
Attack Mode: Little Dot Studios on developing a successful net-zero formula for sports production By Will Strauss, Editor
Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 14:15
Print This Story
Photo: Andy Hone/LAT Images. Courtesy of Formula E
There is no industry that is taking [environmental sustainability] seriously enough. The industries that talk about it the most are the ones not doing enough. The media sector needs to be more aware of the role that it has both as a communicator but also operationally and logistically.
Strong words from Saunders Carmichael-Brown, a creative producer, digital presenter and, crucially, sustainability ambassador at All3Media-owned content agency and media network Little Dot Studios.
His job is to lead the company's drive to become a more responsible producer and distributor of sports content.
Speaking to SVG Europe earlier this month, he outlined the environmental sustainability efforts that the company has gone to so far, offered up some advice for others in similar situations, and detailed Little Dot's plans for the future.
While he acknowledges that the wider industry needs to up its game, he and Little Dot are certainly doing their bit.
Offsetting should always be the last resort. I am very aware. And I communicated it from the first meeting. Offsetting is plugging a hole. The priority is reduction.
In February, the company was verified as carbon neutral to Future Net Zero (FNZ) standard across its organisational and operational output, making it one of the first production companies to achieve that status. Not only that, it has increased its offsetting efforts to account for its historical emissions going all the way back to the company's inception in 2013.
Similarly, the company has signed onto the UN Sports For Climate Action Framework and is committed to using its voice in the sports sector to drive positive change and awareness on-screen as well as reduce emissions from its operations.
It also has strong links to sustainability-conscious sports, working with Formula E, Extreme E and most recently the eSkootr Championship. Which is no coincidence.
The company's aim, or certainly Carmichael-Brown's aim, is to become the go to' agency for electric and sustainability-conscious motorsport, and indeed other sports.
How did the company get to the position where they are recognised as a responsible agency? For Carmichael-Brown (pictured, above), it began quite small.
The sustainability angle started out as interest about four or five years ago, and then the interest became a passion and then an obsession, he says. And then I needed to study it and know the facts around it, in order to have a bit more of a comprehensive understanding of what it actually means and what progress is.
I was getting really frustrated with not being able to cut through greenwashing, for example, being manipulated and falling for the same traps.
In response, he did an 18-month global impact science course with the University of Pennsylvania. This provided him with science-based targets and the background story of what climate change really is, how the weather works and, crucially, how this is affecting economics around the world.
All I've been wanting to do since getting involved in this is find a way to make my impact greater and, if I can do that within a company [Little Dot], and one that is part of a new even bigger group [All3Media], it's a win-win.
It certainly dovetailed nicely with Little Dot CEO Dan Jones' desire to establish a sustainability vision for the agency.
Little Dot already had a really good social sustainability policy in terms of hiring and in terms of staff culture, continues Carmichael-Brown. So I was focused on sorting out the carbon impact.
I spent about six months going around every different angle of the business, talking to different teams and finding out how their operations work and then from that assessing where the emissions were
This included a wide variety of facets from office power, employee initiatives and ways of working, to how its productions are created and facilitated.
Then it was about calculating that impact, he continues. I tried to do this myself for a long time but I realised that the way that this works in terms of hitting any achievement targets, such as accreditation or evaluation, you need third parties.
They know the process, and you can save a lot of time and kind of streamline the process. So I got a third party involved [called Inteb] and they helped me get more accurate readings, and helped me to look at some things that I hadn't thought about or hadn't considered. Then we built an incredibly accurate emissions [report].
Extreme E: An AFC Energy container during the Desert X-Prix at AlUla in AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Photo by Sam Bloxham / LAT Images
And from then it was about understanding, firstly, where the key impact areas were. Travel is huge. But because Little Dot Studios work is content and channel management and digital reappropriation of existing content, as well as production, it actually means the operational missions were far greater the production emissions.
The first goal, therefore, was to achieve carbon neutrality. They scoped it out based on 2020.
Working with this third party, we were able to achieve carbon neutrality for 2020 and when we had the figures back we had an understanding of the emissions and the month-by-month breakdown, so we knew how and where to make improvements for this year and next year and the years that followed.
But, for Carmichael-Brown, that wasn't enough. Which is where the idea for going back to the launch of the company came from.
It didn't feel like a big enough learning curve. I didn't feel that we were holding ourselves accountable for the impact we had. We decided to get as much infor
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Viewers watching videos from the Austrian Parliament online will soon find it easier to verify the authenticity of the content. Big Blue Marble, an internationa...
