Participants at this year’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took stock of where the world stands on climate action and worked to identify gaps and solutions.

New to COP28 this year was the first-ever Entertainment and Culture Pavilion dedicated to topics at the intersection of environment, media and entertainment, arts, inclusion, and community impact. A Storytelling for Climate Action Pavilion also hosted meaningful conversations between the entertainment and climate communities.

As a global media and technology company with a goal to be carbon neutral for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035, we were pleased to have been invited to participate in key stakeholder conversations at COP28 focused on decarbonizing the entertainment industry and using our voice to help inspire a more sustainable world.

Decarbonizing the entertainment industry

Audrey Vinant-Tang, Director of Sustainability Strategy at NBCUniversal, participated in a panel focused on “Adopting Decarbonization Practices in the Entertainment and Culture Sector,” moderated by UNFCCC Climate Action Engagement Lead Karina Larsen.

Panelists shared progress on decarbonization through current industry efforts like the Sustainable Production Alliance as well as business-specific priorities for meeting corporate climate goals.

For example, at NBCUniversal theme parks, studios, and facilities around the world, we are reducing our environmental footprint by sourcing more clean and renewable energy, building to a LEED Gold standard or higher for new construction, and electrifying our fleet. Since 2019, Comcast NBCUniversal has reduced our enterprise Scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 30 percent.

In addition to sharing progress, panelists also discussed challenges that still need to be addressed through greater collaboration across the industry – for example, gaps in available green technology and infrastructure, and barriers to corporate renewable energy purchases. Overcoming these challenges will require, among other things, increased collaboration with a range of business partners, industry peers, governments around the world, and other stakeholders.

“I was glad to be a part of discussions at COP28 to advance the collaborations and conversations we need to meet our corporate and global climate goals.” — Audrey Vinanttang, Director, Sustainability Strategy, NBCUniversal

The importance of climate storytelling

Beyond industry decarbonization, NBCUniversal also engaged in conversations around the power of climate storytelling to raise awareness and inspire action.

Kimberly Burnick, Director of Sustainable Film Production and Content at NBCUniversal, participated in a panel with filmmakers and content creators focused on “Solving Our Crisis of Imagination,” moderated by David Garrido, Presenter and Sustainability Lead for Sky Sports News. In 2020, Sky Sports was the first sports broadcaster to sign up to the UNFCCC Sports for Climate Action Framework.

Industry representatives discussed the important role storytellers can play as a bridge between climate ambition and action – whether by naturally weaving in climate narratives in film and TV scripts or better reflecting our reality on screen with green technologies and character-driven actions.

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Normalizing positive sustainable behaviors and accurately portraying climate science are key priorities of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group’s GreenerLight Program – the first-of-its-kind program aimed at embedding sustainability across the filmmaking process from script to screen, throughout development, production and distribution.

“Climate change is a complex issue with complex solutions, so we need storytellers that can translate the science in an engaging and inspiring way – one that keeps us all hopeful for the future.” — Kimberly Burnick, Director, Sustainable Film Production & Content, NBCUniversal