Advice on moving unfinished projects into the new carbon calculator

Whilst we know everyone will be trying to finish old tool in-progress projects asap to submit them for review before the 16th September, not every in-progress project will be wrapped by then.

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So for those half finished projects, the best thing to do is to stop editing them any further, and instead, register for the new tool and enter them there. To help you add these projects into the new tool, here's some guidance...

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co2e variation

Note that the resulting co2e amounts for your new tool activities are very likely to be slightly different to your equivalent old tool activities. This is due to a number of reasons:

Different variables being available / unavailable (e.g. hotel types, flight class)
Different factor sources being available (e.g a new dataset is being used for equipment transport entries, which takes cargo weight an regional variations into account more accurately)
More accurate calculations (e.g. renewable electricity options no longer being 0 co2e, due to taking into account indirect emissions for the market based calculations)
Factors that are more up to date than the dataset the old tool uses, due to our Climatiq integration
Automatic inclusion of items that were previously either left out or entered separately (e.g. catering waste automatically added per meal)

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If you have any questions on the methodology specifically, please see further detail on activities in the methodology area, or email methodology@weareadgreen.org with your questions.

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Spend based inputs in the old tool

Spend-based data collection has not been allowed for in the new tool, largely due to the global nature of the tool which would necessitate cost research for production-specific products and materials in many different markets, but also due to the lack of spend based factors, and the resulting low accuracy.

For any air and rail spend based activities, enter from and to locations in the new tool.
For any road-based travel, generator fuel or timber use spend based activities, toggle the amount of miles/km, litres or weight respectively, until you get to the same co2e output as the activity in the old tool (or as close as possible).

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How to re-enter activities from the seven activity areas into the new tool:

When setting up new projects, you'll notice instead of the seven activity areas you're used to, projects are not organised by production stage, and each stage includes the relevant activities (10 in total, some of which are repeated in the various sections). Here's how they line up...

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Non-filming spaces

All non-filming spaces entries should be put into Pre-Production > Work spaces.

Meter readings can’t be entered, so instead, estimate number of people / days as per the form which will estimate the electricity
Air con can be indicated for offices, and renewable energy can be indicated for offices and suites (not homeworking as the factor doesn’t allow for the granularity)
Water use is added automatically
Gas and H&S use cannot be entered

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Filming spaces

All studio, location and generator filming spaces entries should be put into Shoot > Shooting spaces.

For studios and mains-powered locations, you will need to include the number of people and the number of shoot days – this is to estimate water use, which is added automatically
If water has been included in filming spaces as a ‘material’ e.g. for a wet down, it needs to be added to Shoot > Art Dept & SFX instead of shooting spaces

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Travel and transport

Travel and transport entries should be put into the area where it is most relevant (Pre-production, Shoot, Post-production), and to the relevant type: People or Equipment. For all transport options, entries are created by noting the from and to locations. For road transport, there is an additional option of entering distance travelled.

Distance based input for trains is not available so you’ll need to enter the from and to locations instead
Premium economy is not an option for flights, so use economy (which will result in lower co2e) or business (which will result in higher co2e)
Any facility vehicles entered into the equipment section will be higher in co2e than the old tool, as an amount of cargo weight is included (tick the ‘I don’t know cargo weight). For the various facilities we recommend using the following vehicle sizes:
- Double decker dining bus = Medium goods vehicle (MGV) 7.5t-20t
- Winnebago, Honeywagon = Luton / Box Van / Cube Truck 3.5t - 7.5t
- Splitter, minibus = Panel Van <3.5t
Road transport vehicle types not available in the new tool yet:
- Motorcycle (use small car)
- Coach/minibus/local bus (use large car in people transport, or panel van <3.5t in equipment transport)
- Taxi (use appropriate size of car relevant to taxi type)

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Accommodation

Accommodation entries should be put into the area where it is most relevant (Pre-production, Shoot, Post-production) and then Accommodation.

There is no other option than 'hotel' at present (AdGreen is waiting on further factor granularity from Climatiq) - an average factor is used for these entries, reflecting the various star ratings

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Materials

Food

Any accommodation related meals should be added to the relevant accommodation entry
Any catering related meals should be added to Shoot > Catering. Note there are only 2 options for meal type so equate them to meat/fish and vegetarian/vegan as relevant (further granularity is coming soon)
Any home economy related meals will need to be added to a catering entry

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Cardboard, Glass, Metal, Paint, Paper, Plastics, Timber

Any art dept related materials of these types, along with water, should be added to Shoot > Art Dept & SFX. NB weight is the only input option, so for any entries using dimensions or spend, weight will need to be estimated instead
Any catering related materials of these types (e.g. paper plates, plastic cutlery, cans, plastic bottles) should be added to the relevant accommodation entry by ticking the boxes as required

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Textiles

Any wardrobe related textiles should be added to Shoot > Wardrobe and will need to be entered as 'outfits'
Textiles for Art Dept & SFX has not yet been added to the new tool due to requiring more factor research so these entries will need to be left out

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Batteries

The resulting co2e immaterial relevant to the total project size (i.e. less than 5 % in almost all cases, so measuring disposable batteries has not been included in the new tool

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Disposal

There is no longer a separate waste section, it is included with the relevant item: Catering, Wardrobe and Art dept & SFX.

Any catering type / general waste is added to the catering entry automatically based on how you answer the questions on the form
Wardrobe waste is added to the wardrobe entry automatically based on how you answer the questions on the form
Art dept & SFX waste is recorded at the same time as the corresponding material

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Post-Production

All post-production entries should be put into Post-Production > Work spaces. Notes as per non-filming spaces.

If you missed our live Q&A webinar, you can watch it back here.

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Questions? Email support@weareadgreen.org.

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