Emma Stewart - Sustainability Officer at Netflix
Emma Stewart, Ph.D., is Netflix’s first Sustainability Officer, where together with teams from across the company, she seeks to bring Netflix's carbon footprint to net zero, raise environmental awareness through film and television series, and spur conversation on climate action among our hundreds of millions of members in 190 countries. She previously led World Resources Institute’s global work on urban efficiency, climate, and finance. She served on the Board of the U.S. Green Building Council and software company Ecomedes. She has been a member of the professional faculty at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Stanford Graduate School of Business where she taught “Intrapreneurship for Sustainability”.
She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Management from Stanford University and a B.A. with Honors in Human Sciences from Oxford University.
Emma Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:
Netflix's Net Zero + Nature strategy
Balancing reduction of emissions with offsets
Netflix's 5 step screening process for carbon credits
Netflix's greatest sources of emissions and strategies to address them
Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals
Emma's Responses
Looking forward to this discussion. Emma, I've given our listeners some background on your professional life, could you tell us about your personal life? What led you to your current work?
From a young age, I've been concerned about the topic of environmental sustainability. I often wondered why humanity seemed to be disconnecting from its own life-support systems, also known as the natural world. It didn't make sense to me as a child. As I grew older, I delved into the science behind these issues and began to understand the business benefits of sustainability. This led me to integrate the fields of environmental science and policy with business strategy. Surprisingly, I found myself teaching these subjects in a business school. I've thoroughly enjoyed working both within large organizations and advising them on how to identify and capitalize on the strong business case for climate action.
That brought you to your role today, leading sustainability at a very recognizable brand, Netflix. Can you tell us just a little bit about the history of sustainability at Netflix? Specifically, how did it originate? What work do you oversee or manage?
Certainly, the work precedes me. Employees have been passionate about these topics and their impact on business for years.
Arriving in October 2020 as the first official sustainability hire, I stood on the shoulders of numerous employees who, both in their day jobs and spare time, worked to make the company greener. Many focused on understanding the company's energy loads. Some even purchased renewable energy credits to offset those loads. Others collaborated with our food and beverage teams and facilities teams to implement locally appropriate greening measures. That passion still exists.
That group of employees continues to grow. We've partnered with them to empower each other through our centralized sustainability office. They really are pushing us as a company and, in many ways, are the eyes and ears of what employees are interested in and where they can bring their formidable talents to bear.
The team was founded in October of 2020, which is arguably late compared to our peers, but it was a function of a culture in which as many decisions as possible are democratized and left to a given business unit to execute against. Eventually, our executive team realized the need to centralize and bring in seasoned technical experts. That's why I'm so pleased that we are now in close partnership with those employees who preceded us.
Not only did they hire sustainability staff and centralize the work, making those sorts of commitments, but they also made a really big commitment as far as your sustainability strategy and your target. Netflix came out with a 'Net Zero Plus Nature' strategy that has received a lot of praise in the sustainability community. Can you talk a little bit about this and what it entails?
Of course. And believe it or not, in part because of Netflix's culture, we were able to move so swiftly that between October of 2020 and March of 2021, the team delivered two years' worth of carbon footprints. We got them audited and understood where most of our emissions lie, which is very clearly in the making of film and television.
And then, together with our executive team, we landed on our public climate commitments and made those public in March. So that was quite a busy six-month period.
I remember thinking about how quickly this came out after you were brought on. So that's pretty remarkable how quick things moved and the type of work that usually is known to take a much longer, doing these detailed greenhouse gas inventories and getting targets approved.
Conducting an initial greenhouse gas inventory or carbon footprint is often more challenging than anticipated. My old boss at BSR used to refer to it to making the first pancake. Somehow it always comes out a little misshapen, but with each progressive pancake, they get better and better Currently, our focus is on "net zero plus nature," a commitment to follow what is known as the carbon law—halving absolute emissions each decade. This aligns with what climate science indicates is necessary on a global scale, making it a science-based target. We've verified our internal emission reduction goals for 2030 with the Science Based Targets initiative.
