Media & Broadcast

US multinational entertainment & record label client (2022)

Following my tenure at Gemfields I started freelance consulting. One client was one of the ‘big three’ music recording companies.

Achievements and key role:

Project lead and client liaison on the development of the record label client’s SEC compliant carbon disclosure exercise. The client was serviced by a management consulting practice with myself as project lead, a team of junior consulting staff and a third party specialist environmental consultancy with clients in the entertainment and music industry.

The aim of the project was to quantify the client’s scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon data, and put forward proposals to management about the boundaries and recommendations for reduction of each. Crucially, as the majority of spend-related scope 3 emissions arise from the use phase by customers of music streaming services this required a novel approach to quantifying emissions.

The client’s management had committed to a public-facing industry commitment around climate change and a key aspect of the project was to ensure both SEC compliance and alignment to the voluntary aims of the industry commitment.

 

Head of Corporate Responsibility, ITV plc (2006 - 2009)

First ever created corporate responsibility role. I established the first commercially focused corporate responsibility programmes of work, a governance group, improved external reporting and environmental management systems for the UK’s largest commercial television and news broadcaster.

Achievements and key roles:

The role was newly created in 2006 at a time when there was competition between media companies regarding their environmental reputations. Led primarily by UK’s Sky, the other broadcasters followed. I was brought in by ITV to lead this effort. I focused initially on the physical operations; carrying out environmental audits and reviews of ITV’s estate facilities, sparring with site management and procurement teams to improve on energy investments and use, waste and recycling contracts and replacement of ITV’s fleet vehicles. Specifically on waste management and recycling my efforts led to increasing the internal recycling rate by 50% and by consolidating the national waste and recycling contract, saved the business £500k a year.

I Introduced innovation to the programme production process by engaging and inspiring ITV’s programme producers to build-in off-site and temporary sustainability solutions. Following the same approach for ITV’s fixed asset audits, I audited a number of ITV Produced programmes such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Lewis, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. By working with the producers, I made off-site recommendations about how to cut down on location waste and energy use. I was able to quantify the carbon emissions from off-site location series and this resulted in the first verified and advertised carbon footprint of a UK television programme for the Inspector Morse sequel series ‘Lewis’.

With ITV’s regional news gathering network having a physical presence throughout the UK, I developed a partnership initiative with regional schools networks in ITV’s regional communities. I connected local schools in each ITV regiont to the operations to give GCSE and A-level students opportunities to visit ITV studio to learn about television and news gathering as careers. In addition, on the social side of corporate responsibility, I initiated a review of the mental health support offered to contestants on reality TV shows such as ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here!’ and ‘Jeremy Kyle’. I lobbied programme producers for more intervention from mental health charities and although I was not successful in getting them to include greater provision for contestants, this is an example of my future-thinking and horizon-scanning ability as these issues of responsibility (or not) by reality TV producers is still only recently been uncovered.

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