Netflix’s sustainability program is anchored in a science-based climate strategy first articulated in 2021 and most recently reported in the company’s 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance Report, published June 2025. The headline themes of that report are the decarbonization of film and series production, continued matching of remaining emissions through verified carbon credits and renewable energy credits, and value chain engagement with partner-managed productions, which sit largely outside Netflix’s direct operational control but generate the majority of its footprint. Netflix’s two SBTi-validated targets, a 46% absolute cut in Scopes 1 and 2 from a 2019 baseline by 2030, and a 55% intensity reduction in Scope 3 per dollar of value added on the same horizon, remain the spine of the program. The company reports against SASB’s “Internet Media and Services” and “Media and Entertainment” standards, the TCFD framework, and GRI, and obtains limited third-party assurance on its GHG inventory from Ernst & Young. Notably absent from Netflix’s framing, relative to peers in the broader entertainment sector, are operational programs around water, waste from physical assets, or product packaging, because the company’s footprint is dominated by production activity and purchased goods and services rather than physical retail or hardware operations.
- Members at year-end 2024: 302 million, up from 260 million in 2023 (2024 ESG report).
- Revenue 2024: $39.0 billion, up from $33.7 billion in 2023 (2024 ESG report).
- Total market-based emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 in 2024: 1,037,226 mtCO2e, of which Scope 3 represented over 95% (2024 ESG report).
- Renewable electricity match: 100% of global operations electricity matched in 2024 via RECs and direct supply (2024 ESG report).
- Carbon credits retired against 2024 emissions: 1,036,176 mtCO2e plus 1,050 mtCO2e from SAF certificates (2024 ESG report).
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Sustainability Strategy and Goals
Netflix’s strategy aligns most directly with UN SDG 13 (Climate Action) through its SBTi-validated near-term targets, and secondarily with SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) via renewable electricity matching and renewable fuels procurement. The roadmap is built around a three-step framework, measure, reduce, and match, with reductions pursued via the company’s “OED” sequence: optimize energy use, electrify what can be electrified, and decarbonize the residual with renewables and sustainable fuels. The strategy is unusual relative to peers in two ways: it is short-horizon (targets are framed in years, not decades), and it explicitly excludes retail Renewable Energy Credits from counting against the SBTi targets, on the grounds that not all clean electricity supply has equivalent climate impact. Several thematic areas commonly found in corporate sustainability roadmaps, including regenerative agriculture, nutrition, freshwater stewardship, and packaging circularity, do not appear in Netflix’s program because they are not material to a streaming and content business, and the company does not report on them.
Net Zero and Carbon Emissions
Netflix has not set a formal net-zero year, citing the absence of a settled cross-industry definition of organizational net zero, and instead targets a roughly 50% reduction in Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 (specifically 46% absolute against a 2019 baseline) plus a 55% intensity reduction in Scope 3 per dollar of value added on the same horizon. Both are SBTi-validated. The company will match remaining emissions across all three Scopes through carbon credit retirements until reductions reach the level the climate science demands. In 2024, target-based Scopes 1 and 2 emissions were 75,000 mtCO2e, about 4% below the 2019 baseline of 77,804 mtCO2e, with the gap to the 2030 target glide path still wide. Scope 3 target-based intensity in 2024 reached 48 mtCO2e per million dollars of value added, down from 112 in 2019, a 57% reduction that already exceeds the 55% intensity target six years ahead of schedule, though it allows absolute Scope 3 emissions to continue growing with revenue.
Deforestation and Biodiversity
Netflix engages with deforestation and biodiversity primarily through its carbon credit portfolio rather than as an operational sustainability program. Approximately 70% of the 1,036,176 mtCO2e of carbon credits retired against 2024 emissions came from nature-based projects, including REDD+ avoidance projects in Colombia and Kenya, an improved forest management project in California’s Scott River basin, mycorrhizal-inoculated reforestation in Chile, and tidal wetland restoration in Pakistan. The company’s Carbon Credit Project Screening Criteria align with the 2024 Core Carbon Principles of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market and reference The Nature Conservancy’s Principles of Natural Climate Solutions and the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-Based Solutions. The remaining 30% of 2024 credits came from a municipal landfill methane destruction project in Brazil.
Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing
Netflix adopted a formal Human Rights Statement in 2024 referencing the International Bill of Human Rights, and complies with the UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts. A Supplier Code of Conduct governs vendor relationships. Spend with small businesses and suppliers from underrepresented communities was approximately $570 million globally in 2024, down from approximately $600 million in 2023 and approximately $700 million in 2022, a multi-year decline that is reported but not explained in the company’s disclosures.
