Hollywood Going Greener: SmartAccounting Simplifies Carbon Tracking for Film & TV Productions

From internal Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals set by major motion picture studios to broadcaster requirements of green certifications, the entertainment industry is undergoing a shift towards environmentally conscious practices.

In the US, the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance (SEA) is collaborating with major companies—including Paramount, Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures, Netflix, Disney, and others—to advance critical green initiatives.

Similarly, UK-based albert—the leading screen industry organization for environmental sustainability—released a powerful Climate Action Blueprint, which pairs with free online sustainability tools to help productions make a difference. Major UK broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, UKTV, Sky and TG4 must achieve albert certification on their productions to demonstrate meeting industry standards for sustainable production practices.

Many studios have made significant commitments to lower their emissions and embrace eco-friendly processes, from reusing sets, props, and wardrobe pieces on multiple projects to sourcing energy-efficient lighting and sustainably made or recycled building materials.

Whether it’s focusing on environmentally friendly materials or reducing fuel consumption, tracking emissions is now part of the workflow. Let’s look at how production accounting teams are managing carbon tracking and reporting needs with the help of EP’s SmartAccounting—and what you can do to simplify sustainability on your next production.

Why carbon tracking matters more in 2025 than ever before

The call for transparency around environmental impact is getting louder. Studios are hiring sustainability teams, establishing new protocols, setting science-based goals and pledging carbon neutrality by 2030. ESG reporting is even influencing greenlighting decisions.

Studios like Sony, BBC, Fremantle, Warner Bros, and Apple are already seeking carbon reporting capabilities to support their ESG goals, and as a result, carbon tracking is becoming increasingly more ingrained in production finance workflows.

Tracking emissions, however, has been a complex effort from manual recording in spreadsheets to repurposing free fields in accounting software. While these workarounds have sufficed in the short term, they are not standardized or scalable—and productions can’t afford to guess at their carbon footprint; they need reliable data.

The good news? With SmartAccounting, the film industry’s most trusted and reliable accounting software, carbon tracking no longer needs to be a tedious, manual process.

SmartAccounting offers flexible carbon tracking built into existing workflows

Production teams use carbon tracking to understand the environmental impact of things like travel, energy use and materials. Having data to guide smarter choices not only helps reduce emissions, but it also quantifiably demonstrates that productions are doing their part to support a healthier planet.

In today’s fast-paced environment, production accountants are already busy juggling deadlines, approvals and compliance. ‘Tracking carbon’ can sound a lot like ‘more work,’ but it doesn’t have to.

With the help of Entertainment Partners, carbon tracking becomes efficient, intuitive and complementary to your workflow. Carbon tracking is embedded into the SmartAccounting transactions you’re familiar with navigating—making it easy to tag every qualifying expense with carbon-related data.

SmartAccounting helps busy production accounting teams:

• Meet ESG and internal reporting requirements
• Maintain a competitive advantage in incentive qualifications
• Build future-ready workflows without relying on custom workarounds
• Stay compliant with current (UK) and emerging (US, EU) environmental regulations, including UK broadcaster requirements, where applicable

Straight away, accounting teams can record carbon activity on accounts payable invoices, petty cash, purchase card entries, and journal entries.

Each line item includes:

• A carbon code (pre-configured or custom)
• A short description
• Quantity and unit of measurement (e.g., kWh, rooms, liters)

And if you come across a transaction with missing carbon data, you can choose one of eight default categories, including accommodation, fuel, waste, travel, and more.

No two productions or studios operate or manage reporting the same way, so flexibility is key. SmartAccounting accommodates custom carbon codes (up to 12 characters) in any category, and accountants can assign units of measure to match reporting needs.

Carbon tracking capabilities in SmartAccounting

Other SmartAccounting carbon reporting benefits:

• Eliminate manual report building: Export reports to Excel or PDF for seamless sharing with sustainability leads, third-party regulators and studio execs.
• Maintain data integrity: Rely on role-based permissions to make sure only authorized users can configure carbon codes, edit and access data, or run reports.
• Get top-tier support: EP offers full documentation, live support and training to make sure everyone on your team feels confident about navigating carbon tracking tools.
• Build it once, use it again and again: Perfected your carbon tracking reports? Save your report as a template, share it with your team, and save time with each future build.

Most importantly, all features are designed to fit naturally into familiar workflows; no new processes, separate tools, or exports required. Contact us today to learn more about how carbon tracking in SmartAccounting can work for you!

Save time and stay on track with automated carbon reporting

Government incentive programs may require productions to submit carbon tracking reports to maintain compliance. Many studios have also implemented mandatory reporting that benchmarks how they’re tracking against sustainability goals, which can also aid in achieving green certifications.

Unlike other tools, which have limited filtering or require additional support to enable carbon reporting, SmartAccounting offers a self-service experience. Built-in tools are easy to set up, intuitive to use and powerful enough to meet internal and external reporting demands. Why? Because agility matters when you’re mid-shoot, running up against a deadline.

SmartAccounting supports two powerful reports:

• Carbon Summary Report: High-level insights grouped by category and code.
• Carbon Detail Report: Transaction-level detail, including all line items, with or without carbon codes.

Both reports can be filtered by company, date range, category, code, and more—giving you the detail you need to meet internal standards or respond to audit requests.

There are other carbon tracking tools out there, but only SmartAccounting offers a tailored and seamlessly integrated experience. For productions seeking flexibility, control and deep reporting, SmartAccounting delivers.

A greener film industry starts here

For many, Earth Day is about reflection. At EP, it’s about action. By making carbon tracking a core feature of SmartAccounting, EP is helping productions become part of the climate solution, today and in the future. And we’re committed to keeping pace with evolving sustainability efforts by regularly releasing new functions and features that streamline your workflows.

To us, taking on carbon tracking means stepping into an industry-wide transformation toward smarter, more responsible filmmaking—because great storytelling should never come at the planet’s expense.

Ready to do your part? If you’re a SmartAccounting client, contact your account manager for carbon tracking assistance. If you’re new to SmartAccounting, we’d love to show you how all our time-saving, budget-boosting features make it easy being green.