How is the media sector addressing the climate challenge?

At a governmental level, national governments and the European Commission have produced a series of targets. Olivia Jamison, specialist environment partner at CMS, outlines the context. ‘For the last 40 odd years, we’ve had various EU laws focused on waste, emissions and energy efficiency,’ she says. ‘In the last 10 to 15 years, they have been increased layer on layer. Now we’re at a point where targets are becoming more tangible with requirements frontloaded rather than end of pipe.’In the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 originally committed the UK to an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. In 2019, the Government amended that Act committing the UK to achieve net zero by 2050, rather than the 80% reduction target. In April this year, the Government further heightened its ambition, announcing that it “will set the world’s most ambitious climate change target” to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035. Further regulation is coming. ‘In the UK, we have some existing environmental reporting requirements for certain types of businesses including more recently streamlined energy and carbon reporting, and mandatory climate related reporting for quoted or larger businesses is expected to apply from April 2022,’ says Jamison. ‘Meanwhile the EU has launched the European Green Deal – a set of policy initiatives and legal proposals by the European Commission. The original commitment was to reach climate neutrality across the EU by 2050: an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emission. In both jurisdictions, there have recently been additional announcements for new legal targets by 2030.‘The UK now has a target of a 68% reduction by 2030, and the EU, at least a 55% reduction by 2030, bringing forward reduction targets by 10 to 15 years in each case. This requires really transformational change, the likes of which we have never seen previously.’ For business, the transformation will certainly be huge. ‘It will impact all sectors of business in everything that they do,’ she says. ‘Although the UK is being more ambitious, the EU is setting this out in a very distinct framework, which means that it is slightly easier for businesses to understand what is expected of them.’ The recent publication of the UK’s Net Zero Strategy is intended to provide more clarity on the changes required to meet the UK’s reduction target. Importantly, in addition to those efforts, adaptation and mitigation measures will be crucial for businesses to factor into their activities and that of their value chain.