Springer Nature Commits to Becoming Carbon Neutral by the End of 2020

From SN:

In the lead up to publishing its third annual Responsible Business report, Springer Nature is committing to becoming carbon neutral for its business operations and employee flights, by the end of 2020.

As publisher of some of the world’s most important research on climate science, the company is committed to addressing its own environmental impacts. After baselining its carbon footprint in 2017, the company made an 18% reduction in net emissions in 2018 and has continued to reduce net emissions on the same trajectory into 2020.

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Having trebled its purchasing of green electricity in 2018, Springer Nature will now:

• Increase green electricity purchasing to 100% (from the current level at around 75%) in countries where robust renewable accounting systems exist.
• Continue to take local action at individual sites to reduce energy consumption, working closely with a voluntary employee network of green office ambassadors in its global offices.
• Balance harder-to-reduce emissions, such as those relating to essential business flights, through high-quality carbon offsetting schemes.

In 2019, Springer Nature piloted a programme to balance some of the harder-to-reduce emissions, purchasing 7,000 tonnes of high-quality carbon offsets supporting forestry projects in Tanzania and Nicaragua, certified by Plan Vivo. It expects to expand this further in 2020, while seeking to reduce carbon emissions from business flights where possible.

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Over the past two years, the company has also significantly cut back on its use of plastic, reducing by more than 7 million the numbers of copies of books and journals that are wrapped in plastic before shipping. While an increasing proportion of Springer Nature’s products are delivered digitally, Springer Nature has also put in place a sourcing policy to ensure that paper used for products comes from known, legal and responsible sources.

Read the Complete Announcement

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