Becoming Greener: Where Are We Now?

This week, many of the world’s top leaders are gathered for the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, which outlines four specific goals with actions and targets to “secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach.” This is an ambitious goal, but one Wiley is proud to support. 

As a global leader in research and education, we strive to make choices that are good for business, good for our customers, and good for the environment. We also play an essential role in fueling the world’s knowledge ecosystem by increasing research and education's speed, volume, and impact. 

In support of this conference, we have made our climate research readily available via our COP26 resource page. We’re also taking a (digital) page from the COP26 playbook to reflect on our sustainability program at Wiley and review some actions we’re taking to move toward net zero.

1.      Identify and reduce our carbon footprint

First, we are actively working to reduce our carbon emissions while preparing our commitment to setting an ambitious Science Based Target through the SBTi.

• We completed our first comprehensive Carbon Footprint (CF) measurement for fiscal year 2020, achieved Carbon Neutral Certification for our operations and consumed 100% renewable energy for all locations. Our fiscal year 2020 emissions report can be found here.
• To further reduce our carbon footprint, we are consolidating and reducing the size of some of our larger offices around the world.
• We’re continuing to improve the sustainability of our journals program. In an initiative led by our Research division’s Go Green program, we reduced our journal print volume by 1.1 million copies last year and are on track to remove 1 million polybags from our packaging. In collaboration with Trees for the Future, we have established a green fund to plant 1,000,000 trees for every copy we don’t print.

2.     Extend sustainability throughout our supply chain

Beyond our direct operations, we implement and enforce sustainable sourcing policies with our suppliers worldwide. 

• Our global Paper Selection and Use policy ensures that the majority of the paper used in our printed products meets at least one of the leading industry standards.  In addition, we ensure our trim sizes are standardized and use the lightest weight paper wherever possible.
•  Our vendor Code of Conduct and our Business Conduct and Ethics policies align with the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). 
• In our commitment to a circular economy, we are partnering with Digitunity to repurpose our decommissioned technology hardware (monitors, laptops, etc.) to help expand access to those in need.

3.     Partner across our industry and lead by example

We have the opportunity to help set the gold standard for what needs to be done, not just within our organization but across the industry as a whole.

• We are signatories of the publishing industry’s first and only declaration on climate action, Publishing Declares, the UNGC, and the SDG Publishers Compact.
• We are advancing sustainability in publishing through leadership in the Sustainability Working Group at the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Publishers Association (PA).
• And we are working to develop an online tool that reduces the complexity of calculating carbon emissions generated by the delivery of digital media.

4.     Drive a culture of collaboration and responsibility

We have a tremendous group of teammates who drive new thinking around sustainability and inform the global conversation surrounding climate change, creating real-world impact, and unlocking new scientific discovery. 

• Our internal team curated our Climate Change RISE collection, a collection of research supporting equity, highlighting important work by brilliant researchers and our society partners in the environmental sciences.
• We joined the Climate Change Knowledge Cooperative, which provides a public one-stop source collection of trusted climate research.
• And we formed the inaugural internal Wiley Global Green Group to drive culture, engagement, and education on sustainability issues and opportunities to be green in and out of our offices.

As we continue forward in our green efforts, we’ll do what we always have: listen, learn, adjust, and deliver. We all have a role – individuals and corporations – in solving the climate crisis. We know this only scratches the surface; we have only just begun.