AI keynote: Your Practical Guide to Sustainable Animation

This text, generated using AI, accompanies the full webinar available on our Vimeo channel.

Green Animation Guide – How to Reduce the Environmental Impact of the Animation Industry
Jun 24 | 10:00—11:00 | Keynote

Animation feels like one of the cleanest creative industries. There are no diesel generators, no location shoots, no physical sets. It’s all digital, happening quietly on computers in climate-controlled offices. But this perception masks a significant and growing environmental footprint. From the energy-hungry render farms that work 24/7 to the constant cycle of hardware upgrades and international travel for co-productions, the animation industry has a serious impact.

In a recent CEE Animation Experience webinar, Alissa Aubenque and Adrien Roche from the French sustainability initiative Ecoprod unveiled the Green Animation Guide—a groundbreaking, practical roadmap for studios, artists, producers, and educators. If you’re looking to make your work more sustainable, get ahead of new funding requirements, and build a more resilient studio, this is the place to start.

The Hidden Costs of Digital Creation

Before diving into solutions, it’s crucial to understand the problem. The digital world isn’t weightless. Adrien Roche shared some startling figures:

• Digital technologies currently account for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a figure projected to double to 8% by 2040.
• A single animated feature film can generate several hundred tons of CO2, with most emissions coming from rendering and data storage.
• Rendering one high-resolution frame can consume as much energy as charging a smartphone 300 times.

The challenge isn’t just about energy consumption. It’s also about the physical resources—the rare metals and materials mined to create the powerful hardware our industry relies on.

Warning: The Rebound Effect

Ecoprod highlights a critical concept known as the “rebound effect.” As technology becomes more efficient (e.g., faster rendering), our tendency is to use it more (e.g., adding more complex effects or increasing resolution). This increased consumption can completely offset the efficiency gains. The solution isn’t just better tech; it’s a conscious choice to be more deliberate and less excessive.

Your Roadmap: The Green Animation Guide

Developed in collaboration with partners across Europe, including CEE Animation, the guide is built on a three-step strategy: Measure, Reduce, and Certify. It breaks down the entire production pipeline into actionable areas.

Pillar 1: Your Studio & Infrastructure

The foundation of green animation starts with your physical and digital infrastructure. This isn’t just about switching to LED bulbs; it’s about a long-term strategic approach.

• Buildings & Offices: Prioritize energy efficiency in heating, cooling, and lighting. When setting up or renovating, choose sustainable materials and designs.
• Studio Infrastructure: The biggest impact here is hardware. Instead of automatically buying the latest, most powerful machine, match hardware to the actual production needs. A 2D animator doesn’t need the same GPU as a 3D rendering artist.
• Digital Sobriety: This is a key takeaway. The most sustainable piece of equipment is the one you already have. Focus on extending the lifespan of your hardware through reuse, repair, and leasing. A studio can rotate high-power machines to less intensive tasks as they age, delaying the need for replacement and reducing the impact of manufacturing.

Pillar 2: Optimizing Your Digital Workflow

This is where animators, TDs, and pipeline managers can make a huge difference. Small changes in your digital habits can lead to massive energy and resource savings.

• Smart Asset Management: Don’t reinvent the wheel for every shot. Reuse models, textures, and scenes where possible. Question the need for unnecessary detail or overly complex assets that won’t be noticed by the audience.
• Efficient Data Management: A clean pipeline is a green pipeline. Implement clear versioning and naming conventions to avoid duplication. Adopt universal formats like USD (Universal Scene Description) to streamline data exchange between departments and reduce processing time.
• Mindful Software Use: Monitor the energy profiles of your software and deactivate unused functions. Every small adjustment helps limit electricity consumption during production.

Pillar 3: The Human Element

Sustainability extends beyond technology to people, choices, and culture.

• Transportation: As a globalized industry, travel is a major source of emissions. Analyze travel patterns for commuting, festivals, and co-production meetings. Prioritize rail over air where possible and encourage carpooling or public transport for daily commutes. The case study of Cyber Group Studios showed that transportation is one of the largest parts of a studio’s carbon footprint.
• Food & Catering: Simple choices like offering more plant-based meal options for the crew can dramatically reduce a production’s environmental impact.
• Content & Storytelling (The “Brainprint”): What we create matters as much as how we create it. Our stories can normalize sustainable behaviors and foster a deeper connection to the natural world without being preachy. Ask yourself: What kind of world is depicted in my film? What motivates the characters? How is nature represented?

The Future is Collaborative: Unified Standards and a Call to Action

The Green Animation Guide is just the beginning. Ecoprod and its partners are now working on creating unified European sustainability standards for animation. The goal is to establish a common language and a clear set of criteria that can be used for a voluntary certification, helping studios avoid greenwashing and giving funders like Creative Europe a reliable benchmark.

This isn’t a top-down mandate; it’s a bottom-up movement built by the industry, for the industry.

Alissa Aubenque left the audience with a final, empowering message: Don’t try to be perfect. Just start. The goal is progress, not immediate perfection. Every step, no matter how small, counts.