BBC Earth Experience is a 360 approach to a greener future

Sally Mills, Head of Sustainability, BBC Studios

BBC Earth Experience is a 360 approach to a greener future.

Now, more than ever, communicating the complexity of climate change is critical in creating a more sustainable future for people and our planet, and it’s something that has long been reflected in the content produced by BBC Studios. We continually seek innovative ways in which to amplify and extend our content, help audiences understand climate change, the importance of biodiversity, and inspire greener choices.

It’s why we have launched the BBC Earth Experience – a brand new attraction in London that allows audiences of all ages to experience the natural world in a new and unique way. With epic footage from the iconic BBC Studios Natural History Unit television series Seven Worlds, One Planet, the 360° audio-visual journey features bespoke narration from David Attenborough. Visitors can walk through the wonders of Planet Earth on a microscopic scale, be immersed in spectacular drone footage, and even journey down to the ocean floor.

And, as visitors lose themselves in BBC Earth Experience’s natural world, behind the scenes, we are aiming to operate the event as sustainably as possible, in line with the BBC-wide Net Zero targets and our commitment to protecting our planet. We are working with a team of specialists to embed sustainable practices throughout our operations – from using a 100% renewable energy supply and having low-energy technology throughout the venue to rainwater harvesting and featuring a carefully selected range of RHS plants to attract pollinators and encourage invertebrates.

Collaboration is key to addressing climate change, and BBC Studios has a crucial responsibility in helping our audiences, employees, and partners make sense of the challenges. With education at its heart, the BBC Earth Experience staff training programme ensures that every team member has a good understanding of climate change, water use, biodiversity, responsible consumerism and waste management.

We also work closely with our suppliers - sharing industry and audience insights, developing metrics, and improving how we measure our impact. Supporting them in considering their own responsibilities to the environment, our supplier procurement process for the BBC Earth Experience has helped more than 70 businesses evaluate their own sustainability strategies, all of whom play a role in meeting this shared challenge.

The BBC Earth Experience has been designed with sustainability at its heart and we are focussing our efforts on four high-impact areas: reducing carbon emissions, conserving water, encouraging biodiversity, and minimising waste. Having made every effort to reduce the impact of the event before launch, in our first year, we will also be monitoring and measuring activity in these areas, to find out if we can further reduce our consumption. There is always more we can do, but working together and sharing our learnings, will help us deliver real lasting change.

END

About BBC Studios

BBC Studios is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC Group with profits (EBITDA) of £226 million on sales of £1.6bn (21/22). Able to take an idea seamlessly from thought to screen and beyond, its activities span content financing, development, production, sales, branded services, and ancillaries across both its own productions, and programmes and formats made by high-quality UK independents, with three-quarters of its revenues from non-BBC customers including Discovery, Apple and Netflix. Around 2,400 hours of award-winning British programmes made by the business are internationally recognised across a broad range of genres and specialisms, with brands like Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars, Top Gear, Bluey and Doctor Who. BBC.com, BBC Studios’ global digital news platform, has 139 million unique browser visits each month.