel/ and Energy usage.
Responsible use of the Cloud is needed and there must be transparency using metrics so that cloud carbon emissions are captured right through the chain to give a real indication of whether cloud storage and distribution is really sustainable or is just transferring costs and responsibility to someone else down the chain.
Sports and sustainability: working with sport federations and broadcasters and exploring how to make sports events in a greener way, as well as how to bring the audience on the journey.
News about climate change, including how to inform the viewers but also to resonate with them. […]