Publishing Declares Summit celebrates progress in sustainability
The Publishers Association hosted the first Publishing Declares Summit to celebrate the progress made on sustainability since the pledge was launched in 2021 and look ahead to priorities for the coming years.
The summit’s keynote speech focused on protecting life on land and was delivered by Megan McCubbin, zoologist, conservationist, author of An Atlas of Endangered Animals and co-presenter of BBC Two’s Springwatch.
There were two panels, the first was chaired by Dan Conway, CEO of the Publishers Association. Sarah Burton, Deputy CEO of Society of Authors, Charles Light, Production Director at HarperCollins and Debbie James, owner of Kibworth Books and Vice President of the Booksellers Association discussed the importance of collaborating across the industry, the importance of learning from peers and having informed conversations about changing to more sustainable practices.
The second panel was chaired by Jude Gates, Operations Director at Faber and Chair of the Publishers Association’s Sustainability Taskforce. Vicky Ellis-Duveen, Sales Director at Clays, Lisa Faratro, Director of Environment and Sustainability at CPI Group and Sam Warren, Sustainability Manager at Woodland Group talked about the importance of advocating for increasing sustainability to their partners. They also discussed the increased demand for sustainable solutions from publishers – particularly over the past two years.
Jude Gates said:
“It’s important that we are reminded that we have signed up to the Publishing Declares pledge with each of its commitments. We hope that today’s event will offer signatories the opportunity to share their experiences and support each other.”
Alice Wood, the Publishers Association’s Sustainability Manager, said:
“We are so excited to bring signatories together and celebrate progress. Despite the huge efforts already made, there’s still more work to be done but the engagement we had at today’s Publishing Declares Summit shows that there is real dedication and commitment in the industry to keep going. We are looking forward to continuing to work together on actioning each of the five pledge points.”
The Publishers Association shared a video which acknowledged the success of the Publishing Declares, which has over 200 signatories, and emphasised the importance of adopting sustainable practices. Finally, attendees got a taster of Carboned OUT!, a board and card game that aims to increase environmental impact awareness. The team behind the game shared insights from creating a game that engages and educates on carbon emissions.