Sky Sports’ Season of Sustainability - All live Premier League and EFL coverage plus Transfer Deadline Day to be albert certified

Liverpool v Leeds United will be the first albert certified live Premier League match

Sky Sports commits to all future football seasons achieving albert certified status

First Transfer Deadline Day to be albert certified

From the start of the 2020/21 season all Premier League and EFL matches shown live on Sky Sports will be certified 3-star albert sustainable productions.

Kicking off at Anfield on September 12^th, Liverpool v Leeds United will be the first live Premier League broadcast to achieve certification for the highest standards of sustainable production.

The ‘Season of Sustainability’ is further progress on Sky’s ambition to become net zero carbon by 2030, two decades ahead of government legislation. Through the ‘Season of Sustainability’ Sky will talk directly to sports fans, encouraging them to make simple, everyday changes to reduce their carbon footprint as part of our Sky Zero campaign.

Tricia Duffy, Strategy Advisor, BAFTA albert, said: "It's fantastic to see Sky setting themselves such ambitious targets. We are all aware of the impact sports production has on the environment but together through the efforts of the albert Sports Consortium, we are finding ways to reduce our carbon footprint as well as bringing the climate into the conversation on screen too. By setting themselves this goal, Sky is really showing what's possible when sustainability is at the top of the agenda."

Paul Molnar, Director of Broadcasting, Premier League, said: “We are delighted that Premier League fixtures broadcast live on Sky will achieve the BAFTA albert certification. This is the latest positive step by Sky, the Premier League and our clubs, as we continue to work together to implement new and more environmentally friendly ways of operating. We remain committed to raising awareness of sustainability and this certification is a great way for us to follow on from the positive action delivered through the Sky Ocean Rescue campaign.”

David Baldwin, Chief Executive, EFL, said: “It is impressive to see Sky Sports setting such ambitious targets and leading the way with sustainable sports productions, not only in the action taken to make their broadcast operations from EFL matches more sustainable, but also as they have with their Sky Zero achievements to date.

“I would like to congratulate everyone at Sky Sports for taking a leading role in this area. EFL Clubs have worked to improve sustainability measures in recent years and it important that as a League we work with stakeholders to share best practice, continually improve and a make a collective contribution to this issue.”

The certification is awarded to productions that meet the sustainable credentials of albert, the BAFTA and industry-backed consortium set-up to tackle the environmental impact of broadcasting and inspire audiences to act on a more sustainable future. Sky Sports are committed to reach this level for all future football seasons and across other live sports broadcasts.

As well as all live Sky Premier League, EFL and Carabao Cup matches, Sky Sports News’ celebrated Transfer Deadline Day on October 5^th will be a certifiedalbert sustainable production; with the news organisation using its channels to inform audiences on environmental issues, as well as all the latest done deals.

Over the last 12 months Sky Sports has expanded its use of remote productions, helping the broadcaster reduce employee travel to live events and cut its carbon footprint. It has also worked with outside broadcast suppliers, encouraging them to #GoZero by writing in responsible business targets, such as zero single-use plastics policies. Carbon literacy training has also been offered to all Sky Sports employees, with this being rolled out to presenters, commentators and pundits throughout the season.

In July, Sky Sports became the first broadcaster to sign up to the UNFCCC Sports for Climate Action Framework and is a founding member of BAFTA albert’s Sports Consortium, a group dedicated to driving environmental improvement in the sports broadcasting industry.

Earlier this year, Sky announced it had achieved CarbonNeutral® certification for all of its UK Sky Original productions and received planning permission to build Sky Studios Elstree, what it is planning to be the most environmentally friendly TV studios in the world.

The albert certification will be included on Sky Sports’ titles for Premier League, EFL, Carabao Cup and the EFL Trophy from the start of the season.

Sky Sports is the home of the Premier League with more live matches than any other broadcaster.

Notes to editors

For further information:
Sian Parry, Senior Corporate Campaigns Manager: Sian.Parry@sky.uk
Jack McLean, Sky Sports PR: Jack.Mclean@sky.uk

About Sky
With 24 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Our 32,000 employees help connect our customers to the very best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own local, original content.

Following the success of Sky originals like Chernobyl, we plan to double our investment in original content by 2024. We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Our technology allows customers to watch what they want, when they want, how they want, and as we connect millions of families to content they love, we believe it is our responsibility to do it safely. That’s why we offer services like Sky Broadband Buddy and the Sky Kids app. And our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

We also believe that a company of our scale has a responsibility that goes beyond our business, and into the community. We recently announced a series of commitments to help tackle racial injustice and improve diversity and inclusion. To ensure the commitments are delivered, Sky will invest £10million per year across its markets for each of the next three years. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 – two decades before we have to – and we’re an inclusive employer recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity.

About BAFTA albert
albert is a collaborative BAFTA, indie and broadcaster backed project that brings the screen industries together to tackle their environmental impact and inspire sustainable living. Founded in 2011 and governed by an industry consortium, the group’s objective is to support everyone working in film and TV to create positive environmental change. They do this by enabling every part of the screen industry to eliminate waste and carbon emissions from production and empowering the industry to create on-screen content strategies that support a vision for a sustainable future

The project offers events, training, certification, a bespoke production carbon calculator and a renewable energy procurement project. Each year over 1000 productions use the albert calculator with a further 300 also applying for albert certification.