Yle as a Public Service Broadcaster Takes Ecological Responsibility

Yle is a frontrunner in sustainability work: it has ambitious climate goals, makes visible the consumption-related emissions of its content, includes sustainability in procurement processes, and recognizes the impact of its content.

As a public service media company, Yle has had a long-term role in measuring and reporting environmental responsibility. Yle has monitored its own carbon footprint since 2009 and aims to be carbon neutral by 2035. In 2023, its calculations were updated to align with the GHG Protocol and, for the first time, also included indirect (Scope 3) emissions.

Yle’s total carbon footprint in 2023 was 89,000 tonnes CO2e, with a significant portion – 42,000 tonnes CO2e, or about 47 percent – resulting from the viewing and listening of content, including use of Yle Areena. These kinds of consumption-related emissions are generally not included in industry carbon footprint calculations. However, Yle has chosen to make them visible and has begun collaborating with its distribution partners to map out the environmental impacts of distribution channels.

On the production side, Yle annually tracks the carbon footprint of about ten of its own productions using the Albert system, and some productions also apply for official certification. Although Yle does not currently offset its emissions, the matter is under active review. Ecological considerations have also begun to influence Yle’s procurement practices. Production proposals must now include information about ecological practices, and responsibility has become a part of tender evaluation criteria. Partners are also expected to appoint a sustainability officer to promote these efforts.

True to its principles, Yle acts as a trailblazer: it does not limit responsibility to technical environmental work but aims to extend sustainability to content – to the values and models of action that programs and stories promote.