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Sustainability

The Academy’s Sustainability Commitment

The Academy is committed to operating as an environmentally responsible organization through sustainable practices throughout our programs, events, buildings, and initiatives. Some key components of this commitment follow.

Academy Museum LEED Certification

In October of 2020, the Academy Museum was awarded a LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Short for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” a LEED designation is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement. The world’s most widely used green-building rating system, LEED provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, cost-saving green buildings.

Designed and built to be environmentally responsible, the Academy Museum contains the following components:

  • High-performance indoor environmental systems
  • Solar power systems
  • Waste reduction programs
  • Easy public transportation access
  • Ride-share pickup and drop-off
  • Bicycle racks
  • Flow-conscious water fixtures
  • A stormwater reuse system for landscaping irrigation
  • Natural ventilation on its bridges and terraces
  • Maximized natural daylighting
  • High-efficiency LED lighting
  • Green cleaning and integrated pest control programs
  • Radiant heating and cooling
  • Solar-tracked automated shading and ventilation
  • Exhibition gallery walls and cases reused where possible
  • Sea freight primarily used for publication shipping

Academy campus

The Academy Museum is the Academy’s third adaptive reuse project. All of these projects have extended the lifespan of existing structures, reduced waste, conserved resources, and created a smaller carbon footprint than new buildings.

In addition, all four of the Academy’s Los Angeles buildings have:

  • Eliminated the use of plastic water bottles
  • Water refill systems
  • New LED lights attached to motion sensors in place of antiquated fixtures
  • Codified systems of waste disposal, including a new composting program to reduce landfill waste

Clean Air Commuter Program

The Academy offers a robust Clean Air Commuter Program for Academy employees. It is designed to help our employees decrease carbon emissions, cut commuting expenses, and minimize environmental impact. It is a voluntary program for employees who choose to walk, bike, carpool, or take public transportation to commute to the workplace for work-related activities.

Employees can participate in the Pave Commute App, which provides tracking and incentives for commuting to work without the use of a single-occupancy vehicle. In addition, the Academy offers free EZ transit passes for LA metropolitan area-based employees who commute to work via public transportation. And employees who work in our London and New York offices and who utilize public transportation for commuting are reimbursed for expenses.

academy climate action working group

The Academy's Climate Action Working Group ensures Academy events, programs and policies meet and exceed the sustainability industry standards. All staff are invited to participate as we strive to increase eco-practices, solutions, policies and initiatives across the Academy.

Oscars, Governors Awards, Governors Ball, and other Special Events

Our collective efforts around our special events are designed to account for our emissions, improve waste diversion, and pilot new organizational programs and technologies in line with best practices. These efforts include:

  • Tracking and measuring our overall carbon emissions and environmental impact
  • Encouraging all attendees to utilize public transportation and rideshare options
  • Educating event guests and staff about the benefits of sustainable style and fashion via our Sustainable Style Guide
  • Eliminating single-use plastic water bottles and encouraging reuse by providing water refill systems and canned water bottles where necessary
  • Ending paper ticketing and using digital tickets and parking passes
  • Working with vendors, suppliers and partners that are committed to sustainability
  • Offering menus with 50% plant-based and vegetarian dishes
  • Serving food that is responsibly sourced, sustainably farmed, or listed on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch recommendation list
  • Donating excess food to Chefs to End Hunger
  • Composting non-donated food
  • Utilizing energy-efficient LED lights and battery-operated LED candles
  • Ensuring that all lighting, audio, rigging equipment and furniture are rented or repurposed
  • Ensuring that rechargeable batteries are used and recycled in all headsets, comteks, transmitters, and microphones
  • Conduct post-event 'Sustainability Surveys' to gather transportation feedback from attendees
  • Utilizing plastic, metal, glass, paper, and cardboard that can be recycled
  • Utilizing Rent The Runway for all employees to help encourage attire rental for all events
  • Ensuring all floral arrangements are created in reusable glass vases, and that the floral foam used is biodegradable
  • Composting all fresh flowers and greenery
  • Working with sustainable production services to support Academy events on waste collection
  • Ensuring at least 50% of fabrication and packing materials are reused, recycled or composted
  • Reusing hardware and plywood subflooring

Sustainability Style Guide

The Academy's Sustainable Style Guide is designed to be utilized year-round to incorporate sustainable fashion and style practices for all types of special events.

MEMBERSHIP, IMPACT AND INDUSTRY

As an awards organization, the Academy is deeply committed to supporting a sustainable awards process. The Academy does not permit physical awards materials to be sent to Academy members. This includes the physical mailing of DVDs and CDs, screenplays, screening invitations, and film advertisement flyers. Our members-only app, the Academy Screening Room, provides digital access to first-run films and scores submitted for Oscar consideration. The app also provides digital access to the screenplays submitted for Oscar consideration in the writing categories. In addition, we provide members access to a virtual For Your Consideration calendar, where industry partners list film screenings. The Academy also provides members with resources to responsibly dispose of awards materials.

Annually, we host branch-specific conversations around sustainable production practices and resources with Academy members and industry partners. 

The Academy is a member of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance and has hosted its leadership and members for cross-industry sustainability roundtables. 

Additionally, the Academy hosts the annual Hollywood Climate Summit in Los Angeles and produces member conversations as part of the conference, which is dedicated to social impact and narrative strategies between the climate movement and the film industry.  Watch our 2024 panel, The Academy Presents: Sustainability in Film, and 2025 panel, The Academy: Sustainability and Decision Makers.

GLOBAL TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND IMPACT PROGRAMS

Our Academy Gold global talent development programs support the next generation of filmmakers and the future of our industry.

Our Student Academy Awards (SAA) competition is partnered with the Green Film School Alliance to educate and integrate industry-level sustainable production practices into film school programs and student films. Shedding Angels, a winner in the 49th Student Academy Awards Narrative category, received the first Environmental Media Association (EMA) Green Seal. Twenty-five of the films submitted to 52nd Student Academy Awards earned their Green Seals, which included one finalist and one semi-finalist film. The Academy continues to acknowledge student films that receive an EMA Green Seal. 

Our Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program accepts digital screenplay submissions. Our members-only app, the Academy Reading Room, provides members digital access to review and judge the screenplays submitted for Nicholl consideration.