Corporate responsibility

Our commitment to sustainable publishing

We are committed to minimizing the impact we have on the environment. We also support industry-wide collaboration, since this is an issue that affects us all. We are a founding signatory of the following:

• SDG Publishers Compact. This UN initiative was launched in 2020, in collaboration with the International Publishers Association (IPA). It aims to speed up progress toward achieving the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
• Publishing Declares. This is the UK Publishers Association’s Climate Action Pledge. Launched in 2021, it has over 200 signatories so far.
• The Book Chain Project. This project is run by the consultancy Carnstone. It involves publishers, print suppliers, and paper manufacturers. It increases awareness of environmental impacts in publishing, and provides tools to help companies make informed buying decisions in print and production.

FasterForward

We call our sustainability program FasterForward. It focuses on our environmental commitments, the sustainability of our products, and our positive social impact in the world. Its three areas of focus are:

• Faster to Zero. How we are reducing our environmental impact.
• Sustainability Inside. How we contribute to the UN’s SDGs through our publishing.
• Impact Multiplier. How we reduce inequalities and create a positive impact.

Within each of these three pillars we have commitments and objectives for where we want to get to by 2025 and 2030.

Faster to Zero

Faster to Zero is our commitment to the environment. Print and digital publishing can have a big environmental footprint. We are taking steps to reduce ours. We aim to become a zero waste and net zero carbon business by 2030. We call this approach ‘Faster to Zero’. We commit to:

• Become carbon neutral across our products by 2025
• Halve the waste generated through our products by 2025
• Become zero waste and net zero carbon by 2030 or earlier.

Sustainability Inside

Sustainability Inside is our commitment to the UN’s SDGs. We embed sustainability inside all our products. This helps our customers become more sustainable too. The knowledge we provide improves real-world outcomes. We support researchers, academic communities, and professionals. And the trusted content that we publish, share, and curate supports the UN’s SDGs. We commit to:

1. Embed sustainability inside all of our products by 2025
2. Promote the achievement of the UN’s SDGs through our content.

Impact Multiplier

This is our commitment to reducing inequality. We multiply the positive impact we create by improving access to knowledge. Through the content we publish we help to connect and inform those who struggle to access knowledge. We aim to reduce inequalities through:

• Accessibility. We want to ensure our digital resources can be used easily by all.
• Development initiatives. We support researchers in developing countries and regions.
• Diversity, inclusion, and equity (DE&I). We believe that diversity is a strength.

We commit to:

1. Enable one million disconnected people to access networks and knowledge by 2025
2. Contribute a value of at least 1 percent of profit before tax to community groups by 2025.

How we put our commitments into practice

Knowledge empowers all of us to think, do, and be more than we ever could before.

We believe in the possibility of a better future, and that we can play an important part in bringing it about through our publishing. We have a commitment, through the SDG Publishers Compact, to acquire and promote content that advocates for themes represented by the SDGs. As part of this we publish a wide range of books and journals on sustainability.

We have also created a site to highlight the research we publish, the action we are taking, and the initiatives we support. Visit our Sustainability Hub to see how we are becoming a more sustainable, positive impact business. And see how our publishing helps the communities we serve to become more sustainable too.