Reducing our own impact on the planet

We are fast reducing our direct and indirect emissions with the goal of becoming Net Zero by 2040, with ambitious milestones in place for 2025 and 2030. And we know we have more work to do. This is why we share our progress and learnings with our colleagues and communities and welcome constructive dialogue and ideas.

Find out more opens in new tab/window

Forrest trees with sun beaming towards camera

Report cover image with the word 2023 Accelerating Climate Action

2023 Accelerating Climate Action Report

Find out more opens in new tab/window

What we are doing

Reducing emissions from our business operations

Birds eye view of building with solar panels on the roof.

At Elsevier, we have spent more than a decade reducing our carbon impact in areas such as office energy use, business travel and operations. Working toward targets verified by the Science Based Targets Initiative opens in new tab/window, we have achieved a 74% reduction in direct emissions since 2017 (Scope 1 and Scope 2 Location based emissions) and over a 50% reduction in business air travel since 2019. Elsevier’s data has been verified by Ernst and Young.

Working with our suppliers and industry

We know we can’t reach net zero alone, so we work with our suppliers and industry peers on initiatives to minimize carbon impact. Our Supplier Carbon Reduction Program empowers our suppliers to work toward reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. More than 70% of our top suppliers have been onboarded.

The Publishing 2030 Accelerator

London Book Fair and Elsevier: Partners in sustainable action

A joint project by RX and Elsevier to put sustainability at the heart of London Book Fair 2023 (LBF), the publishing industry’s annual UK gathering, highlighted the importance of industry collaboration in accelerating climate change awareness and action.

RX and Elsevier are both committed to reducing our direct and indirect carbon emissions with the goal of becoming net zero by 2040, in line with our parent company RELX.
We also share a commitment to using our event publishing and platforms to support and drive the SDG agenda by stimulating conversation and collaboration and educating and influencing the industries we serve. Shortly after I joined the LBF team in September 2022, Rachel pitched the idea of a dedicated sustainability space to provide ideas and inspiration on the topic and highlight the important work being done in collaboration across the book chain - and so the Hub was born.

Gareth Rapley, Director of the LBF

Read full article