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28 Jan – 7 Feb 2027

Sustainability

At IFFR, we embrace our responsibility to address the pressing climate and ecological emergencies, recognising the urgent need to reduce our ecological footprint and transition into a more sustainable festival. Together with other film festivals, we aim to lead by example and drive positive change in the film festival landscape. To achieve this, we are committed to better defining our footprint and setting comprehensive sustainability targets that go beyond just CO2 emissions.

Our vision encompasses not only minimising environmental impact but also influencing positive behavioural change during the festival. By fostering awareness about environmental issues and sharing our knowledge, we want to inspire our audiences and industry partners to adopt more sustainable practices and join us in our collective efforts.

We believe that organising a (more) sustainable festival demands a collaborative, sector-wide approach, and we are dedicated to engaging with all stakeholders to work towards our shared goal. We try to collaborate with local and regional partners on production and expertise where we can, so we can further reduce our ecological impact and help build a more sustainable festival experience for everyone. Our sustainability goals currently focus on reducing CO2 emissions related to travel and transport, on reusing materials and on reducing waste. We review these priorities every year and adjust them where needed, to reflect what is most urgent.

Measuring our impact

Since 2023, we’ve carried out an annual emission measurement of our festival’s carbon footprint with Coolset, a data-driven carbon-insight platform. This work informs our long-term sustainability strategy and has earned IFFR a Climate Conscious Certification for several years running.

In 2025, our Sustainability Team also took part in a pilot by the Green Producers Club, which assesses festivals in Europe on both CO2 emissions and social responsibility. We received a “very good” rating, scoring 47 out of 53 points.

What we’re doing

Travel & transport
Mobility is the biggest driver of our carbon footprint, so it’s where we focus our efforts first. Since 2024, we’ve encouraged international guests to take the train rather than flying if their journey to Rotterdam takes seven hours or less, and we’re working to expand and better measure this initiative. We prioritise a hybrid or fully electric festival car service, as demonstrated by the collaboration with our new Mobility Partner, Lynk & Co, during IFFR 2026. Wherever possible, we encourage audiences and guests to travel by public transport.

Knowledge-sharing
Progress on sustainability requires collaboration across the festival sector. We hold regular meetings with other festivals to discuss topics such as joint protocols, digital sustainability, sustainable travel policies and the reuse of materials. Together, we set the benchmark for a more sustainable film festival sector, sharing knowledge and experiences along the way.

Our R-ladder

We use the R-ladder to guide our choices, from the big strategic decisions to small everyday actions. The R-ladder sets out six strategies for circularity, ranked from most to least effective at reducing the use of raw materials. The higher up the ladder, the more circular the choice.

  • 1. Refuse & rethink: question whether something is needed at all, or whether it could be done differently

    • We propose public transport as the default option in all our mailings to visitors
    • We align with calendar-neighbour festivals Gothenburg and Ostend to help optimise guest travel across events
    • We order fewer groceries for staff catering to cut waste at the source

  • 2. Reduce: use fewer materials, less energy and less transport

    • We aim to keep print runs as low as possible(e.g., we significantly reduced printing for our programme magazines in 2026, bringing print-related CO2 emissions down by 18% year-on-year)
    • We use fewer printers and changed our badge-printing method
    • We keep the number of posters printed for outdoor advertising to an appropriate minimum and shift more of our advertising to digital and online
    • We keep catering for staff and audiences fully vegetarian and continue efforts to reduce food waste and transport

  • 3. Re-use: give existing materials, props and merchandise a second life

    • We reuse existing lanyards for badges
    • Our volunteer shirts feature a multi-year design since 2026, so they can be worn across several editions
    • We’re exploring a return scheme for volunteer shirts to keep them in circulation for longer
    • We reuse poster delivery cylinders by returning them to our print partner after the festival

  • 4. Repair, refurbish, remanufacture and repurpose: fix, update or transform what we already have

    • We invest in refurbished computers instead of buying new ones
    • We reuse old festival banners and turn them into merchandise

  • 5. Recycle: process materials into new raw materials when reuse isn’t possible

    • We set up a dedicated recycling point for old badges
    • Our campaign banners are printed on material made from recycled PET bottles
    • We’re transitioning to fully recyclable poster packaging, removing labelled boxes from our supply chain
    • We try to use organic cotton for our merchandise where possible, keeping emissions broadly stable irrespective of order volumes

  • 6. Recover

    • We do not currently apply this strategy.

Where we’re heading

Building on the measurements we’ve done since 2023, we’re focusing our efforts where we can make the biggest difference: travel and transport, and materials and waste. Over the coming editions, we’re working towards:

Sustainability is a continuous process. As we work towards a more sustainable IFFR, we will keep sharing what we learn and what we are doing with our audiences, our industry partners and the wider film festival sector.