Community and Social Impact
The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, a five-year $100 million commitment launched in 2021, had deployed approximately $57 million by the end of 2024 across nearly 300 programs in 60 countries, supporting more than 25,000 people, with over 500 program participants going on to work on Netflix productions. The Employee Giving Program, with two-times match by Netflix up to $20,000 per employee per year, generated approximately $40 million in donations in 2024 across more than 5,000 nonprofits in 50+ countries, with nearly 30% of employees participating and over 20,000 volunteer hours logged. Community impact investments allocated from cash and short-term investments totaled approximately $150 million as of December 31, 2024.
Governance and Transparency
The 13-director Netflix Board oversees ESG efforts with assistance from the Nominating and Governance Committee. An annual enterprise-wide risk management assessment incorporates climate risks and is reviewed at Board level. EY provides limited assurance on Scopes 1, 2 and 3 inventories and on carbon credit retirements. Netflix reports against SASB and TCFD, and is preparing for EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive compliance under the 2024 fiscal year basis. The company self-identified five government content removal requests it complied with in 2024 (Turkey, Vietnam), continuing its annual transparency practice on this front.
Technology and Innovation
Netflix Studios Albuquerque is the company’s flagship sustainable-production campus, anchored by onsite geothermal heating and cooling, fast EV charging infrastructure across 50+ chargers including 10 DC fast units, and a 5 MW solar plus 3 MW battery storage system due to come online during 2025. Longcross Studios in the UK signed a multi-year 100% renewable electricity contract and installed grid tie-ins, electric HVAC, and 6 ultra-rapid (up to 300 kW) and 6 rapid (up to 50 kW) EV charging ports. In 2024, 98% of scripted productions Netflix directly managed incorporated low-carbon vehicles, with 88% using at least one all-electric vehicle. All directly managed scripted productions used clean mobile power solutions to some degree, with nearly half cutting generator fuel use by more than 20% and 15% cutting it by more than half. The Media Production Suite cloud-based toolchain digitizes production processes and runs on 99% renewable electricity through AWS.
Global Partnerships and Advocacy
Netflix co-founded the Clean Mobile Power Initiative with The Walt Disney Company to scale zero-emissions mobile power across entertainment productions. It is a founding member of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance, where members have committed nearly $200 million across five years toward the equivalent of 50 million gallons of high-integrity sustainable aviation fuel, equating to approximately 500,000 tons of abated CO2e. The company participates in DIMPACT to collaborate on streaming emissions methodology with peers, ISPs, and device manufacturers, and is a member of the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, BAFTA’s Albert, Reel Green, On Tourne Vert, Ontario Green Screen, Green Motion (Germany), EcoProd (France), and Sustainable Screens Australia. Cross-sector advocacy is conducted through CERES, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance, Business Roundtable, the Aldersgate Group, and the Motion Picture Association.
- Net Scopes 1 and 2 target-based emissions in 2024: 75,000 mtCO2e, approximately 4% below the 2019 baseline of 77,804 mtCO2e (2024 ESG report).
- Scope 3 target-based intensity in 2024: 48 mtCO2e per million dollars of value added, down from 112 in 2019, a 57% reduction (2024 ESG report).
- Avoided emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 from decarbonization actions in 2024: 28,501 mtCO2e, of which 25,780 from renewable energy (2024 ESG report).
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel procurement in 2024: more than 440,000 gallons of SAF blend (2024 ESG report).
- Renewable diesel use in 2024: nearly 200,000 gallons across production vehicles and mobile generators (2024 ESG report).
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Key Sustainability Innovations and Technologies
Netflix’s most commercially significant sustainability technology investment is the conversion of diesel-generator-dependent location production to clean mobile power, through battery energy storage systems, hydrogen-battery hybrid generators, solar trailers, and direct grid tie-ins at studio campuses. The Ransom Canyon series, filmed in New Mexico, became the first Netflix production to fully power its base camp by solar, and reduced diesel generator fuel use by over 50% through a combination of large mobile batteries, solar trailers, and solar-battery systems. Across the broader directly managed scripted slate, the company avoided more than 200,000 gallons of generator fuel use in 2024 through clean mobile power and electric vehicle deployment. Vehicle electrification has moved past pilot phase, with medium-duty 5-ton electric box trucks deployed in Vancouver, electric Shorty 40 box trucks in Albuquerque and Los Angeles, and flatbed electric trucks in the United Kingdom.
