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"We stand in 2026 at a moment when climate is no longer dominating the global agenda," said Rachel Martin, global director of sustainability at Elsevier, during the London Book Fair earlier this week.
Martin moderated a panel discussion on climate action and publishing that featured Lisa Faratro, director of environment and sustainability at CPI Group, a major European printing company; Èmilie Hames, sustainability and compliance production manager at Penguin Random House UK; and Mary Glenn, chief of United Nations Publications.
The discussion, which notably was the only panel focused on climate change and sustainability at this year's book fair, comes at a time when public discourse is focused on AI, geopolitical conflicts, and economic concerns, while countries such as the U.S. and U.K. are "retreating" from active climate leadership. Martin contrasted the current moment with the previous decade, which saw, among other developments, the launch of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals as well as the SDG Publishers Compact. Where there was once a "flurry" of net-zero commitments and science-based targets, Martin said, climate risk is being "acknowledged but not prioritized" and dangerously close to becoming "background noise."
"We have to ask ourselves, what is our responsibility?" Martin continued. "How do we sustain a credible, evidence-based, data-driven approach to climate action, and how do we ensure that the long-term planetary stability isn't sidelined amongst these AI and geopolitical changes?"
Hames reported that while there has been "positive progress" over the last few years, there is still a "good way to go." In particular, there's been a lot of "good movement" around calculating carbon impact, with PRH specifically and the "wider supply chain" doing a lot of work to "quantify our carbon" and climate impact. Work continues in many areas, including trying to obtain better data at every level of the supply chain, and she noted that lately, publishers have gone from shouting about their climate efforts publicly to trying to embed sustainability "in our day-to-day processes."
Asked about the common perception that there is a "trade off" between profitability and sustainability, Hames pointed out that at the end of the day, "our books are physical." Those physical books are "intrinsically linked to natural resources," and publishers have an "innate responsibility to engage with the wider climate issue" and make sure they are "doing everything we can" to reduce publishing's impact.
Regarding some of PRH's own efforts, Hames said the company has an internal target of reducing its absolute emissions by 50% by 2030.
Glenn discussed how, with misinformation and disinformation posing major threats to "every aspect of our lives," publishers can play a "key role" in content and information integrity. They can help build a society that can handle disruptions and is less vulnerable to manipulation, while also helping reinforce trust in institutions. Glenn advocated for more robust fact-checking on the part of publishers, saying they should no longer "sit back and let authors do their thing."
She also touched on things like prizes for children's books related to sustainability and book clubs focusing on climate-related titles. While these are commercial ventures and of course help sell books, they do have broader value. "It encourages everything that we want to build," she said.
Faratro remarked that increasingly, authors are impacting the choices publishers make when it comes to printing, especially if the book is related to climate. They want to be more involved in what materials are chosen and why, particularly if the book is being published in the climate category. They want to make sure the "book itself, the product," is saying something about sustainability.
Asked about the work CPI did related to recent E.U. regulations around deforestation, Faratro said it led to increased collaboration throughout the industry and communication across sectors like printing and paper that was "quite powerful." It gave CPI insight into "our suppliers' supply chain" that the company previously lacked. That information sheds light not only on carbon but also on legality, deforestation, and labor practices. CPI also found that previously, they'd been relying on things like Forest Stewardship Council certification "maybe too much." Those certifications have gaps, and the company now requests "much more information" from its suppliers.
On the subject of paper alternatives, Faratro said there has been progress in some sectors, particularly the packaging sector, but not as much with paper. She emphasized that people "tend to forget" that the paper industry exists as essentially a byproduct of the furniture and housebuilding industries, and while there are alternative materials for making pulp other than wood, those alternatives do not have the necessary scale to replace "something as versatile as trees." She suggested the industry focus on things like sustainable forestry practices rather than a "wholesale move" away from paper.
During the session's q&a portion, the panelists expressed disappointment that the book fair had only a single panel on sustainability this year, when in years past there had been an entire sustainability hub on the show floor. "I'm hoping that next year there's more space," said Faratro. --Alex Mutter