CME Media Group (CME) today announces that CME will be the first CEE producer to join albert, the screen industry authority on environmental sustainability for film and TV as an international member. CME joins current members such as Fremantle, ITV, and Sky and recognizes that its ambitions of being the best CEE producer of content can’t come at the price of worsening environmental impact.

“As a leading producer of TV and VOD content in the CEE, we recognize our ability to promote and inspire our audiences to think about their own sustainable behavior, but we realize the need to first address our own on-screen and off-screen sustainable behaviors. We are fully committed to the principles of albert and intend to implement changes across CME so that we can better measure and reduce our carbon impact. Our best-in-class content must also yield a best-in-class environmental footprint,” says Didier Stoessel, CEO CME Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.

“We are very excited to welcome CME as an international member. We acknowledge the important influence of CME in the CEE market, and we believe they will be the perfect leader for their local industry. We hope that the steps taken by CME will inspire many other organizations in the local industry to follow the same path and start implementing sustainable practices both in front and behind the camera,” adds Roser Canela-Mas, albert’s international manager.

TV Nova, one of five stations that belong to the CME portfolio, has already started to introduce principles from albert into its daily operations. It has contributed to the publication of the first Green Filming manual in the Czech Republic and are working to normalize sustainable behaviors both on sets and in the actions and dialogues of characters. This includes episodes of MasterChef showing zero waste principle in food processing, avoiding using plastic bottles on screen as much as possible and even introducing a storyline in one of its flagship TV shows where children attend ecological schools and learn to be mindful about the impact of their actions on the environment.

The owner of CME, the PPF Group, has a similar commitment to environmental sustainability and welcomes CME’s membership in albert. Since acquiring CME exactly one year ago, it continues to be dedicated to its own ESG initiatives and will continue to support and invest into such partnerships.