Sky Awarded MIPTV’s First SDG Award

MIPTV has named Sky as the recipient of its newly created SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Award, which will be presented at the upcoming market to Jeremy Darroch, the company’s group chief executive.

Reed MIDEM, a member of the SDG Media Compact, is launching the annual MIPTV SDG Award this year. Honoring media companies for their action and contribution to delivering Sustainable Development Goals, Reed MIDEM created the award in support of the United Nations and in line with its “Decade of Action” campaign. The first award will be dedicated to the Climate Action/Life Below Water Goals.

In 2006, Sky became the first media company in the world to go carbon neutral and announced earlier this month the intention to #GoZero achieving net zero carbon by 2030. Sky’s Rainforest Rescue campaign raised £9 million ($11.6 million) and saved one billion trees in Brazil, and Sky Ocean Rescue has raised awareness and taken action to solve the ocean plastics crisis. Sky is also on track to have eliminated all single-use plastics from its business by the end of 2020. Further, the company has invested in solutions to turn off the plastics tap with the £25 million ($32 million) impact investment fund Sky Ocean Ventures.

Darroch, who has spearheaded Sky’s industry-leading activity, will accept the SDG Award on behalf of the company during a MIPTV keynote session to be held in the main Debussy Auditorium on March 31.

Darroch 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 organization. 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.”

Laurine Garaude, director of Reed MIDEM’s television division, said: “Reed MIDEM and our partners at the United Nations are very proud to honor 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.”