Digital video and music streaming services have rapidly become a staple of home entertainment worldwide. However, the industry faces significant challenges in achieving climate neutrality. The film and TV industry, including major companies, has minimal environmental regulation. Netflix, the leading streaming service, has set voluntary goals to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, Netflix announced its aim to reach net zero emissions by the end of 2022 and maintain this goal annually.

However, Netflix has not yet announced whether it has reached its target. Certainly, the company will continue to cause emissions – its “net zero” target only means it will compensate its remaining CO2 output with carbon credits, a practice that has increasingly come under fire for being unreliable. Netflix’s emissions recently have risen strongly, and true climate neutrality remains a distant target: Netflix aims to reduce its direct emissions and those from using electricity by 45% by 2030.

Cleaning up film production

Netflix says its entire carbon footprint rose almost 50 percent to 1.54 million tonnes of CO2 in 2021 – the year before it was meant to hit net zero – mainly due to an increase in post-pandemic film production. “We still have a lot of work to do within Netflix and across our industry before we reduce absolute emissions,” the company admitted.

To achieve zero emissions, Netflix follows a three-step approach: optimizing energy use, electrifying as much as possible, and decarbonizing any remaining emissions. While some net zero strategies reduce emissions, they are sometimes criticized for their limited impact on actual renewable capacity. To meet its net zero goal, Netflix relies on carbon credits and plans to increase its use as the company grows. While Netflix’s carbon credit portfolio is strong, critics argue that this approach allows the company to avoid fully decarbonizing. Some believe that truly reducing environmental impact would require Netflix to cut back on content production.

Indirect emissions remain an industry “mystery”

Netflix does not count the emissions from streaming its shows or the electricity used by TVs or computers in its net zero calculations. They believe that the companies who provide internet service and manufacture the devices should be responsible for these emissions. This type of emission is called Scope 3, which refers to indirect emissions in a company’s value chain.

Critics argue that streaming companies like Netflix should take responsibility for their services’ energy consumption. However, Netflix-funded research suggests that changes in video quality have minimal impact on carbon emissions. Netflix collaborates with researchers and industry partners to measure and address these emissions but does not include them in its official net zero calculations.

There is a call for regulatory guidance on energy consumption for streaming companies, but without it, Netflix and others can selectively include emissions in their net zero claims. This selective approach means Netflix’s path to being truly climate-neutral remains incomplete.

Source: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/net-zero-netflix-far-climate-neutral