In addition to that, we've committed to offsetting any residual emissions annually by protecting and restoring natural carbon sinks, which have effectively managed carbon for eons. Our target for this is December 2022. Our team is diligently working to reduce our direct emissions and engaging suppliers to address scope three emissions. Simultaneously, we've extensively surveyed the market for high-quality carbon credits, subjecting them to a rigorous five-step validation process to achieve our near-term net-zero goal by year's end.
That's great. And a few questions on that, starting with, I guess just the carbon credits because obviously it's a hot topic, carbon credits, but you're partnering the purchase of carbon credits with really robust strategy and ambitious targets around reducing your absolute emissions. So I guess what would you say to those people that say we shouldn't be focused on carbon credits and just the importance of that balance of focusing energy on your direct emission reductions as well as a portfolio of offsets?
Certainly, our strategy can be summed up with the phrase "yes, and," a concept borrowed from theater that emphasizes building upon someone else's ideas. The "yes" part is our commitment to a science-based target, essentially putting our company on a carbon reduction trajectory that aligns with climate science. The "and" involves the additional step of purchasing high-quality carbon credits to offset any remaining emissions in the near term.
The strength of this combined approach lies in its comprehensiveness. Not only are we decarbonizing our own operations, but we're also investing in the protection of natural ecosystems. This does more than just remove carbon from the atmosphere; it brings a range of local benefits including economic development, sustainable livelihoods, improved water and air quality, and enhanced biodiversity. It's this marriage of a science-based target with a carbon offset strategy that constitutes our complete "net zero plus nature" approach.
How do you ensure that the carbon credits you invest in are reputable and a worthy investment for a company like Netflix? I understand you conduct due diligence on carbon markets when purchasing credits and deciding which projects to support. Many could benefit from understanding this approach. Could you discuss the process you undergo to identify and select these carbon credits?
Certainly. We've made our process public. You can find details on Sustainably Netflix, both in our recent ESG report and a technical blog we posted last year. It's a five-step process.
First, we issue a wide-ranging RFP not only to retail vendors that sell credits with a markup but also directly to project developers, nonprofits, and brokers. This broad reach ensures that we identify the highest-quality credits available.
Second, any credits we purchase must meet our core quality criteria. They must be additional, verified based on a realistic baseline, not double-counted, and issued by a credible standard like the Vera Gold Standard, Climate Action Reserve, or American Carbon Registry. This is our initial vetting process to mitigate concerns around permanence or leakage.
Third, we conduct in-depth due diligence directly with project developers. Our team performs live interviews as well as web-based research and referral interviews. This enables us to understand unique circumstances on the ground and engage with local community members about benefit sharing committed to by the project.
Fourth, we leverage technology, such as AI-powered satellite imagery and machine learning, to validate the project developer's claims. This remote sensing technology confirms that the project's claims align with on-the-ground conditions.
Finally, we have the Netflix Advisory Group, consisting of independent scientists and filmmakers. Several world-class experts in carbon credits and voluntary carbon markets sit on this group. We present our final recommended portfolio to them for a last round of vetting.
That's how we ensure that our carbon credit investments are both credible and impactful.
Excellent. Hopefully, everyone can go check that out on the Netflix sustainability web page, some really great information, as well as read through the most recent ESG report. Just a lot of really good information on kind of the breakdown of emissions and how you went about developing your boundaries. Could you speak to that a little bit? Having been doing inventories for about twelve years now, it's always fun working with a new client in a new industry. Every company is unique and trying to understand what emissions are material here that we're going to include in our boundary? How are we going to go about quantifying those? Can you just speak to a little bit to where the big sources of emissions are in a company like Netflix and then any strategies or ideas that you have moving forward on how you're going to address those?
Certainly. Our last three carbon footprints confirm that we are predominantly an entertainment company, with 58% of our emissions stemming from film and television production. This highlights the need for us to focus our efforts on both self-managed and partner-managed productions, which contribute significantly to both our scope one and scope three emissions.
Within these productions, fuel and electricity account for the majority of emissions, giving us key areas to concentrate on for impactful change. In terms of our corporate operations and purchased goods and services, they comprise about 37% of our most recent footprint. Cloud software computing power from Amazon Web Services and our Open Connect content delivery network make up a relatively small 5%.
