- Posted on February 20th, 2025
The Write Idea – A Sustainable Future for Publishing
Every eight seconds, a new book is published. That’s a lot of knowledge and art shared across the world – but it comes at a cost to the planet. The average emissions for the manufacturing of a book is 4,900 grams/ CO2e. Given the urgency of climate and biodiversity crises, there’s a real need to drive systemic change across all sectors to reduce environmental impacts.
The publishing sector has the power and potential to shift towards a circular economy, design more efficient supply chains, implement energy efficiency, reduce the impacts of their events, and share sustainable information worldwide. Putting this into action requires collaboration and research across the entire sector: writers, publishers, printers, wholesalers, distributors, booksellers and readers.
Graciela and Tenaya from our Creative Green team have recently completed several projects connecting different parts of the publishing industry to action on the climate crisis, and share some insights.
Key insights and actions for sustainable publishing
The publishing industry is increasingly engaging with sustainability, with a growing recognition of the need for systemic change. While there are pioneering initiatives and organisations driving progress, the sector as a whole must scale up its efforts to address the urgent challenges of the climate crisis. Publishers, booksellers, and industry bodies are beginning to explore new ways to reduce waste, measure carbon impacts, and design more sustainable supply chains.
A connected, comprehensive approach is needed for change and through our work on projects such as the Sustainable guide for book fairs for Institut de l’Ecoedició, Green Libraries, and our collaboration with Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, Canada, on publishing sector carbon accounting, we have come across many different sustainable initiatives across the publishing sector.
Some examples:
Reducing waste through second-hand markets. Just in the USA, an estimated 320 million books find their way into landfill sites annually.* In the UK, second-hand retailers like World of Books or Abe Books – as well as countless charity shops, bookstores and market stalls – help extend the lifespan of printed materials and reduce waste sent to landfills or incinerators. Though this is essential, more work needs to be done to reduce waste and overprinting at the source.
Improving the industry’s ability to measure its impacts to support environmental decision making. The UK Publisher’s Association hosted the first Publishing Declares Summit in 2024 after their pledge launched in 2021, and they offer a member-only carbon calculator tool. Similarly, the Independent Publisher’s Guild has a Sustainability Taskforce and works on projects such as Book Journeys, a carbon footprinting analysis across six typical book journeys and is looking into a research project about the end-of-life of books, including returns.
Sharing knowledge and collaborating on new approaches. Internationally, the International Publisher’s Association launched the Publishing 2030 Accelerator following COP26, with working papers on topics like an international methodology for the carbon emissions of books, and the potential of a distributed book printing network.
Designing more efficient systems. Across all aspects of a book’s supply chain, initiatives and opportunities for change exist. Designers at HarperCollins used a more compact typeface to reduce the ink and pages needed, and Macmillan used lighter paper to reduce the amount of pulp needed. The Book Chain Project examines paper sourcing, chemicals, and social accountability.
Though these are all positive initiatives, action needs to scale up rapidly to meet the growing and complex challenges of the climate crisis. Together, the publishing industry can drive sustainable change, fully recognise its positive cultural influence, and propel the publishing industry towards a greener future.
More about our recent publishing projects
Julie’s Bicycle have been working on some new tools and resources for the sector, including:
- Sustainable guide for book fairs: We collaborated with Institut de l’Ecoedició to create a sustainability guide for book fairs, available in Catalan, Spanish and English, with the support of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises. The guide includes case studies, links to additional resources, and an editable checklist.
- Publishing sector carbon accounting: In Canada, we worked with the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) to further enhance their adapted carbon footprint calculator by Julie’s Bicycle. The updated Creative Green Tools enable the publishing sector in Canada to track their environmental impact, record progress and make strategic changes.
- Supporting green libraries: Julie’s Bicycle collaborates on the Green Libraries Partnership (GLP), a multiyear research and development programme to enable public libraries to address environmental responsibility. In addition, we have run several training programmes for and alongside libraries, such as supporting the Rekindle project of Creative Arts East to create sustainable art in libraries, and working with Babylon Arts on their The Library Presents programme.
Read our Sustainable Guide for Book Fairs
*U.S. EPA, Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 2009 Facts and Figures, p.78., quoted in: L. Hickey and K. Jones, 2012, A Research Study on Textbook Recycling in America.
