Publishing Declares sustainability pledge

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is one of the founding signatories of a new sustainability pledge launched by the UK’s Publishers Association. We have been closely involved in developing the pledge, Publishing Declares, alongside a cross-section of the publishing industry.

Publishing Declares will “raise awareness of the sustainability issues most relevant to the UK book and journal publishing industry; to aid the discovery of existing tools and resources and inspire action that results in sustained behaviour change.”

Our executive board sponsor for our strategic ambitions on sustainability, Catie Sheret, has been involved in the development of the pledge.

We recognise the climate emergency and our responsibility to act. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact across all areas of our operations, and promoting our environmental ambitions to our people, customers and partners around the world. We felt it was important to be involved in the development and be a signatory of Publishing Declares as it reflects our existing strategic goals. While we’ve already made a lot of progress, by working collectively we can do even more.

As a signatory we have pledged to deliver five goals:

1. Join the global climate effort to limit warming to 1.5°C by setting ambitious, measurable targets across our own operations and extended supply chain to achieve net zero as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest.
2. Protect nature and biodiversity, working with supply chain partners that are resource efficient, use sustainable materials and processes wherever possible in the content we produce, and constantly innovating to make use of new and recycled materials.
3. Collaborate with our peers, authors, illustrators, supply chain partners, and business partners to translate our climate aspirations and commitments into tangible actions to safeguard our planet for future generations.
4. Empower our colleagues to become climate literate and support them to bring that knowledge into the work that they do.
5. Use our expertise, platform, and voice to raise awareness and drive positive climate action wherever we can.

Publishers Association chief executive, Stephen Lotinga, said: “Sustainability is a hugely important area of work and although there are many publishing companies working on excellent initiatives, there is real power in us coming together as an industry to make this pledge.”

To find out more about the pledge visit PublishingDeclares.com.

Find out more about our approach to people and planet.