In renewable infrastructure, the planned 5 MW solar and 3 MW battery storage at Albuquerque is the largest single-site clean power installation in the Netflix-owned portfolio. Most Netflix facilities are leased (approximately 90% by floor space), which limits direct buildout to a small number of long-term lease and owned sites. For digital infrastructure, AWS reported via its customer carbon footprint tool that the electricity powering Netflix computing needs in 2024 was 99% renewable. The Open Connect content delivery network, with servers in over 6,000 ISP locations across more than 175 countries, is engineered for encoding efficiency and bandwidth reduction. The company commissioned and contributed to Carbon Trust research showing that data center and CDN use-phase emissions are less than 1% of the video streaming value chain, with end-user devices representing 89% of the total and the remainder in network transmission, a methodology that places consumer electronics outside Netflix’s reporting boundary per the GHG Protocol.
- Generator fuel reductions from clean mobile power and EVs in 2024 productions: over 200,000 gallons (2024 ESG report).
- All 2024 directly managed scripted productions used clean mobile power solutions; 98% incorporated low-carbon vehicles (2024 ESG report).
- AWS reported electricity powering Netflix computing in 2024: 99% renewable (2024 ESG report).
- Netflix Studios Albuquerque solar plus storage system due online during 2025: 5 MW solar and 3 MW battery (2024 ESG report).
- Renewable Energy Credits retired in 2024: 251,333 MWh, matching 85,539 mtCO2e of value chain electricity emissions (2024 ESG report).
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Measurable Impacts
The trajectory from 2019 to 2024 is uneven but informative. Total market-based emissions in 2024 reached 1,037,226 mtCO2e, down 17% from the 2019 baseline of 1,244,711 mtCO2e but up 23% versus 2023’s 843,107 mtCO2e. Most of the year-on-year increase reflects the post-strike production recovery rather than program failure, with 2023 figures artificially depressed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA work stoppages. Target-based Scopes 1 and 2 emissions in 2024 were 75,000 mtCO2e, almost flat against the 2019 baseline of 77,804 and well above the 41,071 mtCO2e recorded during the strike-affected 2023 year. The 46% Scope 1+2 reduction target by 2030 implies the company needs to cut 35,000 mtCO2e in six years against a continuing production-growth backdrop.
Scope 3 progress is materially stronger on the intensity metric. Target-based Scope 3 in the SBTi boundary was 862,884 mtCO2e in 2024, compared with 867,804 in the 2019 baseline year, an essentially flat absolute number against a doubling of revenue from $20.2 billion to $39.0 billion. The intensity figure dropped from 112 mtCO2e per million dollars of value added in 2019 to 48 in 2024, exceeding the 55% 2030 intensity target. Operational electricity reached and held 100% renewable status across the 2020 to 2024 window, supported by direct supply, onsite generation, landlord and utility green tariffs, and supplementary REC retirement. Carbon credit retirements have grown from 36,506 mtCO2e in 2019 to 1,036,176 in 2024, the latter representing essentially 100% match of total annual market-based emissions.
- Total market-based emissions: 1,244,711 mtCO2e (2019) → 843,107 (2023) → 1,037,226 (2024) (2024 ESG report).
- Target-based Scope 3 absolute emissions in SBTi boundary: 867,804 mtCO2e (2019) → 862,884 (2024) (2024 ESG report).
- Scope 3 target-based intensity: 112 (2019) → 84 (2021) → 65 (2022) → 46 (2023) → 48 (2024) mtCO2e per $M value added (2024 ESG report).
- Operational renewable electricity match: 100% in 2020 through 2024 (2024 ESG report).
- Carbon credits retired: 36,506 mtCO2e (2019) → 1,036,176 (2024) (2024 ESG report).
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Challenges and Areas for Improvement
The Scope 1 and 2 trajectory is Netflix’s most visible challenge. After adjusting for the strike-depressed 2023 baseline, the company is roughly 4% below its 2019 starting point against a 46% target by 2030, a gap that requires the next six years to deliver more reduction than the prior five despite continued production growth. The decarbonization plan published in the 2024 report visually represents a steep curve from 75,000 mtCO2e in 2024 to 42,000 mtCO2e in 2030, with most of the gap closed by renewable energy and clean mobile power scaling. The clean mobile power category was the fastest growing in 2024 (1,325 mtCO2e avoided versus 417 in 2023) but is still small in absolute terms relative to the 35,000 mtCO2e the company needs to remove from its trajectory.
The reliance on carbon credits at a one-to-one ratio with annual emissions is defensible under current accounting but exposed to evolving SBTi and ICVCM guidance that increasingly treats offsets as a complement to, not a substitute for, in-boundary reductions. Netflix retires roughly 1 million mtCO2e in credits each year against essentially 1 million mtCO2e of annual emissions, a practice that supports voluntary market liquidity but does not count toward SBTi target progress. Scope 3 absolute emissions, while flat against revenue growth, still represent over 95% of Netflix’s footprint and depend almost entirely on supplier and partner-managed production change, an area where the company exerts influence rather than control.