24/09/2026
nsign, the digital signage SaaS platform built around its Simplify Complexity principle, is now officially certified for BRAVIA Professional Displays from Son...
24/09/2026
Encompass Digital Media today announced the successful migration of multiple Viaplay free-to-air channels, including TV3, TV6, TV8 and TV10, to its Altitude Sch...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
24/09/2026
Music Supervisor, Composer, and Mixing Engineer Santiago Uribe has built a career around producing music for film and television, contributing to more than 40 p...
24/09/2026
The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold a full-day cybersecurity summit focused on defending against growing cyber threats facing the broad...
24/09/2026
RT Radio 1 Folk Awards Tickets on Sale
Dolores Keane to be inducted into the...
24/09/2026
A warped Manhattan is waiting in the cloud this week. Remedy Entertainment's CONTROL Resonant brings Dylan Faden's extraordinary abilities and a paranat...
23/09/2026
Four control rooms support B1G+ streams, videoboard shows, creative content, and...
23/09/2026
By Andrew Cohen, SVG Coorespondant
The Mountain West debuted its new Replay Operations Center at the start of this football season, bringing real-time collabor...
23/09/2026
The Taylorville, IL, native is pushing creative boundaries at Ball State, gaining reps across directing, technical directing, tape, and more than 100 ESPN+ broa...
23/09/2026
Alexander Heller, Nevada Jose, Will Brill, and Giselle Bonilla pose with cast members at The Musical premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles...
23/09/2026
Includes natural and processed patches
The Crow Hill Company's latest sample library captures a children's choir comprising a troupe of boys perform...
23/09/2026
Plug-in offers six bands of saturation
Kreuzberg Audio's product range includes a selection of plug-ins and virtual instruments aimed primarily at hard-...
23/09/2026
Latest DAW update now live
SoundBridge have announced that the latest update for the remote-collaboration-focused DAW is now available. The release of Sound...
23/09/2026
Koori Knockout returns home exclusively to NITV and SBS On Demand in 2026
11 September, 2026
Media releases
Fans can catch all the live action exclusively ...
23/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz acquires NEOSAT and PHYTRONIC and strengthens its competencies i...
23/09/2026
1. ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites applications from experienced producers who own or manage a South African product...
23/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce the opening...
23/09/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing NHK Technologies, Inc. (NT) s audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* Fir...
23/09/2026
Nielsen CMI data reveals a changing fast-food landscape, with value, convenience...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
COW Jobs: Blender on Windows - Generalist - Remote
Brie Clayton September 23, 2026
0 Comments
Application Users - Blender on Windows - Generalist
Se...
23/09/2026
Version 1.8 recognised for new workflow tools, boosted control panel flexibility and ease of integration into IP networks...
23/09/2026
Hiltron Communications reports a successful 2026 International Broadcasting Convention, held at the RAI Amsterdam. Exhibiting on stand A37 in Hall 1, Hiltron ex...
23/09/2026
Reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) broadcast market, LiveU is presenting the Q Era at CABSAT 2026, on Stand H1-D35 ...
23/09/2026
Agence France-Presse (AFP), a global news agency, and Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced a partnersh...
23/09/2026
Berklee Connect Unlocks the Power of a Global Network Katie Vitolins BM '04 knows firsthand what Berklee's alumni community can make possible. Now she...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Westminster Schools, a K through 12 school in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 2,000 students, has transformed its student broadcast and digital storytelling...
23/09/2026
The 2026 edition of CABSAT and SATExpo may have a new home and dates in the diary, but it still retains a strong presence from UK companies in the GREAT Britain...
23/09/2026
Glensound will return to CABSAT with new developments in professional monitoring and Dante interfacing, alongside its established commentary, esports and parlia...
23/09/2026
September 23 2026, 17:00 (PDT) Dolby and Meta Expand Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision Across Metas Ecosystem
Across Meta AI glasses, Instagram, and VR devices, ...
23/09/2026
A great watch - Radio Times
TV's most likeable proper bloke - Daily Telegraph
23rd September 2026, London: Guy Martin returns to free streaming service...
23/09/2026
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Sky Sports to show England Men's tour of South ...
23/09/2026
Comscore Partners with datafuelX to Bring Seamless Currency Adoption Into a Comp...
23/09/2026
Luxembourg, 23 September 2026 - SES today announced the appointment of Mr. Michel Scholer, Secretary General of the Luxembourg Government and Chief of Staff to ...