Activities
The Eurimages Fund is managed by a Board of Management where all member states (40 in 2019) are represented. The Board plays a critical role in adopting the Fund's budget and determining the conditions for awarding financial support to co-film production and other projects.
Key activities in 2019 included:
- Organization of four (4) Board of Management meetings in Bucharest, Geneva, Strasbourg, and Berlin and related working and study groups;
- Organization of eight (8) Evaluation Group meetings in Amsterdam, Bucharest, Paris, Geneva, Vince, Luxembourg and Berlin.
.
Key areas of environmental impact
Air Travel
Ground Travel
Hotel Stays
Venue
(Waste, Water, Energy)
Catering
Printing
Audiovisual & Tech support
Results
The Eurimages team leads the coordination of event logistics for in-person, online and hybrid attendance by country representatives from member states. These activities account for just over one-fifth of Eurimages carbon footprint.
Governance Meetings in 2019
GHG Emissions
30
tCO2e
21%
of total GHG emissions
Top 5 Carbon Hotspots
12.6
tCO2e
6.5
tCO2e
5.6
tCO2e
2.9
tCO2e
1.5
tCO2e
Catering
Air Travel*
Interpretation
Hotel Stays
Train Travel
* Does not include travel by representatives of member states because this activity is outside of the "operational control" scope of Eurimages' carbon footprint. However, these emissions have been estimated separately as they are expected to be significant (see Box 2 on next page).
Box 2. Governance Meetings - travel by Member State representatives
Travel & hotel stays by Member State representatives to attend Governance Meetings in 2019 resulted in 15 times more emissions than generated by the Eurimages' organizing team.
97
tCO2e
GHG Emissions
18.8
tCO2e
per Board of Management meeting
4.3
tCO2e
per Evaluation Group meeting
>>> What is the average emissions per representative?
311
kgCO2e
Equivalent to:
return car trips from Strasbourg to Paris
1.4
43
steak dinners
12
smartphones
Analysis by Governance Meeting
Key Findings:
- Catering is the no. 1 activity under Eurimages' direct control that results in negative environmental impacts, such as waste, GHG emissions, and water consumption.
- Minimizing travel by representatives of member states (e.g. through virtual or hybrid events) and encouraging eco-friendly travel to in-person events will also be critical to improve the environmental impact of Governance meetings.
- Other activities to focus on are paper use, waste generation and water consumption at in-person Governance meetings (although not quantified in this study).
- As virtual and hybrid meetings become the norm, attention will be needed to ensure participants adopt Green IT practices.
Achievements
Emissions from Governance Meetings have drastically reduced due to COVID restrictions put in place in March 2020. The global pandemic turned into an opportunity for the Eurimages team and representatives of member states to gain experience with online and hybrid meeting modes.
1. Full online/hybrid meeting hosting system
Since March 2020, all Governance meetings have been held with participants attending in full online or hybrid mode. To facilitate this, Eurimages adopted Kudo, a videoconferencing platform that allows for high quality remote interpretations simultaneously in multiple languages.
The shift to virtual Governance meetings avoided an estimated 108 tCO2e emissions annually from travel and hotel stays (based on data from 2019). Going virtual is estimated to emit 99.3% fewer emissions compared to an in-person event (see Box 3).
Box 3. Comparison of emissions from virtual vs. in-person Board of Management meeting
The carbon footprint of streaming video, whether for a conference or entertainment, is estimated at 55 gCO2e on average in Europe. In France, with its low-emission national electricity grid, this value is expected to be even lower.
Virtual meeting*
0.14
tCO2e
>>> 99.3% fewer emissions
In-person meeting**
18.8
* Based on an assumption of a 5 day conference, 8 hours streaming a day with an average of 63 attendees (from 2019 data)
* This is a conservative estimate that includes only emissions from travel and hotel (not venue waste, catering, water use).
Council of Europe
Eurimages
Agora Building
Allée des Droits de l'Homme
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
+33 3 88 41 26 40 (switchboard)
eurimages@coe.int
Study completed by
