When director Kat Coiro made her studio rom-com Marry Me back in 2019, she incorporated sustainable messaging onscreen, whether it was Jennifer Lopez’s character drinking from a reusable water bottle (a specially bedazzled S’well bottle) or Owen Wilson’s character packing his daughter’s lunch in a stainless steel PlanetBox lunchbox. But she didn’t feel like she had a full suite of tools at her disposal to reduce the environmental footprint of the actual production. At the time, Coiro felt like she was “a filmmaker out in the wild trying to make a difference.”
Cut to seven years later and Coiro says there’s been a sea change in the entertainment industry. “Now there are incredible teams of people who want to make our business behave more responsibly,” she says. In making her new feature You, Me & Tuscany, Coiro shot the movie with the support of Universal Pictures’ GreenerLight program, which the studio launched in 2023 to champion eco-conscious measures across the entire life of a production, from development and production to release.
2023 was also the year that Disney and Netflix launched the Clean Mobile Power Initiative, creating an accelerator to help the industry ditch diesel generators and make clean-power alternatives more readily available to productions.
Now the results of programs like this are starting to pay off, with film and TV crews making significant strides forward in reducing the use of fossil fuels that are warming planet Earth and putting both humans and wildlife at risk. “Across the industry, we’re seeing a lot of technical and technological progress, especially on the clean energy side, with a lot of productions demonstrating that solar, batteries and clean mobile power are really able to meet the rigorous demands of professional filmmaking,” says Sam Read, executive director of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, an industry consortium that counts nine entertainment companies in its membership, including Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Netflix, Amazon MGM and A24. “We’re seeing these really innovative approaches of fully solar base camps, where the power is running from a solar trailer to a battery and using that to power things, shifting away from diesel generators,” continues Read. “As folks get smarter and technology gets better, we’re really seeing productions advancing the ball on sustainability.”
In 2025, a record 279 films and television shows received either a Green Seal or a Gold Seal (the highest rating) from the Environmental Media Association for their sustainability successes. And while Hollywood is still not exactly reining in consumption on some fronts — especially when it comes to air travel, from A-listers flying private to productions shooting in exotic locales around the world, lured by tax credits — there is hope that Hollywood is beginning to bend the curve when it comes to eco-friendly filmmaking. Here are nine films and TV shows making a difference.
KEY:
🔋 Alternative energy, including the use of batteries, solar and hydroenergy, or hydrotreated vegetable oil to replace fossil fuels and diesel generators.
🚛 Usage of any kind of electric vehicles.
♻️ Recycled or reclaimed materials used on set, and/or repurposed for other sets.
💧Reusable water bottles, instead of single-use plastic ones.
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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO)
Image Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO 🔋💧♻️
Praised by the former economy minister of Northern Ireland for its “commitment to sustainability on set,” HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff hired both a sustainability adviser and a coordinator to help green the 82-day shoot.
Energy After identifying fossil fuel as the biggest contributor to a production’s overall carbon footprint, the team replaced a 100kVA diesel generator with a utility power installation, avoiding 19.5 million tons of CO2 emissions. A combo of Husshpod-brand battery energy storage systems and hydrotreated vegetable oil or HVO (which offers up to a 90 percent reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions) allowed the production to avoid nearly 45,000 gallons of fossil fuel use.
Materials Aluminum water bottles and jugs filled with H20 for refillable bottles kept 108,080 single-use plastic water bottles out of landfills. Large amounts of reclaimed timber were used for sets, and when the production needed to purchase plywood, 100 percent of it was responsibly produced product (of which 67 percent was FSC certified).
Extra Points: Joust away! Horse manure from the shoot was given to Glenarm Castle, a principle filming location, to fertilize its public gardens.
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Alien: Earth (FX)
Image Credit: Patrick Brown/FX 🔋 🚛 ♻️ 💧
FX’s sci-fi horror series stands out as the first-ever production shot in Thailand to earn a Gold Seal for sustainable practices from EMA. It was also the largest production ever shot in the country that had a dedicated sustainability team.
Energy The production received funding from Disney to purchase a 5KVA (5,000 volt-amp) mobile battery energy storage system to power the set, and it used an EV minivan, bringing down emissions. (The battery then entered the the clean-energy supply chain in Thailand, later being used on a Disney feature filming in the country.)
Materials Alien: Earth shot across 13 soundstages, constructing 82 sets that used a significant amount of repurposed and recycled items. By wrap time, 100 percent of the Styrofoam used for sets was recycled. Cast and crew were provided with more than 1,600 reusable water bottles, and meals were served on reusable dishware.
Extra Points The production organized beach cleanups during the shoot.
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All Her Fault (Peacock)
Image Credit: Sarah Enticknap/PEACOCK 🔋 🚛 ♻️
“I think it’s important to be able to lead by example and show that it can be done,” says lead actress Sarah Snook of the sustainability effort on the Golden Globe-nominated Peacock series, which had a dedicated sustainability department that implemented NBCUniversal’s sustainable production standards.
Energy The production shot at Docklands Studios Melbourne, which is powered by 100 percent renewable energy. While there, the team installed the first EV fast charger at the studio, allowing the use of electric vehicles both onscreen and off. About 70 percent of all lighting fixtures were outfitted with LED technology to lower energy use.
Materials The All Her Fault art department piloted the use of saveBOARD, a sheet material made of pressed recycled composite packaging, instead of buying new plywood for sets. The art team also sorted through more than 40 tons of material by the end of the shoot to identify items that could be reused or donated.
