Spectacular and responsible: DALS proves it!

“Spectacle” and a responsible carbon footprint don’t necessarily have to be at odds. For more than 3 years, *Danse avec les Stars* has proved it by earning the Ecoprod Engagement label with 2 stars.  The challenge of eco-production live

A thirteen-week live show, around fifty artists, more than one hundred technicians from a range of different trades, sets that change every week, and costumes created to order on a production line. On paper, *Danse avec les stars* is not an obvious candidate for an eco-production approach. And yet that is precisely why the TF1 Group chose to make it a testing ground and a benchmark.

The Ecoprod Engagement label, awarded to the program in 2024, cannot be obtained by declaring good intentions. It requires validating more than 65% of a framework of 80 concrete actions. DALS is the first TF1 Production live-streaming program to achieve it.

A label of on-the-ground commitment

The action plan focused on the five most emission-intensive areas of a shoot: technical resources, sets and costumes, travel, waste, and post-production. No symbolic measures—just substantial work on each of them.

On the technical side, most of the spotlights switched to LED; electric vehicles became the norm for transporting teams, supported by a charter for “soft” mobility. Existing sets and costumes are systematically transformed and reused. And for catering, red meat was limited to once a week, with a permanent vegetarian option on the menu. On waste, the approach was equally methodical: separate sorting with educational signage, weighed and analyzed collection, elimination of individual plastic packaging, water bottles replaced by canteens, and public sandwiches served without overwrap.

“Earning the Ecoprod Engagement label was the result of collective mobilization, thanks to a training and awareness program that brought all teams on board. We’re very happy to have obtained it for *Danse avec les stars*, an iconic live broadcast, which therefore represented an ambitious project.” 

• Laurent Jullien, DGA of TF1 Production

A model to be rolled out

DALS is not an isolated case, but a hands-on example. The TF1 Group has set the goal of reducing its CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030—targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), with the ambition of extending the approach to all productions.

Photo: © PIXELINE / TF1