BAFTA Albert: the screen industry's sustainability certification
BAFTA Albert is the UK screen industry's recognised standard for environmental sustainability in film and TV production — a carbon footprint, a carbon action plan, evidence, and a 1, 2 or 3-star rating. It is owned by BAFTA and free to sign up to, but it is made mandatory by the broadcasters and streamers that commission the work, not by any law.
What BAFTA Albert is, and who owns it
A BAFTA-run certification, born out of a BBC calculator but industry-wide since 2011.
488 BAFTA Albert is the UK screen industry’s recognised standard for environmental sustainability in film and TV production. It grew out of the BBC’s carbon calculator, created in 2009, and became a BAFTA-led industry standard in 2011. It is owned and run by BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) through its “albert” sustainability arm, which reviews every submission and awards certification. The scheme is styled lower-case “albert” in its own branding; “BAFTA Albert” is the current formal name — both refer to the same scheme.
Footprint, action plan, evidence — then a star rating
Three member-facing requirements and a review, resulting in a 1, 2 or 3-star rating.
489 A production must complete a carbon footprint using the Albert carbon calculator, covering emissions across pre-production, filming and post-production; develop and implement a carbon action plan to reduce emissions across energy, travel, materials and waste; and submit evidence of the actions taken. Albert’s Sustainable Production team then reviews the submission and awards a 1, 2 or 3-starrating, plus the BAFTA Albert Certified Production mark for use in end credits. The carbon footprint is externally assured — the BBC’s guidance notes it is automatically directed to an external auditor for a standard assurance review before certification.
One to three stars, on the evidence
Certified productions receive a 1, 2 or 3-star rating along with the Certified Production mark for end credits.
The rating reflects the action plan carried out and evidenced, not the footprint alone.
Mandatory for BBC commissions
For the BBC, certification is a contractual commissioning requirement — not an optional badge.
490 For all new commissions and recommissions of TV broadcast content (Nations, Children’s, Education, BBC Film and non-News Sport), the production must minimise carbon emissions, attain Albert certification, provide a company-level sustainability policy (for new commissions and recommissions from 1 September 2025), and submit an on-screen sustainability form for each episode (from 6 January 2025). Failure to complete the footprint and action plan risks the production’s ability to achieve certification, which would be a failure to meet the BBC’s mandatory requirement.
- 6 JAN 2025On-screen form per episode (BBC)
- 1 SEP 2025Company sustainability policy (BBC)
- 16 SEP 2026New Albert toolkit launches
- 16 DEC 2026Current toolkit closes
Required on all Channel 4 productions
Channel 4 requires Albert on everything it commissions — and the clock starts in pre-production.
491 Channel 4 requires all productions to use Albert tools to measure and report their carbon footprint, with all eligible productions aiming for certification. The carbon calculator and carbon action plan must begin during pre-production to qualify for certification.
Free to sign up — two money figures not to confuse
The scheme is free to join; the costs sit in the budget and in an optional offset. Keep the BBC's budgeting figure and Albert's offset price apart.
493Signing up to the scheme is free. The material cost to a production is the staff time to complete the footprint and action plan, a recommended budget line for sustainability, and — optionally — offsetting residual emissions. Albert operates its own offset scheme (reported at around £9 per tonne in 2022) but does not require productions to use it to achieve certification; the offset provider is the production’s choice.
The toolkit is changing
Two toolkits are live across the transition. Name which one any guidance assumes.
492The Albert current toolkit closes on 16 December 2026, and a next-generation toolkit — with a newly designed carbon calculator and updated certification programme — is replacing it, launching in September 2026 per the BBC’s delivery guidance. A production must choose which toolkit to start its certification in, and the on-credit certification mark itself is evolving in Autumn 2026. A page written against the current toolkit is stale for productions starting after the changeover.
What is BAFTA Albert certification?
BAFTA Albert is the UK screen industry's recognised standard for environmental sustainability in film and TV production.
It is owned and run by BAFTA (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) through its albert sustainability arm.
To be certified, a production completes a carbon footprint using the Albert carbon calculator, develops and implements a carbon action plan to reduce emissions across energy, travel, materials and waste, and submits evidence of the actions taken.
BAFTA Albert's team then reviews the submission and awards a 1, 2 or 3-star rating plus the Certified Production mark for use in end credits.
Is BAFTA Albert a legal requirement?
No.
BAFTA Albert is an industry certification scheme, not a statute.
It becomes mandatory through commissioning contracts: the BBC requires new commissions and recommissions of TV broadcast content to attain Albert certification, and Channel 4 requires all productions to use Albert tools with all eligible productions aiming for certification.
Because the requirement is set by each commissioner, its exact shape varies by broadcaster, streamer or funder — there is no single UK-wide legal duty behind it.
Is BAFTA Albert a BBC scheme?
Not any more.
The scheme grew out of a carbon calculator the BBC created in 2009, but the BBC gave the tool to BAFTA in 2011 so it could be adopted across the whole industry.
It is a BAFTA scheme now, used by all UK broadcasters and streamers — describing it as a BBC-only tool is out of date.
How much does BAFTA Albert certification cost?
Signing up to the scheme is free.
The material cost to a production is the staff time to complete the footprint and action plan, a recommended budget line for sustainability, and — optionally — offsetting residual emissions.
Two separate money figures are often confused.
The BBC's delivery guidance suggests budgeting the production's estimated carbon footprint multiplied by £10.50 per tonne of CO2e — that is a budgeting rule of thumb for a line in the production budget, not a levy or an offset price.
Albert also operates its own offset scheme, reported at around £9 per tonne in 2022, but using it is optional and productions can choose any offset provider; certification does not require paying for offsets.
What are the 2026 changes to the Albert toolkit?
The Albert toolkit is mid-transition.
The current toolkit closes on 16 December 2026, and a next-generation toolkit — with a newly designed carbon calculator and updated certification programme — is replacing it, launching in September 2026 per the BBC's delivery guidance.
A production must choose which toolkit to start its certification in, and the on-credit certification mark itself is evolving in Autumn 2026.
Guidance or a step-by-step written against the old calculator is stale for productions starting after the changeover.
What does the £10.50 per tonne figure mean?
It is the BBC's budgeting guidance, not an offset price.
The BBC suggests that, as a minimum, a production should budget its estimated carbon footprint multiplied by £10.50 per tonne of CO2e as a sustainability line in the production budget.
It is not a levy, not a carbon-credit price, and not the same as Albert's own optional offset-scheme price.
Treat both figures as indicative and re-check before quoting a current number.
Related guides & references
UK Sustainability Reporting by Sector
The directory of industry-specific reporting regimes — screen, construction, aviation and maritime, energy networks
Scope 1, 2 and 3 Emissions
What a production's carbon footprint actually measures, scope by scope
Carbon Reporting in the UK
How organisation-level carbon reporting works, above and beyond a single production's footprint
SECR Compliance Guide
The Companies Act energy and carbon reporting a production company may also face at group level