Disclosure gaps are narrower than they once were but remain. The Scope 3 category breakdown expanded from three to ten categories between the 2023 and 2024 reports, a substantial transparency gain, but the company has not set a formal Scope 3 absolute reduction target, expressing its commitment only as an intensity metric. Supplier diversity spend has declined for two consecutive years (approximately $700 million in 2022, $600 million in 2023, $570 million in 2024) without explanation in the report. Netflix has not committed to a formal net-zero year, a position the company defends on grounds of definitional ambiguity but which is now out of step with peers that have set 2030, 2035, or 2050 net-zero dates against varying scopes.
- Target-based Scopes 1 and 2 against 2019 baseline of 77,804 mtCO2e: 75,000 mtCO2e in 2024, approximately 4% reduction in five years against a 46% target by 2030 (2024 ESG report).
- Carbon credits matched ~100% of 2024 market-based emissions (1,036,176 of 1,037,226 mtCO2e), increasing reliance on the voluntary market (2024 ESG report).
- Scope 3 absolute target: not set; current target is intensity-only at 55% per $M value added by 2030 (2024 ESG report).
- Supplier diversity spend: ~$700M (2022) → ~$600M (2023) → ~$570M (2024) with no narrative explanation (2024 ESG report).
- Net-zero year commitment: not yet set, pending alignment of standards (2024 ESG report).
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Future Plans and Long-Term Goals
Through 2030, the program centers on the SBTi-validated 46% Scope 1 and 2 reduction and 55% Scope 3 intensity reduction targets, both from a 2019 baseline. Beyond 2030, Netflix has stated it will continue to reduce emissions in line with the latest climate science until global net zero is achieved, but has not adopted a formal net-zero year. The decarbonization plan emphasizes four levers (energy efficiency, vehicle electrification, clean mobile power, and renewable energy), with the latter two expected to deliver most of their emissions reductions in the latter half of the decade as cleantech availability scales. The Albuquerque solar plus storage system, due online during 2025, is the most significant single near-term asset addition. The Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance commitment of nearly $200 million over five years aims to abate approximately 500,000 tons of CO2e via SAF certificates by the end of the procurement cycle. Lifecycle transparency will continue to develop through expanded Scope 3 category coverage and assured reporting against the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive starting with the 2024 fiscal year.
Relative to peers, Netflix leads on Scope 3 intensity progress, on supplier-engagement structure for partner-managed productions through the Clean Mobile Power Initiative, and on the depth of carbon credit project-level disclosure. It lags Disney on operational electricity buildout (Disney is targeting 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2030 with onsite solar at parks in Orlando, Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong) and lags Comcast/NBCUniversal on Scope 1 and 2 reduction depth versus a 2019 baseline. Netflix’s intensity-only Scope 3 framing remains looser than absolute-reduction SBTi-validated Scope 3 targets at Disney (27.5% absolute Scope 3 by 2030 from 2019) and Comcast (27.5% absolute Scope 3 by 2030 from 2019).
- 2030 absolute Scope 1 and 2 reduction target: 46% from 2019 baseline, SBTi-validated (2024 ESG report).
- 2030 Scope 3 intensity reduction target: 55% per $M value added from 2019 baseline, SBTi-validated (2024 ESG report).
- Albuquerque solar plus storage: 5 MW solar and 3 MW battery, online during 2025 (2024 ESG report).
- SABA commitment: ~$200M across five years for ~50M gallons of high-integrity SAFc, abating ~500,000 tons CO2e (2024 ESG report).
- Formal net-zero year: not yet adopted; ongoing emissions reductions beyond 2030 committed in principle (2024 ESG report).
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Comparisons to Industry Competitors
The Walt Disney Company is the most direct comparable, given overlapping production and content investment scale plus a far larger physical operations footprint. Disney’s SBTi-validated 2023 targets aim for a 46.2% absolute Scope 1+2 reduction and a 27.5% absolute Scope 3 reduction by 2030 from a 2019 baseline, alongside net-zero direct operations and 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2030. Disney reported approximately 921,000 mtCO2e of Scope 1 and 573,000 mtCO2e of Scope 2 emissions in 2024 (combined ~1.49 million mtCO2e), more than 19 times Netflix’s Scopes 1 and 2 target-based footprint, reflecting Disney’s parks, cruises, and owned-studio base. A 75 MW solar facility came online at Walt Disney World in fiscal 2024. Head-to-head, Disney has a deeper renewable electricity buildout and an absolute Scope 3 reduction target, while Netflix has a more aggressive Scope 3 intensity reduction and cleaner direct-operations footprint by scale.
