Sustainability

The Zurich Film Festival is committed to reducing and preventing CO2 emissions and uses cinema as an influential platform to promote awareness and dialogue for a more sustainable future.

As a cultural institution, the Zurich Film Festival wholeheartedly supports the City of Zurich’s climate goal of «Net Zero by 2040.» We are committed to reducing and avoiding CO2 emissions and to using cinema as an influential platform to promote awareness and dialogue for a more sustainable future. The belief in the transformative power of film as a medium is rooted in the very DNA of the festival itself. This art form sheds light on relevant issues, evokes emotion, and can thus inspire positive change. We want to use this platform to promote both environmental and social sustainability.

The Zurich Film Festival is climate neutral. Since 2010 the ZFF compensates the flights of its guests, which was illustrated that year by rolling out a green instead of the traditional red carpet. Originally planned as a one-off event, this green carpet is now one of the ZFF's trademarks. 

The greenhouse gas emissions generated by the festival in the last couple of years have been fully compensated – a step in the right direction. In order to reduce the stress on the environment future and to avoid or reduce emissions, innovations are evaluated routinely. Developing a long-term sustainability concept, we stand in constant exchange with other cultural institutions. Thanks to our high profile, we are setting an example for the industry.

We are organizing a festival that is open to everyone. Anyone interested should be able to enjoy a barrier-free and safe experience. From the broad field of social sustainability, we are currently focussing on the areas of inclusion, participation and diversity. We are promoting these topics both at visitor level and in our programme.