Garden Studios has outlined six key sustainability benefits of virtual production (Credit: Courtesy of Garden Studios)
For World Earth Day, film and TV studio Garden Studios is highlighting the environmental benefits of virtual production and how it can help the industry reduce carbon emissions.
One of the biggest sources of carbon emissions in the industry is travel. Albert’s 2025 report, Accelerate, cited that 65% of film production emissions are generated by travel, with 30% caused by flights alone.
To address these emissions, albert recommends moving more film production to VP stages.
“Various studies show that VP, a filmmaking technology that blends the digital and physical worlds in real time, generates between 20% to 80% lower emissions than traditional film production,” said Garden Studios.
“However, the environmental benefits of VP go far beyond reducing travel.”
To mark World Earth Day on 22 April, Julie Hoegh, head of sustainability at Garden Studios, has unpacked the sustainability of VP: “We welcome the growing interest in virtual production and the potential for environmental benefits this production method offers.
“More investigation is needed, but the studies are clear: the benefits are there and go beyond the carbon savings alone.”
The six key sustainability benefits of virtual production outlined by Garden Studios are:
Reduced travel, transport, and accommodation emissions
Fewer shooting days
Availability of renewable power
Fewer post-production days
Reduced set material and prop waste
Less wear on fragile ecosystems and heritage sites
“Although VP has been proven to represent material carbon savings opportunities, it’s important to know that not all aspects of the process are fully understood,” Garden Studios added.
“In particular, the manufacturing of VP equipment remains unquantified. The energy consumption associated with data storage, rendering and cloud computing, which is often involved in the process, is also unknown.”
Based in Central London, Garden Studios opened one of the UK’s first permanent VP LED volume stages in 2021, and in March this year launched its most advanced virtual production stage yet.
More information is available on the Garden Studios website.
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