Comcast/NBCUniversal, the parent of Universal Pictures and Sky and the closest streaming and broadcast peer, has a 2035 carbon neutral commitment for Scopes 1 and 2 and submitted near-term SBTi targets for Scopes 1, 2 and 3 with stated ambitions of 50% Scope 1+2 reduction and 27.5% Scope 3 reduction by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. Comcast reported reducing enterprise-wide Scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 30% since 2019 by year-end 2023, deeper than Netflix’s roughly 4% reduction on the same baseline. Comcast also issued a $1 billion green bond fully allocated by 2024 across green buildings, circular economy, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy investments. Head-to-head, Comcast leads on Scope 1 and 2 reduction depth and on green financing scale, while Netflix’s pure-play streaming model means it carries no physical broadband or cable infrastructure footprint and a lighter operational baseline.
Warner Bros. Discovery is the weakest disclosure in the entertainment peer set. The company published its inaugural sustainability report only in April 2024, two years after the AT&T/Discovery merger that formed it, and has not received SBTi validation on enterprise-wide targets (Red Glead Discovery AB, a small subsidiary, has SME-route targets but these do not represent the full enterprise). The 2023 sustainability report established a GHG emissions inventory for Scope 1, Scope 2 and five material Scope 3 categories, and reported 44,841 MWh of renewable energy generated or purchased in fiscal 2023 across Finland, New Zealand, Poland, the US, and the UK, with 1,035 MWh generated on-site. Total 2024 emissions were approximately 1.36 million mtCO2e per third-party estimates. Head-to-head, Netflix is years ahead of WBD on disclosure maturity, SBTi validation, and assured carbon accounting, and the gap is itself a useful data point about the unevenness of climate disclosure across the entertainment sector.
- Disney 2024 Scope 1+2 emissions: ~1.49 million mtCO2e, with 46.2% Scope 1+2 reduction target by 2030 from 2019, SBTi-validated 2023 (Disney impact disclosures; DitchCarbon dataset).
- Comcast 2024 enterprise-wide Scope 1+2 reduction vs. 2019: over 30%, well above Netflix’s 4% target-based reduction on the same baseline (Comcast impact disclosures).
- Comcast 2024 Scope 3 emissions: ~9.5 million mtCO2e, with 27.5% absolute Scope 3 reduction targeted by 2030 from 2019 (DitchCarbon dataset).
- Warner Bros. Discovery inaugural sustainability report published April 2024, two years after merger formation, with 44,841 MWh of renewable energy generated or purchased in FY2023 (WBD 2024 Proxy Statement and inaugural Sustainability Report).
- SBTi validation status: Netflix validated, Disney validated 2023, Comcast targets submitted, WBD enterprise targets not validated (SBTi register and company disclosures).
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Sources: https://impact.disney.com/environmental-sustainability/environmental-goals/ https://impact.disney.com/app/uploads/Current/2030-Environmental-Goals-White-Paper-1.pdf https://corporate.comcast.com/impact/environment https://corporate.comcast.com/company/impact/environment https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001437107/000143710724000102/a2024wbdproxy_courtesyxcopy.pdf https://esgnews.com/warner-bros-discovery-published-its-inaugural-sustainability-report-in-april-2024/
Netflix’s 2024 ESG report is, by the standards of streaming and entertainment peer disclosure, unusually rigorous on accounting integrity and unusually narrow on programmatic breadth. The dual-framework presentation of market-based, location-based, and target-based emissions, and the explicit exclusion of retail RECs from SBTi target progress, set a credibility standard that few content-industry peers match. The Scope 3 intensity reduction of 57% in five years is genuine outperformance against the 55% by 2030 target, even if the absolute Scope 3 figure has only held flat against doubled revenue. The Scope 1 and 2 trajectory is the structural weakness, with 46% by 2030 from a baseline that has barely moved in five years, and clean mobile power and EV deployment now need to scale faster than they have to date.
Three takeaways are portable to other companies. First, transparency on carbon credit projects, naming every project, registry, supplier, and tonnage, sets a credibility standard worth copying. Second, treating partner-managed value chain activity as a co-engineering problem rather than a procurement specification (the Clean Mobile Power Initiative model) is how Scope 3 levers actually move, and the cross-company alliance structure with Disney is more powerful than a unilateral supplier requirement. Third, declining to set a formal net-zero year because the standards are unsettled is intellectually honest but increasingly out of step with peer commitment depth, and the gap should be expected to close in the next reporting cycle as CSRD compliance forces the issue.