This analysis allows us to understand where our greatest opportunities for reduction lie and aligns well with our core business activities—making entertaining films and television. It's encouraging to see that our main business function is also where we have the greatest potential for emissions reduction. By focusing on improving efficiency in physical production, we're better positioned to decarbonize our operations effectively.
Would you say it's challenging when you have those third party production companies? We see a large chunk of your emissions come from these, so there must be a lot of data you need to collect. Was it challenging to collect energy and that type of information from these third party production companies?
It's a diverse landscape; some companies are large and already collecting this data, while others are smaller and less advanced. The industry currently lacks extensive benchmarks. However, BAFTA in the UK and the Sustainable Production Alliance in the US have provided some. Wherever possible, we prioritize actual data but fill in gaps with these industry averages when necessary.
In defining our boundary for inclusions and exclusions, we aimed for clarity that would resonate not just with sustainability experts but also with our consumers. We concluded that any production branded as Netflix, regardless of management or licensing, should be included in our carbon footprint. We have been rigorously refining our data collection and quality accordingly.
Furthermore, our carbon credit purchases are based on this defined boundary. We buy enough credits to neutralize the emissions of all Netflix-branded titles, while also working to decarbonize them in line with science-based targets.
Fantastic. I'm wondering if you can speak a little bit about the process of establishing a plan like this, getting it approved, getting it in place, especially because you were able to do it so quickly. What did that look like at a company like Netflix? Who was involved? And what did you kind of have to show or prove to the company's executives to convince them this was the right approach?
Our biggest challenge was getting a good understanding of the business in a very short amount of time so that we could calculate the footprint quickly. I can't pretend that we did that perfectly, but we had a lot of support along the way of people saying, oh, you're in the wrong spot. Go talk to those folks over there. And we had some funny moments when the greenhouse gas protocol would refer to franchisees.
In Netflix, that means something completely different than the way the protocol thinks about it. So there was a translation exercise that had to happen, and because we were so new to the company, we didn't yet speak fluent Netflix.
So sometimes we were trapped between two languages. I would say that was the biggest challenge in terms of who was involved. I remember the day I saw Reed Hastings in the carbon footprint inventory going over the numbers. And I thought, well, that's a good sign. We had great engagement.
There was a lot of curiosity by our executive team. They'd never gone through an exercise like this before. And so, again, it was that translation that needed to happen from them about the business to my team, and from my team to them about how one runs these numbers, what the math looks like, and therefore, as a result of that math, what the target should be.
Wonderful. I want to kind of switch gears here a little bit. Obviously, when we talk about sustainability, we're thinking about the entire company and the product, and how can we incorporate it throughout everything the company does. And obviously, with a company like Netflix that comes to your actual product and the productions and the entertainment that you deliver, how can you incorporate sustainability ideas into this? Can you speak to your actual collection of titles and how you're incorporating your work into entertainment?
This is another area where Netflix was doing the work nicely long before my team existed. That's because creators, the filmmakers and screenwriters we work with often want to be shining a spotlight on sustainability in one fashion or another.
But one of the first data points we pulled when the team was founded asked the question, well, how popular are these titles with our consumers? So we ran a very conservative pull of only the kind of greenest titles, those that have a very overt premise and message. They're clearly about sustainability as a topic.
What we found was that just with that conservative sample, in one year, 160,000,000 households from every country chose to watch at least one of those titles. So that was a baseline of sorts.
Then we went out to the consumer population in conjunction with a research partner, and found that across 16 different countries, two thirds of these broadband connected households reported that they would be interested in seeing more shows and movies that touched on climate topics in particular.
What was most notable was that they expected them from things like nature documentaries, they were also calling for them to show up in Romcoms, murder mysteries, cooking shows, kids, family animated television. So that was a confirmation that indeed, this is good business, that if we want to understand our consumer base, we should keep asking these questions.
Then that was quickly confirmed also by one title in particular, which was Don't Look Up. In December of 2021, which broke multiple Netflix records, it became the second most watched Netflix film of all time.
I was very surprised to hear that. I know in the sustainability world, I think it was very popular when that movie came out and everyone was talking about it. But to hear the numbers across the general population that were that high, that's incredible.
If you look at the latest research from Pew or Ipsos Mori or Yale University, they all confirm these quite high numbers across the general population, 70% to 80% on average, of people describing themselves as alarmed or very concerned about climate, in our case, 80%, saying, it's very important to me as a topic.
