Environment

Our commitment to the environment

We recognise the climate emergency and have a responsibility to minimise our impact on the environment as we advance solutions through education, publishing and research.

We support our suppliers to share our ambitions for a net zero supply chain and promote our environmental ambitions to our customers and partners around the world.

An engineer fitting solar panels to the roof of our offices in Cambridge.

Reducing energy-based carbon emissions

We are committed to being carbon zero on all energy-related emissions by 2048, with a 72 per cent reduction by 2030.

We have set targets for our UK electricity, gas and fleet emissions and our approach to reducing our energy use and carbon emissions involves switching to greener heating and cooling systems, using more renewable energy sources, using our sites efficiently and actively encouraging our team to adopt energy-efficient practices.

We have reduced our energy-based carbon emissions by 30% since 2018.

Read about our progress in our carbon report 2022-23.

A recycling plant worker walking past sorted cardboard bales ready to be sen for recycling.

Cutting use of resources and reducing waste

We are reducing our use of paper and plastic. We have already switched some of our packaging to paper and reduced the amount of plastic used in our secure packaging while we seek alternatives.

Our main waste contractor for our Cambridge sites sends nothing to landfill, processing recycling and food waste sustainably and using any other waste to generate greener energy.

Discover more about waste and resource reduction projects within Academic publishing

Two women looking at a tablet in a factory manufacturing cardboard boxes.

Creating a more sustainable supply chain

We are working closely with our suppliers and partners to understand the impact of our supply chain and to take action for change.

By working with Ecovadis, an independent sustainability assessment service, we are increasing the transparency of the impacts we have on people and planet beyond our direct operations.

We are also working with the Book Chain Project to capture detailed information about the environmental impact of our supply chain and identify areas for improvement.

A teacher helping a pupil with a wind turbine model in a school classroom.

Empowering action

Empowering our learners and increasing the sustainability of our organisation starts with empowering our people to think and act for a sustainable future.

We are helping all our people to become carbon and climate literate and set a personal action plan for change by working in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Project to become a Silver Carbon Literate Organisation by the end of 2027.