There's a soft, afternoon glow suffusing an intimate scene between the plucky protagonist and her wood-chopping, flannel-shirted love interest's mother on the Vancouver set of the Netflix Inc. show, "Virgin River." A soapy drama centered on a nurse practitioner in a small, northern California town, "Virgin River" is the kind of show that reliably delivers buried secrets, thwarted villains and reunited lovers. That fake sunlight— the combined power of two massive 18,000-watt lights running on a giant battery—is how Netflix wants to clean up the dirty business of Hollywood productions.
On most film and television sets, illumination is powered by loud, clunking diesel generators. "Virgin River" is one of a number of Netflix's productions replacing generators and fossil fuel-based transportation with greener alternatives. In Atlanta, "Stranger Things" is dabbling with solar-powered trailers, and just outside London, "Bridgerton" has tested a hydrogen power unit.
It's all part of Netflix's plan to cut its emissions roughly in half by 2030. Yet, Netflix's progress has been marginal in the three years since it began focusing on sustainability in 2020.
Its emissions in 2022 increased compared to 2019, the year the company chose as its baseline year. (Emissions dropped dramatically in 2023, the company's latest reported year, but that was largely attributed to work stoppages during the Hollywood strikes.)
"Part of it is that we don't have direct operational control," says Emma Stewart, whose job as sustainability officer includes driving down emissions. Focusing on film and TV production is key, since those activities are typically responsible for over half the company's emissions.
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