IPG Sustainability Action Group meeting, 10 December

Thank you to everyone who came to our Sustainability Action Group meeting on Friday 10 December. Whether you were with us or not, we hope these notes, resources and links will be useful in your sustainability activities, and give you an idea of the next steps for our Action Group.


The Book Journeys Project so far

Our meeting began with Group chair Amanda Ridout and Carnstone’s Daniel Witte presenting the findings of our award-winning Book Journeys Project and the resulting targets. You can read about the Project’s research, targets and next steps in this summary. It was great to hear widespread support for the targets.


Sustainability toolkit

We are now working on a toolkit to help members work towards the targets we have set, and will share it in early 2022.


Ideas for improvements

While we develop the toolkit, our meeting suggested various practical things that all businesses can do to accelerate improvements on sustainability. Thanks to everyone who made suggestions. They include:

  • Talking to supply chain partners like printers and distributors what they are doing on sustainability. Asking tough questions, pressing for change and looking for ways to collaborate on sustainability can all help to speed up improvements.
  • Focusing in particular on the transportation stage of book journeys, where the large majority of greenhouse gas emissions occur. A good starting point is to ask delivery partners about their progress towards the electrification of fleets. Our suggested targets are for all vehicles to use Euro 6 engines by 2025, and 50% and 100% fleet electrification by 2030 and 2050 respectively.
  • Measuring and reducing your own company’s greenhouse gas emissions, with a view to becoming a net-zero business as soon as is practical. We have set the industry the target of reaching net-zero status by the end of 2040, but think many independent publishers are capable of achieving this sooner.
  • Consider carbon offsetting. This may be a good short-term strategy while we make longer term changes—though the meeting was clear that offsetting should not be viewed as an alternative to reducing emissions. This is a point emphasised by SBTI’s Net-Zero Standard and others.

Book Chain Project resources

Carnstone’s Book Chain Project provides its members with resources to make more environmentally friendly and socially responsible decisions across the supply chain. It invites all publishers and partners to join or contact its team for more information.

The Project has developed a variety of useful resources that are free for all publishers to access. They include:

Carnstone also recommends resources from the DIMPACT project, a collaboration of researchers and media companies that includes tools to measure greenhouse gas emissions of the downstream value chain of digital media content. Other DIMPACT resources are here.

Carnstone flags the SBTi’s new Net-Zero Standard, which sets out rigorous criteria for net-zero status. The SBTi has become the globally recognised leader in emission reduction target setting, and its new standard sets the benchmark. The SBTi has lots more resources to help businesses work towards its Net-Zero Standard.


Next steps

The SAG meeting explained how the next phase of the Book Journeys Project will focus on the end-of-life treatment of books and ways to reduce emissions here. We will also be thinking about ways to educate consumers on sustainability, and shift their expectations on the price and speed of delivery of books.

Speakers and members also raised several important questions and areas for further research and discussion, including:

  • The capacity of UK printing and distribution, and what can be done to increase it, in light of increased demand as printing moves away from Asia. Conversations with leading UK printers are essential here.
  • The likely increase in costs to publishers of localising printing. It is accepted that greener book production will carry extra costs, for both publishers and suppliers and, ultimately, for buyers.
  • The potential for collaboration across the industry, including other trade associations. We plan to organise a cross-industry event in early 2022 that will bring together others in the sector and explore ways to work together.
  • The carbon footprint of ebooks relative to print, and what might be done to reduce it. Research to date suggests that ebooks are not necessarily a greener format than print, and more knowledge is needed here.
  • The scope for a kitemark-style badge that members can use on books to show consumers their commitment to sustainability. This is something we are keen to move forward in 2022, though work will be needed on the criteria and how to measure publishers’ work.

Thank you to the many members who have provided valuable feedback to the Book Journeys Project so far. The IPG is determined to lead genuine improvements on sustainability in 2022, and move beyond pledges to support proper, measurable change. As the SAG meeting highlighted, good progress is already being made, especially on reducing the use of plastics and waste, and there are growing resources to help businesses.

We recognise that there is still a long way to go, and that change has significant time and cost implications. But we think it is good to set ambitious targets, and can see that momentum is building—and we know that independent publishers will be the forefront of change.