MIPTV WILL HONOUR JEREMY DARROCH AND SKY GROUP

MIPTV announced Sky as the recipient of its newly created SDG Award, which will be presented for the first time at MIPTV 2020.

In support of the United Nations, and in line with the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Reed MIDEM, a member of the SDG Media Compact, is launching the annual MIPTV SDG Award to honour media companies for their action and contribution to delivering the Sustainable Development Goals. The first Award will be dedicated to the Climate Action / Life Below Water Goals.

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive of Sky, who will be presented with the award after a selection process led by Reed MIDEM in consultation with the United Nations, said: “Receiving this award at its inaugural presentation is fantastic recognition of our people’s passion to implement and deliver the Sustainable Development Goals across the organisation. Business is fundamentally connected to the environment it operates in, which means it has a duty to protect it. That’s why at Sky we’ve set our target to be net zero carbon by 2030. We need to take action now – because the world can’t wait”.

Meanwhile, Laurine Garaude, Director of Television Division at Reed MIDEM, expresed: “Reed MIDEM and our partners at the United Nations are very proud to honour Jeremy Darroch and Sky Group with this inaugural MIPTV SDG Award. The aim of the award is to recognize and encourage media and entertainment companies around the world to leverage their resources and creative talent to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. There is no doubt that the focus and dedication Sky have put behind their campaigning has achieved that”.

Sky is a leading voice in tackling global issues and setting the highest standards in sustainability and responsibility and has been instrumental in raising awareness and taking action on environmental issues. It was the first media company in the world to go carbon neutral in 2006 and announced earlier this month the intention to #GoZero achieving net zero carbon by 2030. This commitment means Sky will cut the emissions created by people using its products, its suppliers across the world and from its own business operations, including making every Sky original TV and film production net zero carbon.

Jeremy Darroch, Group CEO of Sky, has spearheaded Sky’s industry leading activity in this area. His focus on Sky’s responsibility as a business to instigate change and his tenacity in driving it through all areas of the business has been instrumental in delivering tangible action in the sector and beyond

Sky’s Rainforest Rescue campaign raised £9m and saved one billion trees in Brazil, while also supporting local people to make a sustainable living from the forest. Sky Ocean Rescue, launched in 2017, has been instrumental in raising awareness and taking action to solve the ocean plastics crisis.  More than 50 million people have so far interacted with the campaign and more than 220 MPS and MEPs have signed up to the initiative.

Sky is also on track to have eliminated all single-use plastics from its business by the end of 2020, having removed over 300 tonnes from its operations, products and supply chain. It’s also investing in solutions to turn off the plastics tap with £25 million impact investment fund, Sky Ocean Ventures, which to date is supporting 18 starts-up with innovative environmental ideas.

The MIPTV SDG Award, one of the highlights of the MIPTV 2020 programme, will take place in the form of a Keynote session to be held in the main Debussy Auditorium on March 31st afternoon.