When something is that salient in society, and in many cases that anxiety producing people want to talk about it. It's healthy for them to talk about it and the movie- Don’t Look Up tapped that zeitgeist.
Many people told us it was cathartic to see it on screen. In addition to being the second most watched film in Netflix history, it was in the top ten in 90 different countries, which, if I'm not mistaken, is a first for a comedy. So clearly, there was something universal about a creative and comedic treatment of a topic that was so meaningful to so many, as the public opinion polls showed us. So this was yet more confirmation that done, well done, deftly done with real creative flair and authenticity, this is a good business decision, and creators increasingly will want to share these stories or these moments or these character arts or these settings in a way that is truly authentic and deeply entertaining.
Yeah. Wow. You launched the Earth collection in April, is that right?
That's right. Just this past April, we launched a collection called One World Infinite Wonder, although colloquially, we sometimes just refer to it as the Earth Collection. This was over 170 different sustainability themed dramas, comedies, docuseries, thrillers, family friendly programs.
Some were new, like Our Great National Parks with President Barack Obama, Captain Nova, Sci-Fi time traveler film from The Nordics, Youth v. Gov, which is a documentary about 21 young plaintiffs in the United States who have taken the federal government to court for the right to a stable climate.
There were some new releases coupled with these additional titles like Sweet Tooth or Dark Waters or The Octanauts, Magic school bus, My octopus teacher, Bigfoot family, even meat eater about hunters. What we were told was that it was really welcoming to see such diversity and variety of both the genres and the ways in which sustainability shows up in these titles, in these stories, in these characters. It's not one note. It's not simply a plea about a topic that matters to people, but rather a creative font of inspiration and something that you can attach to emotionally on screen.
What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?
Always look for ways to become a profit center. I remember in a past company I worked for, and also those that I've had the privilege of advising, there's often an assumption that this is a cost center. It's maybe a cost of doing business, it helps the company maintain its license to operate. But I think that's often a lack of creativity. When you look at the product portfolio of most companies, there's a way to make money, to delight your customers, and to align with environmental needs. My advice is always find that journey from cost center to profit center.
What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?
There's been a real global awakening as to how this touches every living thing, humans of course, as well as non-human species. It's now front page news in every region of the world. Unfortunately, often because it's taking the lives of the most vulnerable with a heat wave or a climate fueled natural disaster or grid outages or sea level rise. But it's not just the impacts that are making headlines. It's now also the fact that companies are mainstreaming this as a way of doing business. The largest financial institutions in the world are setting targets and starting to align their investment portfolios with climate science, and it has become a political dealbreaker. In many parts of the world. You see elections hinge on this topic in many countries. So for better or for worse, it has become front page news, which means there are many more voices in the room.
What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?
My team and I just finished a book called Generation Dread, which I can highly recommend. It's written by Dr. Britt Wray. It's a survey of the latest research on how climate is manifesting as anxiety among the majority of the population, with the most vocal being gen z and the millennials, but it turns out they're not alone in feeling this dread. On the flip side, they are harnessing that anxiety and that helplessness into action as voters, as consumers, as employees. We found it very helpful and we actually had a team meeting with the author to unpack what it means for us as individuals and how we can better serve our consumers and members.
What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?
I am an avid reader of Bloomberg News. They cover the intersection of business technology and climate with real sophistication, and they also had the wherewithal to acquire new energy finance. The BNEF outlooks as they're called, on electric vehicles on the energy sector on carbon pricing, you name it, those are excellent. On a more regular basis, I read updates from Fortune. They have a CFO Daily that often touches on sustainability and ESG topics. Carbon Brief is very good. Ceres and NRDC are strong on policy related developments. Energy Weekly and Climate Tech Weekly are really good on the clean tech side. The Hill I find to be quite useful also in terms of the politics, at least in the United States. And lastly, Project Drawdown’s work, which was so seminal in a multi-year multi-scholar model of the top climate solutions and how they could be executed. Project Drawdown continues to produce research that we rely upon.
Where can and our listeners go to learn more about you, your work and Netflix Sustainability?
Sustainability.netflix.com and also LinkedIn.