Extra Points The production purchased 15,000 Biological Units from the Australian nonprofit Wilderlands, preserving 15,000 square meters of land in the country that now enjoys permanent conservation protection.
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The Boroughs (Netflix)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix 🔋 🚛
Premiering on May 21, Netflix’s forthcoming supernatural series was filmed at the streamer’s Albuquerque studios, allowing it to use the facillity’s mobile and solar batteries and solar trailers. It has achieved the highest emissions reduction on a Netflix production in the U.S. to date.
Energy The production powered its base camp with solar and accessed grid power, reducing reliance on diesel generator fuel by more than 75 percent and avoiding the use of nearly 13,000 gallons of fuel. “Anyone who’s been on set knows the headaches diesel generators bring — they’re loud, emit fumes and require significant logistics to set up. So when Netflix approached us about switching to newer equipment like mobile batteries, solar power and EVs for The Boroughs, we were excited to see what it could do for production. The results far exceeded our expectations. We not only saved on fuel, but also gained more flexibility in where we could shoot and achieved faster wrap times at the end of the day,” say The Boroughs showrunners, creators and executive producers Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, in an emailed statement.
Extra Points The Boroughs was the first-ever production to pilot electric Shorty 40s, a new electric box truck built especially for film productions.
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Descendents: Wicked Wonderland (Disney)
Image Credit: Disney+ 🔋 🚛 ♻️ 💧
Due out this summer, Disney’s fifth television movie about the children of classic villains has received an EMA Gold Seal for its sustainability measures.
Energy The production, which filmed in Vancouver, reduced its consumption of fossil fuels by using EVs and battery packs and by connecting to the grid.
Materials Plastic water bottles were done away with in favor of refillable water stations and reusable bottes.
Extra Points Items from sets were diverted from landfills by donating to local nonprofits.
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The Diplomat (Netflix)
Image Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix 🔋
The Netflix show is fueled not only by the drama that lead character Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) has with her husband (Rufus Sewall), but also by green hydrogen.
Energy The show is the first Netflix production to use hydrogen power for three consecutive seasons, helping replace multiple diesel generators, and has employed solar-powered trailers and batteries during production.
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Dune: Prophecy (HBO)
🚛 🔋♻️
The HBO sci-fi series counts four actors in its cast who have green riders, meaning that they require assurances that projects are following environmentally friendly practices. The production team worked with Green Eyes, a sustainability consultancy, to implement the HBOGreen production program on the show.
Energy The release of 25.5 MT (million tons) of CO2 emissions was avoided by using EVs and by replacing diesel generators with batteries.
Materials Surplus food was given to charities feeding people in need and food waste went to animal shelters, totaling more than 1 ton in donations. Plus, 2 tons of textiles were upcycled, in collaboration with designers in Hungary (one of the two principal filming locations) and recycling companies.
Extra Points A number of crewmembers participated in Hungarian initiative 10 Million Trees, which planted 1,000 trees near a filming studio.
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Paradise (Hulu)
Image Credit: Disney/Ser Baffo 🚛💧♻️
Hulu’s apocalyptic drama — a cautionary tale about the risks of disrupting Earth’s systems — took its own steps behind the scenes to be gentler to the planet, giving it an EMA Green Seal of approval.Energy The cars seen onscreen are EV vehicles, while the production made use of renewable diesel fuel.
Materials The cast and crew received reusable water bottles from lead actress Julianne Nicholson, and the production used Paramount studio’s recycling program with bins provided by Reel Waste, a waste-management company that tailors its service for productions.
Extra Points To minimize new construction, the art department rented a White House set through Paramount’s DET Set Inventory Department.
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney+)
Image Credit: Disney/David Bukach 🔋 💧♻️
“Sustainability is a core priority for our production and we’re proud to have achieved the EMA Gold Seal while working under the guidance of Noah Rogers, our dedicated sustainability lead. Percy Jackson is the son of the sea, so protecting our oceans isn’t just a theme — it’s our responsibility,” says Dan Shotz, an executive producer of the Disney+ fantasy adventure.
Energy The series reduced its environmental footprint by replacing diesel generators with mobile batteries and grid power whenever possible. One reward for that effort was that the show was able to get a 50 percent discount on daily permits fees via the city of Vancouver’s Clean Energy incentive, which rewards productions that can show that they have eliminated at least one diesel generator in favor of clean power.
Materials “We eliminated single-use plastic water bottles across production and implemented a comprehensive, multi-stream recycling system to significantly reduce waste. In addition, we kept materials out of landfills by donating usable items to local nonprofit organizations,” says Shotz.
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You, Me & Tuscany (Universal)
Image Credit: Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures 💧 🚛
Universal’s new rom-com participated in Lights, Camera, Plastic?, an initiative developed by the nonprofit Habits of Waste, to reduce the depiction of single-use plastics onscreen and show characters making planet-friendly choices. In the film, Halle Bailey’s character cooks on an electric, not gas, cooktop, while a taxi driver is seen with a reusable water bottle in his all-electric Fiat Topolino car.
Energy The production rented hybrid vehicles and accessed grid power to reduce the use of fossil-fuel-reliant generators, and 80 percent of light fixtures used energy-saving LED bulbs. Altogether, the film’s sustainability efforts “results in an emission footprint 40 percent below the industry average for a film of similar size,” according to Universal.
Materials Compostable dishware and reusable water bottles helped avoid the use of more than 62,000 single-use items.
Extra Points More than 50 percent of on-set meals were vegetarian.
This story appears in The Hollywood Reporter’s 2026 Sustainability Issue. Click here to read more.
