Posted on 22nd July 2019

Kate Higham: Facilities Director, Splice Post Production

I’ve always understood that our planet is something we must look after. Natural history productions provided much of my inspiration, so I’m pleased to be working in an industry that has influenced me so greatly. My personal interest has grown in the last 6 years and during this time I’ve made changes in my personal and professional lives. I won’t claim to be a ‘green convert’, but in the last six months I’ve made big changes to the amount of meat I eat, I don’t own a car and I try to be a conscious consumer. That’s not to say I won’t get on a plane, own a leather jacket or take the tube, my journey is one of gradual changes towards living more responsibly.

Working as a facilities director in a post-production house – I was aware of the environmental impact our systems and servers were having and therefore committed to moving to a 100% renewable electricity tariff. Splice co-founder Duncan Western was very open and enthusiastic about joining BAFTA’s collective renewable energy procurement programme, Creative Energy, and has been incredibly supportive of all the changes I’ve sought to make. This has made the whole process much more enjoyable. Together we’re now working to identify all the business’s environmental impacts and taking a strategic approach to solutions from waste to paperless, to bring Splice’s carbon footprint into check.

The challenge of living sustainably can seem daunting and hopeless, this can turn many individuals off. It’s so important to work with others as not only are you more likely to succeed, but the changes you make may affect others so it’s best to involve them. We employ over 70 people across two buildings so it was important to ensure we were all on the same page with regards to our commitments. To assist in this we set up a ‘green team’, rallying committed individuals from each department to get involved and encourage best practise in their department. Some great initiatives have come out of the group so far including rechargeable batteries for our computer mice to software for paperless voice-over recording. By splitting the workload and getting others on-board we get a wider range of inputs and therefore ideas, it’s been invaluable. We also speak to clients about our environmental impact too, ensuring they are informed about the challenges we face in meeting our environmental commitments and making sure they can help us deliver them.

I’m glad to be working for a company that’s engages with these issues, acknowledges our environmental impact and is fighting to reduce it. It’s even better to do this is partnership with the wider industry, so I will wear my albert ambassador badge with pride. The industry has a phenomenally large challenge on our hands in reaching carbon neutrality, but we can do it. It’s about starting with the easy wins like switching to renewable energy providers. The next shift has to be about culture and education, I really encourage everyone to find about more about the challenges and opportunities, free Carbon Literacy training is a great way to do that.