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We embed sustainability into everything we do
At Taylor & Francis we aim to become an ever more sustainable, positive impact business.
We focus on the areas where we can make the biggest contribution: our operations, the content and knowledge we provide, and the communities in which we work.
Our sustainability program contains ambitious commitments to embed sustainability into everything we do – and help our customers do the same.
FasterForward – our sustainability program
We call our sustainability program FasterForward. It focuses on our environmental commitments, embeds sustainability in our products, and reflects the positive social impact we aim to have in the world. Our program has three areas of focus:
- Faster to Zero – how we’re reducing our environmental impact
- Sustainability Inside – how we’re contributing to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through scholarly research and publishing
- Impact Multiplier – how we’re reducing inequalities in the communities we serve and creating a positive impact.
Within each of these three pillars we have specific commitments and objectives for where we want to get to by 2025 and 2030.
Faster to Zero – our commitment to the environment
We’re moving faster to become a zero waste and net zero carbon business.
To help meet the urgent challenges of a changing world, we’re taking accelerated steps to reduce our carbon and waste footprint with the aim of becoming a zero waste and net zero carbon business by 2030. We call this approach Faster to Zero.
We’re committed to sustainable publishing and minimizing the impact we have on the environment. We support industry-wide collaboration on sustainable publishing, and are founder signatories of both the SDG Publishers Compact and Publishing Declares.
Our Faster to Zero Commitments:
- 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.
Read more about our Faster to Zero progress
Sustainability Inside – our commitment to the UN’s SDGs
We embed sustainability inside all our products – to help our customers become more sustainable too.
We’re committed to validating and amplifying knowledge to improve real-world outcomes, to help our customers advance sustainable development in their areas of expertise. We support researchers, academic communities, and professionals in the publication, dissemination, and curation of quality, trusted content that supports the advancement and achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our Sustainability Inside commitments:
- Embed sustainability inside 100% of our products by 2025
- Promote the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through our content.
Impact Multiplier – our commitment to reducing inequality
We multiply the positive impact we create by improving access to knowledge.
This helps people connect more efficiently and invest in our communities. Through the content we publish, Taylor & Francis helps connect and inform those who struggle to access knowledge. We aim to reduce inequalities in several ways:
- We prioritise accessibility, ensuring digital resources can be easily used by all
- We participate in development initiatives that support researchers in developing countries
- We’re committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity among our colleagues and the communities we serve.
Our Impact Multiplier commitments:
- Enable one million disconnected people to access networks and knowledge by 2025
- Contribute value of at least 1% of profit before tax to community groups by 2025
Our commitment to sustainable publishing
We want our publishing to have a positive impact on society – not a negative one on the planet.
Print publishing can have a significant environmental footprint and we’re taking active steps to minimize this. We’re decarbonizing our business operations, building a sustainable and responsible supply chain, and participating in industry-wide sustainability initiatives.
Taylor & Francis is a founding signatory and active participant in the following initiatives:
- SDG Publishers Compact, a United Nations initiative launched in 2020, in collaboration with the International Publishers Association. The Compact aims to accelerate progress to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
- Publishing Declares, the Publishers Association’s Climate Action Pledge. Launched in 2021, this is the UK publishing industry’s first declaration on climate action with around 100 signatories so far.
- The Book Chain Project, a collaborative project run by consultancy Carnstone, involving leading publishers, print suppliers, and paper manufacturers. It aims to increase awareness of environmental impacts in publishing and provides tools to help companies make informed buying decisions in print and production.
Read more about how we’re accelerating progress to net zero carbon emissions and waste with our Faster to Zero program.
How we’re putting 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. As part of our commitment to the SDG Publishers Compact to actively acquire and promote content that advocates for themes represented by the SDGs, we publish a wide range of books and journals on sustainability.
We’ve also created a microsite to highlight the research we publish, the action we’re taking, and the initiatives we’re supporting. Visit our Sustainability Hub to see how we’re becoming a more sustainable, positive impact business – and how we connect the communities we serve with the knowledge to do the same.