Going Carbon Neutral No Pie in the Sky

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Going Carbon Neutral No Pie in the Sky

• Mark RobertsonPresident, Asia - Blackwell
  Publishing

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What I Will Cover Today

• Introduce Blackwell Publishing
• Economic crisis in the publishing industry and
  how it had to change and the resulting benefits
  to the environment
• Blackwell Publishing going CarbonNeutral

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Blackwell Publishing

• Based in Oxford, UK with offices globally
• Annual turnover of Aus530million
• 825 journals and backlist of 6000 books
• Asian regional headquarters in Melbourne
• Annual turnover Aus35million
• 100 journals for and from the region
• Offices in Melbourne, Tokyo and Shanghai
• Merger with Wiley announced on 17 November
• Combined number of journals globally 1,250
• Australian turnover Aus60million

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Art or Information?
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Publishing Industry Indicators?

• Chinas publishing industry has already reached
  a considerable level which is equivalent to the
  use of 4.86 million tons of paper.
• But in terms of per capita possession of
  publishing resources, there is a big gap between
  China and developed countries.
• Chinas per capita consumption of newsprint...
  and other paper is 10.44kg(compared to) 146 kg
  in the USA, 118 kg in Japan
• China needs more radical upgrading and
  improvementwith regard to concepts of
  publishing and modes of profit making.

• (Wu Shulin, Vice Minister, General Administration
  of Press and Publications of the Peoples
  Republic of China, from Beijing International
  Publishing Forum, Aug 2005)

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Global Growth in Published Output

• There are about 23,000 scholarly journals in the
  world collectively publishing 1.4 million
  articles/year.
• The number of articles published and number of
  journals have grown by 3 and 3.5/year
  respectively.
• The reason is the equally persistent growth in
  researchers at 3 now standing at 5.5million

(Mabe Michael, 6th Nordic Interlending
Conference, Trondheim, 2006)
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Increased Costs/Flat Budgets
(Association of Research Library Statistics, 2001)
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Solution Going on Line

• Reduce costs
• Deliver on line

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The Peer Review Process
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The Journals Publishing Process
(Ware Mark, Consultant, Scientific Publishing in
Transition, Report for ALPSP and the
International Association of Scientific,
Technical and Medical Publishers, 2006)
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Scholarly Publishing Going Online

• 66 of libraries intending to move to online only
• 31.5 of those said that they were planning to do
  so by next year
• Further 17.4 within the next 2 years.
• Only 7.6 thought it would take longer that 5
  years to make the move to online only.

(Blackwell Publishing Survey of 15,069 libraries,
2005. 925 responses at 6.1)
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The Research Communication Map now
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Breaking the Cycle - What Have We Achieved?
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Blackwell Publishing Taking Social Responsibility
One Step Further

• Blackwell Publishing clients include
• International Association of Agricultural
  Economists
• Society for Ecological Restoration International
• Centre for Corporate Governance Research
• Ecological Society of America
• British Ecological Society
• Ecological Society of Australia
• United Nations Sustainable Development Journal
• International Lake Environment Committee
• Become the first publisher to become carbon
  neutral

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Going Carbon Neutral Evaluation and Further
Change

• Embarked on the project on a global scale to
  cover all Blackwell sites world wide
• Collaborated with The CarbonNeutral Company in
  evaluating and working on reducing our carbon
  footprint.
• Worked out algorithms with the CNC to determine
  impact of book and journal shipments found that
  87 of carbon emitted resulted from distribution
• Centralised to a significant degree printing and
  distribution from one site (Singapore) and
  distribution management to reduce duplication of
  transport of paper product
• Started on online book publishing program
• Increased videoconferencing to reduce travel
• Recycling increased in all locations

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Going Carbon Neutral External Collaborations

• Joined Cross Party UK Parliamentary committee on
  climate change
• First publisher to initiate an evaluating paper
  supply chain to obtain forest stewardship
  council accreditation
• Registered with WWF Forest Trade Network part
  of a group working towards ensuring an audited
  chain of supply from forest through to mill
  products produce paper from sustainable forestry
• CNC evaluated our carbon footprint to be around
  100,000 which will be invested in a range of
  offset projects managed by CNC
• We wanted these to be contribute to social as
  well as environmental vitality of local
  communities

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Blackwell Publishing Offset Projects

• Rural Solar Electrification Project, India and
  Sri Lanka renewable energy
• Scolel Te Social Forestry Project, Chiapas,
  Mexico reforestation and social livelihood
• Carrifran Wildwood, Dumfries and Galloway,
  Scotland - reforestation

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THANK YOU

• www.blackwellpublishing.com
• www.blackwellpublishing.com/carbonneutral
• www.carboneutral.com
• mark.robertson_at_asia.blackwellpublishing.com