What is a Climate Emergency?
Animations for The University of Bristol
In April 2019 the University of Bristol became the first UK university to declare a climate emergency, committing to carbon neutrality by 2030.
The University Sustainability team wanted to find an effective way of communicating this to the 30,000 students, 8,000 staff, and the wider University community.
We were commissioned to make that case - first in animation, then in film.
Why Animation?
A climate emergency declaration is a powerful statement - but turning that commitment into meaningful action requires people across an organisation to understand what it means, why it matters and what they can do about it.
Three short animations answer the questions people actually ask: what is a carbon budget, where do a university's emissions come from, and what does 2030 look like from here. Live action would have meant a talking head explaining a strategy; animation let us show it. The University wanted its own staff to voice the films, so the films are authentically the University's voice.
The series was built to work together and apart.
Each animation stands alone on social. Played in sequence, they build an argument - from what is this, to here's the plan, to here's your part in it.
One visual language throughout, so a student who saw one recognised the next. All three animations are subtitled and accessibility-tested, and each stands alone on social media.
From explaining it to doing it
Developing a Climate Action Plan: from declaration to action
The animations made the case. The next commission asked people to act on it.
At Bristol, every School and Department writes its own Climate Action Plan. Good in principle - daunting if you've been handed one and don't know where to start.
So we made a film of the people already doing it. CAP coordinators from across the University talk about how to write a plan that works and why a small, mixed working group gets it done.
Watch Developing a Climate Action Plan. More of our work for the education sector.
This film is part of our animation and motion graphics and corporate film work. See all the films we make.