Ecological Sustainability

One of the objectives of APFI’s sustainability strategy has been to examine and develop the ecology of the domestic film and TV industry, and to reduce its negative environmental impact.  

In 2025–2026, the work on environmental sustainability is co-funded by key stakeholders of the audiovisual industry: 

Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle
Finnish Film Foundation
Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK
Film Lapland – Finnish Lapland Film Commission
North Finland Film Commission
West Finland Film Commission
Southeast Finland Film Commission
Film Tampere
Åland Film Commission
Trade Union for Theatre and Media Finland Teme
Avate Audiovisual Authors and Performers in Finland 

The Nordic Film and TV industry has introduced a common Nordic Ecological Standard (NES) for sustainable production, to be implemented in all the Nordic countries from 2026. The NES for sustainable film- and TV-production aims to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of the audiovisual industry in the five Nordic countries. It was published on September 11th, 2025.

The standard applies to all stages and types of audiovisual production (from pre- to post-production), and is divided into six categories: 

• general requirements 

• personnel and material transport 

• energy use 

• accommodation and catering 

• use of materials 

• biodiversity 

Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI participated in the development of NES and also represents all Nordic producers’ associations in the Governance Board of NES in 2026–2027. In Finland also the Finnish Film Foundation participated in the development of NES, and Elisa Viihde is a member organization.

The national film institutes of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland have decided to implement the standard from 2026. Many Nordic funding institutions, including broadcasters and regional funds, have also committed to joining the standard, but will determine their own timelines for implementation. NES fits squarely with the ambition of the Nordic Council of Ministers to make the Nordic Region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030.

More info on the standard can be found on The Five Nordics’ website here.

Finnish production companies can use for example the following tools that enable measuring the environmental and climate impact by the production or production company. 

• BAFTA albert
  – For productions; toolkit is updating (see below)
  – Current Finnish production companies registered at BAFTA albert can use the toolkit until 15.6.2026 after which their accounts will be terminated
  – Finnish production companies who don’t have an account, can test the current toolkit for free on the Finland Demo area
  – All inquiries: albert@bafta.org  
• Green Producers Club
  – For production companies and productions, yearly payment
  – All inquiries: pinja@greenproducers.club  
• Eureca
  – For productions, free of charge 
• MEDIA Carbon Calculator
  – For productions, free of charge 

More information about free international training and activities in different countries can be found on the StepUP website.

In 2019, Finland’s first environmental guide focused on the sustainability of audiovisual productions, ”Ekosetti – A Guidebook to Sustainable Audiovisual Production in Finland”, was published. In addition to APFI, it was funded by the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK and Aalto University. In 2025, an independent follow-up publication, ”Ekosetti in Euros – A Peek into the Economics of  Production Sustainability”, was released, focusing on the financial aspects of ecological film and TV productions. At the same time, the ”Ekosetti Euroissa – Excel” tool was released to help users test selected calculations for their production. The publications were produced as part of an APFI project Avaus supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture’s structural support NextGenerationEU for the renewal of cultural and creative sectors (3/2024–9/2025). 

The authors were Kaisa ”Kaika” Astikainen and Anne Puolanne, and both publications are available for download in both Finnish and English at ekosetti.fi. 

Three of the statistics are compiled on productions that have used the albert toolkit. The reports examine the situation of different aspects of both fictional and non-fictional productions, for example, regarding carbon emissions and energy consumption. The 2022 report, published in spring 2023, was the first publication on the subject in Finland. The 2023 report, published in autumn 2024, was the first to compare different production methods and genres. The 2024 report, published in autumn 2024, is third of its kind and more concise then the previous two. The statistics show that in 2022–2023 Finnish production emitted an average of 6.5 tCO₂e/h, the majority of which is generated by logistics. In 2024 production emission were less, 3 tCO₂e/h. Since the yearly samples are small (2022: 23 productions, 2023: 14, 2024: 13), individual productions and their unique features and/or develop production processes can significantly affect the results for the entire year.

”Ecology in Finnish Film and TV – 2024 Overview” is a collection of actions on environmental sustainability on all levels of the Finnish film and TV industry in 2024. The report shows the county’s brief history on the topic for the first time, and shares information how the industry’s key stakeholders are enabling ecology in their work. The publication highlights that numerous practical efforts are already taking place, but they are still insufficient for calculating the industry’s overall emissions. Unless they are already doing so, many commissioners and funders are ready to set ecological criteria as a requirement for funding Finnish productions.

The 2025 studies are the first statistics in Finland that provide insights into the ecological aspects of Finnish film and TV content. The results are based on an analysis of 33 films (50 hours) and 70 TV episodes (53 hours) from 2024, as well as an online survey answered by 1,003 Finnish viewers. The studies were carried out by APFI in collaboration with Filmiaura Association, Finnish Television Academy, Häme University of Applied Sciences, and Innolink. Overall, the results show ecological themes to appear only occasionally in Finnish content, and half of Finnish viewers consider the treatment of these themes to be important on-screen in film and TV.

As a part of the studies, APFI compiled a showreel “Sustainability on-screen in Finland 2025”, which shows selected ways how ecology has been presented in Finnish films and TV programs in 2024. The showreel can be viewed below or at vimeo.com/1111882155.

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