Following two years of industry collaboration, the Animpact Standards have officially entered their pilot phase with the support of more than 110 organisations and professionals representing 30 countries. The milestone reflects with strong and broad industry backing.
Animpact is a global initiative jointly led by CineRegio, Ecoprod, and Green Film, in collaboration with key industry organisations including Animation Europe, Cartoon Italia, CEE Animation, Anim’France, and Cartoon. The initiative aims to develop a unified and internationally recognised framework that supports and promotes sustainable production practices across the animation industry.
While live-action production has increasingly embraced recognised sustainability standards, the animation sector has lacked a unified framework tailored to its specific production processes. Animpact seeks to address this need by introducing standards designed for both 2D and 3D animation workflows. The initiative complements existing sustainability tools, including Ecoprod’s Green Animation Guide and AnimFrance’s carbon calculator, Carbulator.
The standards were developed over a two-year period through a collaborative process involving sustainability specialists, animation studios, producers, public institutions, and funding organisations.
CineRegios’ Charlotte Appelgren stated, “The industry’s enthusiasm and feedback to the Animpact Standards during these two years of mobilisation have been inspiring, underscoring the critical importance of international collaboration in driving meaningful change.”
The Animpact framework provides a structured approach to sustainability in animation production through seven key categories covering both environmental and social impact. It comprises 30 criteria, 47 when including different options includes a mix of mandatory and voluntary measures applied at both project and company levels, addressing areas such as governance, digital workflows, energy use, transportation, merchandising, communication, and responsible workplace practices. The framework aims to embed sustainability into decision-making throughout every stage of the animation production process.
A public consultation was conducted between 3 March to 3 May 2026 to assess the clarity, completeness, and practical implementation of the framework. Open to producers, studios, artists, technicians, sustainability professionals, industry associations, film funds, broadcasters, and distributors, the consultation sought feedback from across the animation sector.
The process received 117 submissions, with 54 substantive responses retained for analysis. Participants represented 18 countries, primarily across Europe, with additional contributions from North America. Italy, France, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Belgium, and Slovenia were among the countries with multiple respondents.
Around 60 per cent of participants came from the production sector, including CEOs, producers, heads of production, and line producers, while approximately 25 per cent were sustainability specialists. The remaining respondents included directors, animators, industry association representatives, film fund professionals, and students.
The consultation found strong support for the proposed standards, with most respondents rating the framework highly for clarity and completeness. While implementation feasibility received more moderate scores, feedback highlighted the need for practical support and guidance during adoption.
The findings also showed that measures such as gender balance, wellbeing policies, and waste management are already widely implemented, whereas areas like carbon footprint tracking, GPU optimisation, and sustainable merchandising remain less developed despite being recognised as important priorities.
“Overall, these results confirm that the conceptual framework is sound and well understood. The primary challenge lies in operational application, which will be addressed through guidance tools, practical resources and the pilot phase.” shared Ecoprods’ Alissa Aubenque.
Alongside the Animpact Standards, Ecoprod and Eurimages have launched a new Green Animation e-learning course on the Stepup training platform. The programme is designed to help animation professionals better understand the industry’s environmental impact and develop sustainability strategies aligned with the Animpact framework.
“These pilot projects will play a key role in testing the operational feasibility of the standards, identifying areas for refinement, and demonstrating how sustainability can be effectively integrated into animation workflows.” expressed Green Films’ Luca Ferrario.
The next phase of the initiative will be unveiled during the Greening European Animation conference at Mifa on 25 June 2026, officially marking the launch of the Animpact pilot phase. Eligible projects must be completed or at an advanced stage of production by June 2027.
Studios and productions interested in participating can connect with the Animpact team at Mifa in Annecy or contact the organisers directly.
The Animpact team will also host a webinar in partnership with Stepup to present the consultation findings, outline the pilot phase, and introduce the new Green Animation e-learning course.
