Impact & Policy
Sustainability Manifesto
Manifesto
Our journey of close collaboration with creative and diverse partners has given us deep insight into the unique challenges of working on set. This experience has driven us to rethink our model, addressing inefficiencies and outdated practices to enhance both the effectiveness and sustainability of creative projects. Our revamped approach empowers creatives to produce exciting narratives and unforgettable experiences in ways that are environmentally conscious, efficient and human-centered.
Our commitment goes beyond environmental responsibility—it’s about respecting the time, energy and creativity of everyone involved. By streamlining workflows, reducing waste and fostering collaboration, we enable creatives to focus on storytelling, craft and memorable experiences. Syncroni® reflects this philosophy: practical, human-first and designed to create clarity, equity and impact backstage.
This manifesto outlines our principles, commitments and actions. We invite anyone who shares our vision to join us in shaping a creative landscape where sustainability, innovation and imagination thrive together.
Policies & Guidelines
Our sustainability guidelines are practical and respectful of the creative process, integrated into every facet of our production and casting services—transforming limitations into opportunities for creativity and innovation. We focus on key activity areas: pre-production space, on set, travel & transportation, accommodation, materials used, waste generated and post-production.
Pre-production
We craft 360 strategies that align with your corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD), ensuring effective assessment, ongoing improvement and responsible communication.
Carbon Accounting
We predict and identify avoidable emissions, using a specialized tool designed specifically for media productions to measure and manage emissions in real time. We track scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, offering a transparent look into the direct and indirect emissions of our projects.
Stakeholder Engagement
We implement sustainable practices on set, from energy and resource efficiency to crew training on environmental guidelines, reinforcing our commitment to reducing our ecological footprint. We foster close collaborations with a curated ecosystem of partners and clients for successful project outcomes.
Travel and Transportation
To support our commitment to reducing emissions from travel, we prioritize local talent to minimize the need for long-distance travel. For necessary flights we encourage using our responsible partners wherever feasible, aligning with our broader goal of reducing our carbon footprint.
ISO 20121:2024 Compliant
We produce events in reference to the Event Sustainability Management System, which provides us a framework for managing and enhancing the sustainability aspects of our projects. We are involved in the revision of these standards through Positive Impact.
Lifecycle Assessment
Tracking and documentation of sustainability measures throughout all project phases, from pre to post-production, ensuring every step contributes to our ecological goals.
Carbon Offset
We conduct comprehensive environmental impact assessments and strategic carbon emissions compensation plans aligning with our clients’ sustainability corporate practices. We support projects certified via the Gold Standard, enhancing our contributions to global sustainability efforts.
Compliance and Leadership
hb. creative agency adheres to global sustainability standards and regulatory requirements, including the Green Claims directive, the GRI Reporting guidelines and ISO 20121, demonstrating leadership in sustainable media production.
Circular Economy
We prioritize second-hand materials for sets and props and partner with eco-responsible caterers, advancing our commitment to the circular economy and reducing waste. We enforce a no single-use plastics policy and minimize paper use by maintaining a digital-first approach across casting and production events.
Community & Wellbeing
We introduced in 2025 through Syncroni a collaborative space for creatives and crew to exchange knowledge, share best practices and test practical innovations—from digital casting to local sourcing—while promoting mental well-being, reducing burnout and supporting responsible, sustainable production.
Key Highlights
2024
hbca officially launched during Paris Spring/Summer 2025 Couture Week, bringing together considered casting and eco-conscious production. After years working in casting, we know its challenges intimately, and our curiosity to develop tools that improve backstage workflows inspired this integrated approach. This milestone marks a major step in creating sustainable, efficient and human-centered creative productions while setting new standards for the industry.
This trajectory was further validated when Syncroni® was awarded Polimoda Talent 2025, piloted during Milan Fashion Week and selected by a distinguished jury including Sara Sozzani Maino, Paola Arosio, Matteo Levi, Andrew Heffernan and Marco Vianello. The recognition underscores our commitment to creating efficient, human-centered and sustainable backstage workflows, establishing a new standard for fashion productions globally.
We’ve embraced the ISO 20121 framework, enhancing our casting events and productions sustainability. Our team is certified in implementing these guidelines, and we’ve actively contributed to the revision of ISO 20121:2024 through Positive Impact. With Ecologi and ADgreen, we’re furthering our commitment to global reforestation and reducing carbon emissions, ensuring our activities have a minimal environmental footprint. Our reporting aligns with the Global Reporting Initiative, focusing on transparency and stakeholder engagement.
2025 / 2026
Introducing the Syncroni® Casting System. Last season marked a turning point for our casting workflow. For the first time, our teams operated with Syncroni, a new backstage casting software built to bring clarity, speed and sustainability to runway production. Developed with Polimoda, Syncroni replaces scattered tools with one real-time workspace where casting, styling, agencies and production collaborate seamlessly.
Syncroni was piloted at Milan Fashion Week SS26 in live runway shows (Marco Rambaldi, Tokyo James), eliminating hundreds of physical comp cards and prints, reducing energy consumption and cutting model wait times—proving that digital workflows can reduce waste and increase operational efficiency.
We pledged through FAIRe to protect real people in fashion and media, rejecting AI-generated models that exploit human likenesses. We reinforced our belief that technology should enhance human creativity, not replace it. We stand for authenticity, diversity, inclusivity and human-first creativity across the industry.
We started our pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 through the SME Climate Hub, an initiative of the WMBC, the ERI and the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. We launched our Studio Assessment and Responsible Catering Standards, promoting eco-operations and efficiency.
We remain dedicated to pioneering solutions and research in eco-production and backstage tech, piloting Syncroni® in 2026 to refine and scale with measurable impact, supporting responsible, innovative productions worldwide.
Contact
For questions, press enquiries, collaborations, concerns or feedback regarding our services, please contact us at:
Thank you for being part of our journey. Your insights and participation are invaluable in shaping the future of casting management. We’re excited to have you on board and look forward to building something exceptional together.
Hatem Ben Hassine — hb. global creative agency