Social Purpose

Sustainability at UKTV

Sustainability is one of the core pillars of UKTV's business and we consistently review and develop our sustainability strategy which is split into three areas; Our Viewers, Our Partners and Ourselves.

UKTV is aligned with BBC and BBC Studios on committing to reach the BBC Group Net Zero target by 2050 based on science.

Our viewers

Everyday Sustainability
  • In 2023 UKTV launched its Everyday Sustainability campaign, dedicating £1 million of editorial time on the network’s seven linear channels and U to encourage viewers to make more sustainable lifestyle choices. This year the initiative is tackling food waste by partnering with international climate action NGO WRAP and using their campaign brand Love Food Hate Waste.
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Planet Placement - Showreel
  • UKTV is recognised as an industry leader in planet placement – where UKTV’s commissioning team embeds the climate crisis and sustainable lifestyles within the content of our programmes across all genres.
  • Find out more about the sustainable initiatives that UKTV’s commissioning team are committed to, including the Climate Content Pledge and Albert Certification.

Our partners

At UKTV we work closely with many partners and our supply chain makes up nearly 84% of our carbon footprint. We have conversations with all of our partners on how we can reduce our footprint, and we are aligned with the BBC group to understand the indirect emissions produced by our supply chain better. We continue to work with our partners on plans to reduce these emissions to hit our 2030 targets.

Recently, we have:

  • Worked with Amazon Web Services to create a serverless and sustainable system for ingesting, processing, and managing our media assets.
  • Signed up to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to allow us to measure and reduce our footprint across our supply chain.

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Ourselves

UKTV aims to create a workplace and culture that inspires action and embeds sustainability into everyday activities to help colleagues make greener choices and lower the carbon footprint of the company as well as their own.

Every member of staff is part of the Green Team, and a steering group meets regularly to ensure sustainability actions keep progressing across UKTV culture, workplace and communications.

Recently we have:

  • Ensured all energy used at our office is 100% renewable and comes from solar, wind, hydro and geothermal sources.
  • Selected suppliers and contractors for our recent office refurbishment for their ISO14001 Environmental Management certification and reused and upcycled existing furniture.
  • Halved the amount of waste sent to landfill since 2021 and upgraded the office waste recycling system.