We can only be sustainable together

Sustainability was a hot topic at this year’s London Book Fair, offering encouragement that this issue, an increasingly vital one across the corporate sector, is being taken seriously by the publishing industry.  A panel discussion about "Sustainability in Books Publishing", chaired by Ashley Gordon from the ink company HP, emphasised that only by collaborating across organisations can we make our ambitions of sustainability a reality. The group called for science-based, measurable targets so that publishers can pinpoint where and how to reduce emissions in their processes.

Among the panellists were Rachel Martin, global director of sustainability at Elsevier and Jude Drake, head of sustainability at Bloomsbury. Martin explained how Elsevier has pledged to become net zero by 2040 by "calculating the lifecycle of their books across their portfolio to develop actionable insights". The head of sustainability role, it seems, will be instrumental in achieving this agenda. Dedicated attention and resources must be devoted to sustainability, just as they are for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This sentiment has been echoed in a paper released last week by the Scholarly Kitchen, in which the ISMTE DEI Advisory Committee declared that "staff time and financial commitments from all organisations are essential to achieving climate-related goals".

But how are publishers to achieve measurable sustainability goals? The LBF panel offered some starting points. Fabrice Bakhouche, deputy c.e.o. of Hachette Livre, explained that Hachette now includes a carbon assessment on the last page of every title they publish. This way, they hold themselves accountable to their goals while alerting readers to the environmental cost of a Hachette book. The panel was also enthusiastic about Scope 1, 2, and 3, a method of measuring the carbon performance of businesses according to accounting standards. It is clear, however, that this data will be of limited use if it remains only available internally. Sharing data across the industry will help us move faster, particularly when it comes to collecting information about issues such as overproduction that, up to now, the industry has avoided addressing. Indeed, the panel suggested that authors should be included in this commitment to data-sharing, and they praised initiatives such as Tree to Me that are helping to educate authors about sustainability.  

Sharing data across the industry will help us move faster, particularly when it comes to collecting information about issues such as overproduction that, up to now, the industry has avoided addressing

It is promising that publishing companies—which, as one person put it bluntly to me recently, make their business by cutting down trees—are placing sustainability at the core of their agenda. However, discussions at the London Book Fair showed that change cannot be accomplished by individual organisations alone; rather, industry-wide initiatives are needed to share data and collaborate about the best ways to reduce emissions in our processes. This will require changes in the way the sector operates. Traditional business models rely on principles of growth and ever-increasing revenue, but unrestrained growth is incompatible with a net zero future. The panel at the LBF did well to highlight how compromises will need to be made, both by publishers and their customers; the price of books will have to go up, for example, as publishers switch to local suppliers and practices such as print on demand. Publishers are already changing how they conduct business, with online conferences instead of extensive business travel becoming the norm. This is a good start. As we move forward, it will be helpful for publishers to set aside any principles of one-upmanship when it comes to sustainability goals; by honestly and openly sharing findings about how they are reducing their environmental impact, the industry will move forward together.

By sharing successful initiatives, perhaps through industry-wide conferences led by heads of sustainability at each organisation, the publishing sector will safeguard its own future in a carbon-neutral society. The panellists at the London Book Fair suggested that the sector "needs financial incentives to grow sustainably"; this may well be true, but obtaining these investments will require generating wide support. By reporting on progress and sharing hopeful messages about the initiatives that work in reducing emissions, the industry will be able to obtain the backing it needs to become sustainable while producing high-quality products and supporting, through decent salaries, the people who work inside it. 

Publishers need to put into practice an idea that has long been held as a consensus among climate scientists: addressing environmental issues depends on collective action. We are often told that our individual actions can have limited impact when it comes to the climate emergency; our efforts, while important, remain on too small of a scale. This is not the case for businesses, especially large ones. By working together across the whole publishing sector, the industry has the potential to make a substantial difference in reducing societal emissions, while offering a positive model to other corporate organisations. By leading the charge in this area, publishers will thrive in these fast-evolving conditions.