TV series in counter-carbon offensive

The Sunday Times
March 8, 2009

WITH a job that involves international air travel, car chases and generally blowing things up, Jack Bauer, the counter-terrorism agent played by Kiefer Sutherland in the American television drama 24, must leave a big carbon footprint. But the show itself has just become the world’s first carbon-neutral TV production.
For the seventh series, now on Sky 1, Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, the producers, claim to have cut carbon emissions associated with the show by 43%. This was done by sourcing green electricity, using biodiesel for vehicles, replacing traditional lighting with low-energy bulbs and electronically distributing scripts that were previously printed.
To cancel remaining emissions – 1,239 tons of carbon dioxide – carbon offsets were purchased.
Not content with going green themselves, the producers are also screening ads during the show’s American run to promote climate-change debate. The first featured Sutherland, who employed gentler powers of persuasion than those used by his Bauer alter ego.